Myth versus reality

I picked up this book, World's End, today from one of my favourite haunts, Basement Books. It's a diary/recollection of Captain J.R Grey living in Fiji and Tahiti during the 1930s and 40s.

I've always been a big fan of Tiki pop culture and the idea of escaping suburbanism for exotic adventures, but of course that is exactly what Tiki is - a fantasy, an elaborate story.

This book, I hope, will shed some light on what it really was like to live in the South Pacific during such transformative years. I go into it holding in one hand the fantasy of Tiki and in the other the reality of European colonialism.

Should be a great read!