Description

About the Author

J. MAARTEN TROOST is the author of Getting Stoned with Savages and The Sex Lives of Cannibals. His essays have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, and the Prague Post. He spent two years in Kiribati in the Equatorial Pacific and upon his return was hired as a consultant by the World Bank. After several years in Fiji and Vanuatu, he recently relocated to the U.S. and now lives with his wife and two sons in California.

Praise for Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation or How He…

Praise for

LOST ON PLANET CHINA


"Troost, who entertained readers in The Sex Lives of Cannibals (2004) with tales of life on a South Pacific
island, now turns his attention to China. Settled in Sacramento, California, with his wife and two sons,
Troost gets restless and floats the idea of moving his family to China. His wife is amenable, so he sets off
to scout ahead. What he finds in Beijing is a crowded, smoggy city where something as simple as taking a
walk can be a dangerous proposition, given the hazardous traffic. Troost visits one burgeoning industrial
city after another, finding immense crowds, odd cuisine, piteous beggars, and masseuses offering sexual
favors. He also discovers a country that firmly believes that it’s on the edge of something big; in spite of a
great divide between poor and rich, China is undergoing a tremendous push toward modernity.
Troost’s crisp, engaging prose invites the reader to experience his adventures right alongside him. At turns
meditative, whimsical, humorous, and shocked, Troost is an excellent guide to the vast, multifaceted
country that is modern-day China." -- Booklist


“Troost’s adventures are peppered with tremendous humor. He’s magnificent writing about himself in the role of the bumbling Westerner. Readers will howl over his gastronomic imbroglios.” –Kirkus Reviews

“Troost is already being lauded as the new generation’s answer to Bill Bryson.” –Bookpage

“Troost’s crisp, engaging prose invites the reader to experience his adventures right alongside him. At turns meditative, whimsical, humorous, and shocked, Troost is an excellent guide to the vast, multifaceted country that is modern-day China.” –Booklist

Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man’s Attempt to Understand the World’s Most Mystifying Nation
J. Maarten Troost. Broadway, $22.95 (304p) ISBN 9780767922005
In his latest, veteran traveler Troost (The Sex Lives of Cannibals, Getting Stoned with Savages) embarks on an extended tour of “the new wild west,” China. Troost travels from the megalopolis of Beijing to small, remote trails in the hinterlands, the fabled Shangri-La and all points in between, allowing for a substantive look at an incredibly complex culture. He does an admirable job of summing up the country’s rich history, venturing to Nanjing to learn about China’s deep-seated animosity toward Japan; he also visits the Forbidden City, and the tomb of Mao Zedong, still very much revered despite his horrific record of human rights abuses. Gross disparity in wealth, omnipresent pollution and the teeming mass of humanity that greet Troost at every opportunity wear on him and the reader alike; the sense of claustrophobia only relents when he gets into more remote areas. Throughout, Troost is refreshingly upbeat, without a hint of ugly American elitism; he often steps aside to let the facts speak for themselves, and rarely devolves into complaints over the language barrier or other day-to-day frustrations. Those looking for tips on Hong Kong night life or other touristy secrets will be disappointed–few names are named–but readers interested in a warts-and-all look at this complicated, evolving country will find this a rich education. (July) — Publisher’s Weekly



Praise for

GETTING STONED WITH SAVAGES



“One of Troost’s greatest successes is that he’s not reporting, exactly, not writing as a journalist would, but simply living his life in a faraway place and writing about it.”
--New York Times


“Troost manages to relate his misadventures in an irreverently funny style . . . this makes for a good beach read on your own vacation.”
--Pittsburgh Tribune-Review


Praise for

The Sex Lives of Cannibals

“A comic masterwork of travel writing” —Publishers Weekly

“Troost has a command of place and narrative that puts him in the company of some of today’s best travel writers.” —Elle