
Translated by Stephen J. Epstein
Format: Paperback, English
208 page(s)
ISBN/ISBN13: /9781925704006
Published Mar 01, 2018 by The Lifted Brow
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Inspired by horror fiction, myths and fairy tales, Apple and Knife is an unsettling ride that swerves into the supernatural to explore the dangers and power of occupying a female body in today’s world.
These short fictions set in the Indonesian everyday—in corporate boardrooms, in shanty towns, on dangdut stages—reveal a soupy otherworld stewing just beneath the surface. Sometimes wacky and always engrossing, this is subversive feminist horror at its best, where men and women alike are arbiters of fear, and where revenge is sometimes sweetest when delivered from the grave.
Mara finds herself brainstorming an ad campaign for Free Maxi Pads, with a little help from the menstruation-eating hag of her childhood. Jamal falls in love with the rich and powerful Bambang, but it is the era of the smiling general and, if he’s not careful, he may find himself recruited to Bambang’s brutal cause. Solihin would give anything to make dangdut singer Salimah his wife – anything at all.
In the globally connected and fast-developing Indonesia of Apple and Knife, taboos, inversions, sex and death all come together in a heady, intoxicating mix full of pointed critiques and bloody mutilations. Women carve a place for themselves in this world, finding ways to subvert norms or enacting brutalities on themselves and each other.1
Other/Related Editions

Apple and Knife
English / 2018
— Kristine Harper in Here are (Five of) the Books that Made My Heart Sing in 2022 (Personal Blog, Feb 08, 2023)
— Chris Talbott in A lauded Indonesian writer’s English debut and 4 more fresh horror books perfect for Halloween (Seattle Times, Oct 22, 2020)
— Bee Oder in 10 Short Story Collection about Women (Book Riot, Jul 10, 2018)
— Brooke Boland in Review: Apple and Knife by Intan Paramaditha (ArtsHub, May 28, 2018)
— Emily Bitto in ‘Apple and Knife’: a riot of unruly women (Monthly, May 04, 2018)
— Lisa Bennett in Lisa Bennett reviews ‘Apple and Knife’ by Intan Paramaditha, translated by Stephen J. Epstein (Australian Book Review, May 01, 2018)
— Cameron Woodhead in Fiction review: Apple and Knife (Sydney Morning Herald, Mar 30, 2018)
— in Intan Paramaditha Apple and Knife (Saturday Paper, Mar 03, 2018)
— Suzanne Steinbruckner in Apple and Knife by Intan Paramaditha (Readings – Blog, Feb 26, 2018)
— Norman Erikson Pasaribu in Disobedient women (Mekong Review, Feb 09, 2018)
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