the_lirazel reviewed Last Wild Men of Borneo by Carl Hoffman
Review of 'Last Wild Men of Borneo' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I have a lot of thoughts about this one. My feelings about this book are anything but straightforward. It's faced-paced, absorbing, well-written. More than that, it made me think a lot.
There are a lot of tangled themes explored in this book: neo-colonialism, the ethics of the trade of primitive art, environmentalism and conservation, the classic Victorian Gentleman Explorer trope as lived by white men in the late 20th century, orientalism/the Western obsession with the "exotic," the very idea of what kinds of ways of living have meaning. I came out with so many conflicted emotions.
On the one hand, Hoffman directly addresses the grossness of the Western/white/Global North's obsession with indigenous/untouched cultures and Eastern spirituality and all the many, many ways that is destructive, especially in a consumer culture. And yet he also falls into exactly that trap himself. Which I can't actually fault him for, because I have …
I have a lot of thoughts about this one. My feelings about this book are anything but straightforward. It's faced-paced, absorbing, well-written. More than that, it made me think a lot.
There are a lot of tangled themes explored in this book: neo-colonialism, the ethics of the trade of primitive art, environmentalism and conservation, the classic Victorian Gentleman Explorer trope as lived by white men in the late 20th century, orientalism/the Western obsession with the "exotic," the very idea of what kinds of ways of living have meaning. I came out with so many conflicted emotions.
On the one hand, Hoffman directly addresses the grossness of the Western/white/Global North's obsession with indigenous/untouched cultures and Eastern spirituality and all the many, many ways that is destructive, especially in a consumer culture. And yet he also falls into exactly that trap himself. Which I can't actually fault him for, because I have a weakness in that area myself. I appreciate his honesty about it, and yet I wanted him to come to some better conclusions about it. That's probably not fair of me.
This is a book that raises a lot of questions, but gives few firm conclusions. I wanted more conclusions than it gave, but I don't think anyone would be able to supply them. Instead of forcing conclusions onto the text, he leaves the questions on their own, which was really the only honest way to write the book.