A while back I was contacted by Peter Roudiak-Gould who wondered if I was willing to write a review of his first non-academic book, “Surviving Paradise: One Year on a Disappearing Island”. He would have his publicist send over a complimentary copy. Naturally, I agreed. Apart from never refusing free stuff, I was also intruiged by what Peter told me about his book.

In 2003 Peter, just 21 years old, set out from Majuro, the Marshallese capital, to teach English on Ujae, an outer island of the Marshall Islands, for one year without any other foreigner to help or guide him. So, through the book you get to know him and his feelings quite well. You also get a glimpse into what life is really like on a tropical ‘paradise’ island. Not everything is bliss in paradise and Peter does a great job in giving us the highs and the lows in equal measures.

Peter has to come to terms with a culture that functions completely different and sometimes opposite to his own. A culture that had to fight for hundreds of years just to stay alive in a harsh environment and developed certain rules to safeguard just that survival.

But “Surviving Paradise” isn’t just Peters story. He also touches on political and linguistic matters and brings you the Marshallese society in general and life on Ujae specifically a little bit closer. The last chapter is dedicated to the sensitive subject of global warming and the effects that can be felt already now on the low-lying Marshall Islands.

If you’ve ever lived on a tiny island outside your own culture for a while you’ll be able to identify with Peter’s experiences. There were many moments where I had to laugh out loud because some hilarious incident, going spearfishing for example, would remind me of my own feeble attempts or experiences.

But the book is also for you if you have never travelled much or stayed on a tropical island. “Surviving Paradise” will get your travel bug going into warp speed faster than you can say “Live long and prosper”!

“Surviving Paradise” was published on November 3rd this year and numbers a bit less than 250 pages. It is available at amazon.com for example and will set you back a bit less than USD 15. Money well spent I think. I can whole-heartedly recommend this book.

Check out the authors webpage if you would like to know a bit more about the book. Also, if you would like to know where exactly the Marshall Islands and Ujae are, then please follow the link at the bottom of this post.

Have you read “Surviving Paradise”? Let me know what you thought of it in the comments…

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