• Getting Stoned with the Savages

  • A Trip through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu
  • By: J. Maarten Troost
  • Narrated by: Simon Vance
  • Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (654 ratings)

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Getting Stoned with the Savages  By  cover art

Getting Stoned with the Savages

By: J. Maarten Troost
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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Publisher's summary

Getting Stoned with Savages again reveals Troost's wry wit and infectious joy of discovery in a hilarious account of life in the farthest reaches of the world.

After two grueling years on the island of Tarawa, Troost was in no hurry to return to the South Pacific until he began to feel remarkably out of place in modern America. He knew it was time to set off again for parts unknown. Here he tells the story of his time on Vanuatu, a cluster of islands where he struggles against typhoons, earthquakes, and giant centipedes but finds himself swept up in the laid-back, clothing-optional lifestyle of the islanders. When his wife Sylvia gets pregnant, they decamp for slightly more civilized Fiji, a fallen paradise rife with prostitutes and government coups, where their son takes quite naturally to island living.

©2006 J. Maarten Troost (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

What listeners say about Getting Stoned with the Savages

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Performance
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Story
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

My new favorite author!

I LOVED this book! It is hilarious, from beginning to end. Maarten Troost does a phenomenal job of putting you front and center into the experience of the story and leaves you wanting more. This story has a lot of adventures that cover several different aspects of travel, from actual travel itself on crappy ships and scary airplanes, to the culture of cannibals, tourists and ex-pats. I just wish it was longer and that he would hurry up and write another book!!!

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Listen again & again

This book is a really terrific travel companion. Laugh-out-loud, embarrass-yourself-on-a-plane funny. Author has a fantastic gift for description, and the narrator does a great job of interpreting the author's voice. A MUST HAVE!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Not as good as the first one

If you're only going to listen to one J Maarten Troost travelogue, definitely make it the other one: The Sex Lives of Cannibals. If, after listening to that one, you're dying for more, then get this one, but be prepared for a little disappointment. It's good, but it's not as good.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Laugh- out- loud funny!

Highly entertaining way to spend time on the treadmill at the gym. You may find people staring at your burst of laughter. Warning: a few F words used, but so funny I chose to overlook them.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

a pleasure to hear

This book is interesting and hilarious. Troost has a great way of bringing across the details of somewhere far away, and presenting the shocking and uncomfortable realities as part of a great adventure. The narrator is right on for the text--understated, self-effacing, ironic. The only drawback is listening to the whole book too fast--its not one of those grave but worthy books that you have to prod yourself to listen to. This one will lift your spirits.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

smart & funny

This is an entertaining romp through Vanuatu and Fiji, with plenty of everyday excitement (foot-long centipedes, cyclones, live volcanos), balanced by lively forays into the past (cannibalism, cargo cults, Captain Cook's voyages).

It is not (nor is it meant to be) a novel, nor is it a review of different drugs (the author becomes fond of kava, a narcotic drink enjoyed widely in the South Pacific -- as the title indicates). Instead, it is a fantastic escape to a remote part of the world, by an author who comes across as smart, funny, self-deprecating, and immensely curious about the world. The narrator captures this persona very well.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Entertaining and Educational

Spending a lot of time in Fiji myself, I can vouch for the 100% accuracy of the stories told in this book. Entertaining for sure.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Getting Stones with the Savages

What a delightful book! I had greatly enjoyed "Sex Lives of Cannibals" and hoped that this sequel would live up to my expectations. It did! Hilarious, insightful and wonderful fun! The narration is spot on, too.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Perfect of its sort.

What made the experience of listening to Getting Stoned with the Savages the most enjoyable?

A memoir of two years on a South Pacific coral atoll written a counter cultural Dutch/ Czech/American ne'er-do-well who has nevertheless done very well as an observer of his world and fearless taster of unaccustomed customs. He must equally amuse and frustrate his NGO administrator girlfriend/spouse. As a former recruiter of volunteers for service in the South Pacific, I appreciated the absurd authenticity of his tale.

This is one of the few books that has delighted both my mildly rebellious daughter and her fuddy duddy mother.

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

You mean that wasn't Martin himself? You could have fooled me. Simon Vance is also the best of his ilk.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

loved it

i loved this audio book. just as great as the first.

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1 person found this helpful