Surviving Paradise

Surviving Paradise: One Year on a Disappearing Island by Peter Rudiak-Gould. New York: Union Square Press, 2009. 244 pp., $24.95.

They say we laugh because it is true. Never has that been more accurate for me than while reading this book. Recommended by my boss, two coworkers, and a local friend, this book rings true from every page, and it funny precisely because I am here. In many ways, I found this novel like a good inside joke; as such, I wonder about those who read this book but have never been to the Marshall Islands. Well, take my word for it: Rudiak-Gould's observations about the Marshall Islands are spot on, if somewhat tongue-in-cheek at times.

Sent to Ujae Atoll as part of the WorldTeach program, the author recounts his experience living and teaching English on one of the most remote islands in the world among one of the more primitive people in the world. Except that the Marshallese are not primitive and the islands are not remote, at least not in the romantic way we have come to expect from travelogues. As he writes about the people (p. 223–224):

Some of the islanders could recite the medicinal properties of native plants and the hit singles of the Backstreet Boys with equal ease. They worshipped Jesus but believed in demons and love spells; they preached a Christian work ethic but lied on island time. They divided their allegiance between chief and senator, cracked open giant crabs with old batteries, and fished with spears made of fiberglass.

Through periods of colonization and close contact with the Germans, Japanese, and Americans, the people of the Marshall Islands have adopted and adapted, while keeping the core of their cultural identity intact. The paradox of the Marshall Islands is that this is a place where people survive in a time-honored, stoic and communal fashion to the consternation of outsiders who hope for something beyond mere survival. The cultural disconnect to the western world is extreme even if the outer trappings of culture appear similar. They have similar goods, access to similar opportunities, yet do such different things with them than we would expect.

I doubt I am describing this novel well; I am almost certain I am not describing the Marshall Islands well. Again, like an inside joke, you have to be there. And we are! I could identify with the author's consternation, confusion, and bewilderment on almost every page. My wife and I both read the book and laughed and laughed at the author (and our) cultural ignorance and the sheer effort required to bridge the gap. We are still most certainly in the cultural shock phase of our residence in the islands, and our experience will necessarily be markedly different from the author's in that we live in Majuro. Yet the culture is consistent throughout the islands, and I suspect we will leave here as flustered by our feeble attempts to help the people yet happy with our greater ability to understand and identify with the people as the author.

The writing, especially in the beginning, is crisp, clean, evocative, well-balanced, and delightful. Towards the end, the up and coming anthropologist shines through a little too much, and the brief addendum regarding climate change and the islands almost appears to be meant as a teaser trailer for the author's subsequent book and research. But all in all, I could not have asked for a better introduction to the Marshall Islands or a more appropriate call to action for engaging with the culture during our time here.