2011: Book 31

Getting Stoned with Savaged Savages by J. Maarten Troost


256 pages


Completed 3/25/11

A follow-up to his tales in The Sex Lives of Cannibals, Troost offers stories of his return to the South Pacific. Not as entertaining as Sex Lives, Troost and his wife, Sylvia, are maintaing residence on a populated, civilized island, where adventures are not experiences, as they were previously.

Where British and French influences are merged with an influx of Indian culture, the islands that make up Vanuatu are odd, wrought with stereotypes, racism, and sex for sale, mixed with the occasional cyclone and cruise ship. Troost seems obsessed with two things throughout this stay; the local intoxicating drink, kava, and the island's history of cannibalism.

With the impending arrival of their first child, the Troosts ascend a volcano; just one of a series of odd choices. Sylvia eventually gives birth to a child who is revered by the community, yet they decide to return to the US, even after griping about the states through the book. I should've stopped with the original book.

LIZ: BOOK #4

Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

320 pages

Completed 1/14/10

This much anticipated sequel to 2000's Nanny Diaries failed to impress. I loved the original; the charming story of a 21 year old nanny to a four year old Grayer whose parents were like so many of New York City's hands-off workaholics. Nanny Returns picks up 13ish years later, with Nan returning to N.Y.C. with her Harvard Hottie - now husband - to a dilapidated fixer-upper, dire job prospects, and an absent said husband. Then, oddly enough, a 17 year old Grayer shows up, draws Nan back into his and his (unknown until this point) younger brother's lives. The same neglectful parenting style, the same inner conflicts, the same snobbish upper class.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, I really did. But the unlikeliness of it all - Nan's elderly grandmother still thriving, reconnecting with friends long since lost, a job falling into her lap - it was just such a stretch. This time around, and perhaps because I am more jaded 10 years after first beginning this series, Nan didn't pull at my heart strings. In fact, she seemed downright implausible. When the authors attempted to weave marital woes into the story, it seemed ridiculous, what with Harvard Husband being absent for 90% of the story.

What should have taken me a few days instead took a week to get through, if only because I was forcing myself to continue. I'd skip this one if you were a big fan of The Nanny Diaries, if only to keep the original story untouched in your memory.