“I can walk, not because someone made a path for me, but because I have legs.”I consider this the defining statement in Spaces, the English-language version of Putu Oka Sukanta’s 2018 Celah. The author himself describes his book as “a work that weaves together elements of fact and the workings of … [Read more...]
Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind) – Pramoedya Ananta Toer
February 29, 2020 by
I read Bumi Manusia for the first time in 7th grade. The book itself was appropriate for that age (for your information, my parents raised a reader well but they weren’t too careful in advising books that were suitable to be read by a 7th grader and which one that were not. In consequences, I think … [Read more...]
The Rose of Cikembang, by Kwee Tek Hoay, translated by George A Fowler
February 28, 2020 by
How quickly the months roll around! Once again it is time for me to share my reading for the Indonesian bookgroup to which I belong, and this time, the book is a classic of Indonesian literature, The Rose of Cikembang (Boenga Roos dari Tjikembang) by Kwee Tek Hoay (1886-1951), translated by George … [Read more...]
Apple and Knife by Intan Paramaditha
February 16, 2020 by
The stories in Apple and Knife, the first English collection of award-winning Indonesian author Intan Paramaditha’s work, have been drawn from two of her books, and they are translated by Stephen J. Epstein. Paramaditha’s tales are inspired by fairytales, mythological stories, and horror, and this … [Read more...]
Review: Apple and Knife by Intan Paramaditha
February 16, 2020 by
Most of us know that every country and culture has its folk tales and fairy tales, and most of us know that these often horrific tales of punishment, death, revenge, and tragedy have been muted and twisted into happy stories by Disney, and in Japan’s recent children’s anime Yokai Watch. But how can … [Read more...]