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Summary: Pioneer travel writing
Review: Great fun and filled with fascinating insights. Ms. Birkett walked the walk on Pitcairn and emerged with her notebooks intact. If you enjoy high adventure AND have a sense of humor, you will treasure this book.
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Summary: I found her observations both insightful and absorbing
Review: Having just finished this book, I jumped online to find others written by this gifted author. I was suprised to see this book reviewed so poorly by other readers. As an anthropology student, I found her insights into the Pitcairn culture both insightful and absorbing. In the first pages of the book, I imagined myself in this island paradise and thought it would be a wonderful, chaotic, and fun adventure. That is not really what Dea Birkett found. But she writes eloquently and honestly about her experiences on this small island.
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Summary: Pitcairn Island - A "Dude Ranch" in the South Pacific
Review: Here in Texas as a boon to tourism we have scores of "dude ranches", small-scale mockups of the ole-time cattle ranches. When you pick up this book about Pitcairn Island what immediately grabs you is the same clever deception : that the island today is a kind of "Jurassic Park", a place where time stands still and its fossilized inhabitants, all "thee and thou speaking" decendants of the original Bounty mutineers, know nothing of the two world wars, not to mention the Internet revolution that is shrinking the world and allowing no one to live in isolation anymore. Nothing could be further from the truth : Pitcairners have a virtual shopping mall on the Web, and the governance of this and its three sister islands is overseen by a central administration in New Zealand (they are British protectorates). Right now a few Pitcairners have even taken a temporary leave of absence to visit the world, and between 1830 and 1864 they all in fact deserted the island twice for a better life : once for a short relocation to Tahiti and another time for a longer stay on an isle named "Norfolk Island". In 1880 the solidly Anglican religious foundation of the community shifted to Seventh Day Adventism, as missionaries from that denomination "Billy Graham'd" the place. The island even has its own philatelic bureau and post office, and recently it issued some very attractive commemorative stamps doing full justice to the beauty and goodness of the late Princess Diana. Don't read this book then expecting a spellbinding account of a journey to the far side of the moon-- you'll be sorely disappointed. The Pitcairners are as much in contact with the world as you or I, the only difference is the frequency of the communication. What is interesting and valuable about this book is the serious question it raises as to why 38 so very up-to-date people would want to live on a one-mile long rock in middle of the Pacific Ocean, 3,000 miles away from the fullness of civilization. The author never really answers this, except to portray them as odd and hopelessly anti-social, kind of like the Amish here in America. Perhaps the Pitcairners most important possession is their unique identity, as the "children of Fletcher Christian". Maybe they stick to the island simply to preserve this and really "be someone", in a world where, as they probably realize, a man is little more than his bank account. This book is not a boring book, but I didn't find it stimulating from great insights and deep penetrations into its subject. Birkett does have a real propensity for turning a phrase, but beyond that she doesn't turn on the light so that we can better understand the Pitcairners today, or the Bounty mutiny of 1789.
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Summary: Disappointing
Review: I am a Pitcairn Island enthusiast, so when I found this book, I couldn't wait to start reading it. The book started out okay, but soon I got bogged down by the author's constant negative descriptions of everyone she met and everything she saw. The final straw came when she whined about her "mistreatment" after she seduced a married man. Get a clue, woman! What did you expect? I am giving this book two stars instead of just one for the following reasons: 1) The subject matter is so fascinating that any book about Pitcairn Island is worth reading. 2) Dea Birkett could be a good writer if she would stop being so negative
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Summary: An Interesting Excursion to the "End of the Earth"
Review: I found this book neither as good nor as bad as the positive and negative reviews would suggest. It is, rather, a mildly interesting travelogue of the author's journey to what is one of the remotest islands on earth. Unlike many of the reviewers whose opinions are included here, I did not find the author to be an unscrupulous and condescending visitor to Pitcairn. But I did find the author to be a little insensitive to the wants and needs of others, and far too sensitive to what the Pitcairn islanders said and did in relation to her. Please don't allow the anti-author nonsense in some of the other reviews to dissuade you from reading this book --- if the subject matter is of interest to you. My 2-star rating is not meant in a negative fashion. This book was mildy interesting -- no more, no less.
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Summary: The biggest Serpent in Paradise is Dea herself
Review: I hate to think how the Pitcairners feel about this book. They warmly welcomed Dea into their homes, not knowing that she has lied about the reasons for her visit. She moans that they gossip about her behind her back but she then writes a nasty, backstabbing book about them. Who is a vindictive gossip? Dea is! The book is full of contradictions. She claims that she had read all about Pitcairn before she set out for the island and yet she didn't know that the Browns weren't descendants of mutineer William Brown. Anyone who is interested in the Bounty should know that the mutineers that left descendants were Fletcher Christian, Ned Young, McCoy, Quintal, John Adams and Mills. And she states that she is not sure who is buried in John Adams's grave!! I'm sure the Pitcairners know and Dea is just trying to make a mystery where they isn't one. Just like she made up her fear of the Pitcairners (or else she is absolutely paranoid.) When I bought this book I was really looking forward to reading about modern-day Pitcairners but by the end of the book I felt guilty about prying into their lives.
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Summary: Tabloid book reflects British Press very well
Review: I love first person experiences but this one is silly and a waste of time. I finished with few of my basic questions answered and found better information on the net....free!I recommend you look there and forget this one.
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Summary: Interesting, anyway
Review: I read this book in Spanish (good translation), so I write my review in Spanish: el libro es interesante, fácil de leer, divertido e instructivo. Se delinea un curioso paralelismo, seguramente preconcebido, entre los asesinatos en la isla tras el motín y el final de la historia de Dea. Pero casi todo él gira en torno a la propia Dea, una persona insensible, destructiva, egocéntrica, paranoica y neurótica. Las víctimas son los habitantes de Pitcairn esta vez. "El viajero no hace el viaje, el viaje lo hace a él". Esta máxima no puede aplicarse a Dea Birkett. Con una persona más adulta, culta e inteligente se habría conseguido un libro más rico y profundo. De todas formas el libro merece la pena. Best
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Summary: Great adventure account that ends in sniveling.
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book and can't remember when I finished a book in such a short amount of time. The author did a great job documenting her attraction to this fascinating island, it's wonderful history and it's peculiar people and culture. It turned out to be a real page-turner for me and her experience of being there became very vivid. However, after the first two-thirds of the book the author became a bit vindictive and sniveled about her personal conflicts with some of the Islanders and how she was not able to fit in. It is true that there are a number of faults/quirks in their culture and many people would have a very difficult time adjusting, but it reached the point where I thought I was reading the diary of a teenager. None the less, I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys travel and adventure books.
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Summary: Intriguing look at the idiosyncrasies of the Pitcariners.
Review: I really enjoyed the book, and can admire Dea Birkett's attempt at integrating herself in this closed society, but one does wonder why? She does seem to have respect for the Pitcariners, and does a wonderful job of detailing the idiosyncrasies of the island population and their language. However, after uncovering the dirty little secret of the younger crowd, she makes a concerted effort to ruin her creditability by having an affair with a married man. Puzzling!
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