What do you think?
Scrounging the Islands with the Legendary Don the Beachcomber: Host to Diplomat, Beachcomber, Prince and Pirate
Scrounging the Islands with the Legendary Don the Beachcomber is the life story of the man who created the Mai Tai and more than ninety other original tropical rum drinks. He started the Tiki culture, and his fame as a restaurateur, entrepreneur and business man eventually grew to international proportions. Often thought of as no more than a fictional character by those who never met him, syndicated columnist Jim Bishop There was and still is a drawing of Don the Beachcomber on the menu cover. A mustached man wearing a battered woven hat. Staring out at the farthest horizons. I never dreamed there was a real Don the Beachcomber. Just a drawing I thought. Then at Suva, on the far side of Fiji, the drawing came to life. Don stepped off an old prop passenger plane. The hat was the same. So were the mustache and quick black eyes.
156 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 2007
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
April 21, 2015
Though other reviews have pointed out how poorly thrown together this little tribute to the paradisiacal visionary and founding father of the tiki bar (as we know it) is, I had to read it myself to believe it.
Comprised of a collection of short short chapters, this very affectionate portrait of Ernest Gantt, in which the subject is often referred to in full title as "the legendary Don the Beachcomber" (sometimes repeatedly within the span of a single paragraph), is a frustrating read to say the least. Segmented episodes weave a mishmash of war stories, armchair yarns, and other memoir fodder into a disjointed tapestry of tall tales that frequently end abruptly, if they end at all. There are few precious narrative nuggets to be gleaned from this slim volume, and just enough interesting pictures included that some of the more hard-to-swallow aspects of Beach's adventures are occasionally rendered as palatable as his potent potions, but the overall dissatisfaction that comes with every attempt to digest this mess resides in its distractions (recurring typos, unnecessary cliffhangers, and the love-labor behind this half-baked achievement).
It is not truly awful, but it is NOT the "the legendary Don the Beachcomber" biography I hoped it would be.
Comprised of a collection of short short chapters, this very affectionate portrait of Ernest Gantt, in which the subject is often referred to in full title as "the legendary Don the Beachcomber" (sometimes repeatedly within the span of a single paragraph), is a frustrating read to say the least. Segmented episodes weave a mishmash of war stories, armchair yarns, and other memoir fodder into a disjointed tapestry of tall tales that frequently end abruptly, if they end at all. There are few precious narrative nuggets to be gleaned from this slim volume, and just enough interesting pictures included that some of the more hard-to-swallow aspects of Beach's adventures are occasionally rendered as palatable as his potent potions, but the overall dissatisfaction that comes with every attempt to digest this mess resides in its distractions (recurring typos, unnecessary cliffhangers, and the love-labor behind this half-baked achievement).
It is not truly awful, but it is NOT the "the legendary Don the Beachcomber" biography I hoped it would be.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review