Comments on: Dea Birkett’s ‘Serpent in Paradise,’ a Harrowing Memoir of Pitcairn Island, the Refuge of Bounty Mutineers http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/05/07/dea-birkett%e2%80%99s-serpent-in-paradise-a-harrowing-memoir-of-pitcairn-island-the-refuge-of-bounty-mutineers/ Janice Harayda Reviews Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry for Adults and Children Mon, 20 May 2013 13:35:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: pelicanmooch http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/05/07/dea-birkett%e2%80%99s-serpent-in-paradise-a-harrowing-memoir-of-pitcairn-island-the-refuge-of-bounty-mutineers/#comment-8350 Mon, 19 Sep 2011 02:11:16 +0000 http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/05/07/dea-birkett%e2%80%99s-serpent-in-paradise-a-harrowing-memoir-of-pitcairn-island-the-refuge-of-bounty-mutineers/#comment-8350 To pitcairngal: Funny you should voice my very thoughts. I’ve never been to pitcairn, but I’m fascinated with the history and would love to visit.

However, I live near an island on the East Coast of the US, where they only have golf carts and bicycles and still speak with Elizabethan English accents. They are far more touched by modern society than the people of Pitcairn, but distrustful and have their own way of doing things. It’s very easy to alienate them.

If this lady went there expecting some island paradise tailor made for tourists, I can see why she was disillusioned. If she went there looking for trouble (which sounds like a distinct possibility), I’m sure she found some. It does sound very one sided.

]]> By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/05/07/dea-birkett%e2%80%99s-serpent-in-paradise-a-harrowing-memoir-of-pitcairn-island-the-refuge-of-bounty-mutineers/#comment-3825 Wed, 11 Jul 2007 14:29:54 +0000 http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/05/07/dea-birkett%e2%80%99s-serpent-in-paradise-a-harrowing-memoir-of-pitcairn-island-the-refuge-of-bounty-mutineers/#comment-3825 Thanks for the comment. I can see why people on Pitcairn would dislike this book …

]]> By: pitcairngal http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/05/07/dea-birkett%e2%80%99s-serpent-in-paradise-a-harrowing-memoir-of-pitcairn-island-the-refuge-of-bounty-mutineers/#comment-3821 Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:26:24 +0000 http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2007/05/07/dea-birkett%e2%80%99s-serpent-in-paradise-a-harrowing-memoir-of-pitcairn-island-the-refuge-of-bounty-mutineers/#comment-3821 As a person who has lived on Pitcairn I found Dea Birketts book very poorly done. She lied about why she was there (she told them she was researching the postal service) and you can tell in the book when people found out why she was really there as that is when she started to feel “threatened” although sleeping with a married man didn’t help. Her book is very onesided and based on a very short time on island. I have on and off spent three years of my life here and still wouldn’t feel qualified to write a book about it. Although simple on the surface, Pitcairners are a complex people and are forever distrustful now at the injustice done to them in print.

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