After six years, I am very relieved that I am being very much occupied with enthusiasm to share whatever I feel and think about This Earth of Mankind, an Indonesian novel by the late Pramoedya Ananta Toer. The previous post detailed how much I have been struggling with enjoying Indonesian novels. … [Read more...]

Of course I’m angry, not just angry. Beyond rage. Furious. This isn’t a small thing. Yet they talked about marrying me off like we’re going to the salon to cut my hair. Hair grows back. Hello! This is marriage! Marriage means a whole new life with all those unknown unforeseeable things. Yes, I am … [Read more...]

Hard on the heels of The Idealist, Nicholas José’s new novel set in 1990s East Timor, (2023, see my review) comes another historical novel set in our region… Like The Idealist Mirandi Riwoe’s Sunbirds is set in the turbulent period shortly before decolonisation, but her novel is set during WW2 on … [Read more...]

To resist, the women in Birth Canal—as object of desire, porn actress, and sex worker—must stare back in their own fashion. . . In an intricately woven novel of generational legacies, untold inheritances, and our multivalent history, Indonesian author Dias Novita Wuri navigates the matrixes of … [Read more...]