Okay, so I was obliged to give this a four because I enjoyed it. I can't say that everyone will share my enthusiasm. "Typee" is to bread fruit and banana leaves, and the proper way to prepare poi as "Moby Dick" is to whaling, blubber, and whale ships. No seriously. I learned more ways to cook succulent pig wrapped in banana leaves (alla Hawaiian Luau Style) from this book than from any other source that I have read. And does anyone know what a Bread Fruit Tree is? Because it certainly seems like it has marvelous properties.

Typee is about Melville's adventure in the Marquesian Islands, particularly the happy Valley of the alleged cannibals called the Typee. Are they cannibals? Are they not cannibals? This is the driving question of the plot. Unfortunately, I was hoping that the story would have more to do with the conditions of life in the Merchant Service. Actually, Melville roams around on the island for most of the text, in various states of shabby, shipwrecked attire. He meets several natives, including a lovely lady, but he coincides to admiring her from afar. Surprisingly, the narrative is largely passive, as Melville describes the sights around him without being able to really participate in the ceremonies of the Typee tribe. At the end of the narrative, he escapes. But...you probably knew that since Melville lived to tell the tale, and also to tell about another whale tale, in his longer tale, "Moby Dick." This narrative reminded me of other popular 'sea-voyage' yarns of the time. Each chapter title lists the series of events which occur within the sections. Also, this book was marketed as a voyage story, not as fiction. However, I'm still in awe that something like this could actually happen to someone. Melville, really? Was the Merchant Service so terrible that you would rather stow away on an island full of cannibals?

Incredibly, from my prior reading, I'm going to have to say YES, yes I actually think that life at sea in the 1800's may have been that bad. So, I guess that with this in mind, I can conclude that "Typee" gives some indications of the conditions of Merchant Service after all.