Book set in Taipivai, French Polynesia. Reviewed on 2019/03: https://www.instagram.com/p/BvCGHfHHA1j/
You basically have two options with this book. You can stop at different intervals and try to do some online research on the people and places mentioned. Otherwise you can just sit back and read #typee as the #adventure thriller that it is. I chose the former but to each his/her own. Typee is the #firstbook written by #melville and it came out in the 1840s. So inevitably there is something I will need help understanding. Beyond the #historicalbackground needed here, Melville also uses both his #firsthand experiences when visiting the #marquesasislands AND a heavy dose of wild imagination. Which is which? That might be for you to decipher. At the end, Typee is quite the ride despite the historical mindset in which it develops. It’s thrilling and captivating without losing track of how Westerners perceived and condescended upon #pacificislanders . Interesting enough there are a few chapters and scenes in which #hermanmelvilleallows himself to see #polynesians for the human beings that they are. However he quickly grows suspicious of his own thinking, adds a twist and the story becomes more of an exotic adventure than a philosophical quest. Maybe die-hard fans of #mobydick can see more in this book than I did. #recommended#frenchpolynesia #nukuhiva #polynesian#travelliterature #historicalfiction #taipivai#americanliterature #debut
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