SynopsisPlot
"The literary device of juxtaposing the story of the Fiji coup against autobiographical reminiscences of a Fiji background works very well. This is an excellent story, beautifully written and skillfully mixing the personal with the political. The EH McCormick Award for the Best First Book of Non-Fiction, sponsored by the New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN Inc) and Creative New Zealand, goes to Kava in the Blood by Peter Thomson." - Judges Report, Montana New Zealand Book Awards, 2000. Entwined through the author's reportage of the 1987 coups is an evocative picture of life in the islands. Thus, Kava in the Blood is also an intriguing story of hurricanes, haunted houses, and copious kava consumption, set within the dramatic landscapes and vibrant cultures of the Fiji Islands.
Story
About this book
Peter Thomson's Kava in the Blood is a work of non-fiction that moves between two layers of Fiji. One layer is political: Thomson reports on the 1987 military coups that twice overthrew Fiji's elected government within a single year. The other layer is personal, drawing on his own memories of growing up in the islands. The book sets these two threads side by side, letting the political upheaval and the author's earlier life illuminate each other.
Thomson's autobiographical sections present everyday Fiji through concrete episodes: hurricanes, local stories of haunted houses, and long sessions of drinking kava, the mildly sedative beverage made from the root of the yaqona plant and central to Fijian social life. These details ground the book in specific places and customs rather than treating Fiji as a backdrop. The landscapes and cultural life of the islands come through in particular scenes rather than general summary.
The book won the EH McCormick Award for Best First Book of Non-Fiction at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2000. The judges noted that the structure of placing coup reportage alongside personal history worked effectively, and described the writing as skillful in combining political and personal material.
