Borneo Tom: In Story and Sketch: Love, Travel and Jungle Family in Tropical Asia
Publisher: Tom McLaughlin
Publish Date: August 27, 2010
Paperback, 132 pages
Non-Fiction, Travel, Memoir
ISBN: 978-9838082112
My Review
I didn't know what to expect when I picked up this book. I think I figured I would read a few of the essays/chapters/stories, whatever you would like to call each one page section, skip around and then write my review. I did not expect to be so captivated to take my entire afternoon and read it cover-to-cover. Though I will confess to reading the last couple of pages in the middle, but that didn't ruin anything, it just made me want to read the rest all the more.
Borneo Tom is a collection of what I like to think of as essays or short stories of different adventures in Tom's life as he lives and travels through the Far East. I really enjoyed the stories. He has a very down-to-earth tone that makes you feel like you are right there with him on each of the journeys. I like the lessons he learns and the humor he uses. I feel like I have gotten to know Tom a little and an area of the world that I knew very little about a lot more.
I found Borneo Tom to be a fascinating read and well worth my afternoon. And the illustrations that go along with the stories are great. I personally didn't need them, but they do add to the book. I want more of his stories and hope he continues to write and will be sure to check out his websites below.
If you enjoy travel-type memoirs then this is a book for you. If you like a book you can pick up here and there, then this can be a book for you but I dare you, I think you will find it hard to do it. I would finish a story and would immediately be immersed in the next even though I really needed to go do something else. It was just that enjoyable to me. So come join Borneo Tom and the others who join him on his journeys and learn more about this area of the world that he has chosen as his home at least most of the time.
My Rating: 4.5/5.0
About Tom McLaughlin
Science teacher Tom McLaughlin battled a rare neurological disease to
a stand still, packed up his life and moved to Malaysian Borneo from a
Washington D.C. suburb.
Landing in Kuching, he quickly learned the Malay language and
involved himself in projects which includes orangutan rehabilitation and
research about the famed naturalist, Alfred Wallace, whose thunder was
stolen by Charles Darwin.
The advent of cheap air travel to many destinations in Southeast Asia
transported him to many adventures. From dancing naked in an earthquake
in Sumatra, to getting lost in a warren of World War II Japanese caves
to walking the rim of a volcano with poisonous gas, he has jumped with
foolhardiness into everything wild and wonderful, all related in his
book Borneo Tom.
Reuniting with his Peace Corps family of thirty five years ago,
sharing adventures with one daughter, then reconciling with another
after a divorce, marriage with full kampung ceremony and then taking
both daughters on his honeymoon to Bali are a few of the highlights of
his remarkable personal life. Oh, but we can’t forget? His vasectomy
coupled with a wife diagnosed as barren has reproduced a son, Dzul
Patrick, now a few months old.
Tom teaches at the Lodge International School in Kuching, Malaysian
Borneo while writing about his adventures as a US expat living in
Borneo.
You can find him at:
BorneoTom.com
On Twitter
On Facebook
On Kindle!
About Borneo Tom: In Story and Sketch: Love, Travel and Jungle Family in Tropical Asia
Join award winning science teacher Tom McLaughlin as he moves from
America to Malaysian Borneo as he tracks orangutans, dances naked in an
earthquake, swims with jellyfish
AND MORE DANGEROUSLY…falls in love.
Walk with him through a cacophony of emotions including great joy
when he finds the love of his life and marries in a village ceremony,
reunites with one daughter after a divorce, travels with another and
flies the entire family on his honeymoon in Bali. Oh, yes, did I
forget? His vasectomy and his wife’s diagnosis of barrenness produces a
son, Dzul Patrick, now a few months old.
Each stand alone chapter is humorously sketched by Water Front Niki, a
familiar face to all who visit Kuching. Niki’s sensitive portraits of
the national bird, the Hornbill, decorates living rooms world wide.
**Proceeds from the book go for items that support the Matang
Wildlife Center that rehabs orangutans and other amazing wildlife.**
Read an Exerpt!
Bukit Tinggi, Sumatra
Indonesia – Women rule here. The culture, matriarchal, requires the land
pass to the daughters. The custom predates the arrival of Islam and no
number of Saudi Arabian missionaries, whose job it is to ensure pure
Islamic tradition being observed, are ever going to change it to the
Qu’ran required patriarchal system. They have tried. And believe me
when I tell you, these ladies would have no part if it! Local customs
and religious belief coexist side by side as they have for hundreds of
years.
I wandered into one particular village and stopped at a house and
chatted with the owner. She was lovely lady in her 40s with two
teenagers, a son and daughter. She informed
http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpher husband had
divorced her and left. I teasingly asked her if I could marry her and
move in but I think she thought I was serious. She looked me over,
considered the idea and said yes but everyday I would have to work in
the nearby rice fields. There would be no freeloader man in her house, I
surmised.
FTC Information:
I received this book from the author through Pump Up Your Book Promotion for an honest review. I have Amazon
links on my review pages but I do not make any money from
these because of NC laws. I put them solely for people to
check out the books on a retail site.
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