Down and Out in Paradise

by Luke Williams

Journalist Luke Williams travels to Asia to escape hard drugs, high rents and cold nights - he finds adventure, temples, and for the first time - people actually weirder than him: Westerners in Asia. Or are they?

Extreme Asia is about Westerners who go to Asia for the things they can't find at home - riches, wives, ladyboys, cheap living and even cheaper drugs, cults, spices, mountains, tropical beaches, 'selfesteem' necklaces, and ascended masters. Luke fully immerses himself in these environments, going far beyond reportage, while aspects of his own history - his dreams, disappointments, urges, and his inherited struggle with mental illness - begin to catch up with him.

In this searingly honest book, Luke invites you into his headspace as he travels all over Asia. He spends a month working as a prostitute in Pattaya, eats snake heart
in Vietnam, and consults an American medium in Ubud, while tracing the history of Westerners - from the Greeks to Marco Polo and the colonialists - and their extreme experiences in the east.

Ultimately, Luke is confronted by what is, and what was, and his own footprint upon it all.

256 pages, Paperback

Published September 2, 2019

About the author

Luke Williams is an Australian journalist. He has worked as a reporter for ABC Radio, written for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian, Brisbane Times, Crikey, The Global Mail, The Weekend Australian and Eureka Street. He is the author of The Ice Age, an account of his experiences with addiction to crystal meth.

Reviews

[Benjamin Farr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually avoid travel memoirs like the plague, but this book is such a deliciously wonderful read that I was hooked from the first page. With prose that is laugh aloud funny and well-written, I was transported to the grimly lit backstreets of Asia. I look forward to reading many more books from Luke Williams.

[Jos M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Memoirs are tricky. If I very much dislike the narrator, does that mean I dislike the book? I don't know. Is it all true? Is any of it? I don't know that either. Druggie memoirs can also have an element of performative badness to them -- people would rather present themselves as VERY EVIL rather than self-medicating themselves for traumatic life circumstances. It's particularly difficult because I quite enjoy William's writing, but find myself HATING the "character" ( I guess) of Luke, who considers the ethical implications of people from the Global North coming to the Global South to pay people for sex and proceeds to do it anyway. And not just people, Luke in this has relationships or hires seventeen year old boys for sex which makes me so uncomfortable. It makes him uncomfortable too, but jeeze still. There are interesting sections of this, but man South East Asia ends up with just some difficult, difficult people floating around it experiencing some complex mixture of "exotic" rapture and white saviour narratives.

Another thread I found myself eye-rolling at was Luke's chip on his shoulder meeting Europeans about being an Australian. Who cares what a bunch of people on the banana pancake trail think of your country? Try and be respectful to the country you're visiting and don't worry about it? The "what's the difference between Australia and a pot of yoghurt" the oldest joke imaginable. Anyway, easy reading if you like this kind of thing

[Jan Golembiewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’d better leave a good review. Luke, the protagonist (Down and out in paradise is an autobiography) might punch me if I don’t. or at least the Old Luke would’ve. Like brings us on the journey of a violent, self-loathing and bitter young man as he makes several stabs at finding peace with himself, his sexuality (gay), his friends, mother, the dead men in his lineage, and most importantly his lovers.

The journey takes place in various cities in Asia, where he continually falls into grotty ghettoes of sex trafficking, drugs, robbers, slavery and wherever he goes, he finds communities of sordid westerners, who like him are searching for the underside of these Asian cities. But Luke somehow survives, and even transforms. Now I suspect that he might have quit the drugs, the violence, and possibly may even feel some equanimity if not happiness.

An enjoyable read. Heavy at times, but honest.

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. At the beginning it was great, but by the end I was slightly over the "poor me" story he was selling. Worth reading, but wouldn't put it on top of the pile.

[Erin Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of travel memoirs. Travel is always about experiencing and immersing yourself in other cultures, while simultaneously going on a journey of self-discovery. This book takes you on Luke's journey of that. I never like to judge a memoir as this is his story and it's not my place to say it's good or bad, it's someone's life just told in story.
The story itself was interesting, bizarre, revealing, unpleasant, so far removed from my world. Read it if you'd like to hear an interesting story.

[Bianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dark and different read but I appreciated Luke's honesty in dealing with his own demons both past and present. We went down some weird paths in this book but in some ways that was refreshing, and Luke has a good sense of humour that keeps in somewhat light-hearted in the face of some pretty serious and sometimes disturbing topics. I recommend this book if you're after something a little off beat and you can handle diving into some weird and crazy shit.

[tania · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tedious and self indulgent

[Danaë Paternoster · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read The Ice Age and Down and Out in Paradise around the same time, so have decided to write a review for both books together as I feel they are connected.

The Ice Age I have read to understand what meth does to a person and how users feel on it as synthetic drugs are making a havoc on our society. I enjoyed the statistics and policy framework added to the biography and also the history of the drug. It makes it an all-round book, for Australia anyway.
I learned more about ice in another book by Sam Quinones, called the least of us, about meth and fentanyl.
It is well written and I was happy to read he found some peace with himself at the end of the book.

Down and Out in Paradise I found easier to read as it doesn't contain much information like the Ice Age and is more of a travel journey. I was saddened to read that Luke was in a bad place again, but healing takes time and effort and I hope he found some balance in life after all.