Drenched in a tropical daydream

Living in Bali

Photos, Reto Guntli; text, Anita Lococo

Taschen, $24.99

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Both exquisite and disturbing, this coffee-table book is a lush photographic tour of homes built by the well-heeled international set who live, at least part of the year, in the tropical paradise of Bali.

The small Indonesian island -- south of the equator in the Indian Ocean -- is dotted with volcanoes, encircled by sand, blessed with wild beauty.

The photos, by Swiss photographer Guntli, are all that matter. They show airy, thatched roof homes with smooth, whitewashed stone or concrete walls and floors. Most are furnished with chunky beds, chairs and tables hand-hewn from the magnificent woods of the region.

The occasional spot of bright color or imported piece of European furniture shows up, but most homes are soothing paeans to the island’s natural wonders -- the tones and textures of stone, trees and earth.

And white is the omnipresent accent -- not just for walls and floors, but for linens and pillows used on the wood seating. Fans of “rustic tropical” at its most elegant may find inspiration for their own versions of island paradise. But it’s a good bet they’ll be left yearning for more information.

The text, sparse and sometimes irritatingly colonial, lacks specifics and seems condescending. “In 2000, the Japanese ryokan innkeepers Takashi Inaba and his wife Shihoko moved to Kaba-Kaba to be closer to their beloved housekeeper,” begins one chapter that offers no further information on the couple and only 16 cryptic lines of text about their house, to which 14 pages of superb photos are devoted. Captions don’t reveal much either.

The reader is left wondering what type of wood was used for certain spectacularly handsome chairs and tables. Nothing on how long it took to build these homes, and whether it was done by imported or local labor -- and at what cost. Not even an introduction to shed light on what it’s really like “living in Bali,” which is the title. But the publisher, known for superbly photographed volumes at relatively affordable prices, certainly succeeds in that realm once again.

Bettijane Levine