SARAH LOHMANN WRITES — Vera Wong’s days are often uneventful. Despite owning her own business, she finds that her once vibrant neighborhood and community have become monotonous—until a dead man turns up in her teahouse. When the police, however, don’t seem to take it as seriously as she expects, Vera…
Tag: Indonesian book review
BOOK REVIEW: HAPPY STORIES, MOSTLY (2023) BY NORMAN ERIKSON PASARIBU — ALWAYS ALMOST, NEVER QUITE
GABY RUSLI WRITES— To be or not to be happy? That is certainly not the question. The soon-to-be-published in America short story collection Happy Stories, Mostly (2021) expresses an LGBTQ+ person’s limited accessibility to happiness in a world plagued with acute heteronormativity. Happy Stories, Mostly (2023) by Indonesian-born Norman Erikson Pasaribu is a collection…
BOOK REVIEW: THE INTERPRETER’S DAUGHTER (2022) — A FAMILY’S STORY OF FILIAL DUTY, FEMINIST PRINCIPLES, AND ENDLESS ENDURANCE
GABY RUSLI WRITES — In our unremarkable and mundane daily routines, we often forget that we are all the living instigators of history. Singaporean-born Fanny Law has always been aware of this profound and undeniable truth. Though she was dutiful in upholding the Confucian cultural practices carried across international waters from…
BOOK REVIEW: LETTERS TO SINGAPORE (2022) — INDIAN GIRLS ARE MEANT FOR MORE THAN ARRANGED MARRIAGES
GABY RUSLI WRITES — We all carry the power to take charge of our destinies and choices. Empowerment of oneself and those around us is the key to unlocking this power. In Letters to Singapore (2022), author Kelly Kaur tells the story of Simran, a twenty-year-old Indian-Singaporean girl who narrowly escapes an arranged marriage by…
BOOK REVIEW: WATERSONG (2022) BY CLARISSA GOENAWAN — THE SUBMERGING AND GRIPPING POWERS OF THE PAST
GABY RUSLI WRITES – The world is so much more than black and white, for there are always things unbeknown to us— secrets. A person is not who you know they are unless you know what they hide from the world. In the fictional Japanese town of Akakawa, Watersong (2022) by Clarissa Goenawan tells…
BOOK REVIEW: PAPER BOATS (2017) BY DEE LESTARI — A NOVEL FOR THE TETHERED YOUNG DREAMERS
GABY RUSLI WRITES — Sometimes in our younger, more vulnerable years, we find ourselves roaming the world, trying to find out who we are and what we are meant to do. Set between the Netherlands and Indonesia, Dewi Lestari’s Paper Boats (2017) serves to remind younger Indonesian generations to march to the beat…
BOOK REVIEW: FAMILY ROOM (2010) BY LILY YULIANTI FARID — THE MANY FACES OF A FAMILY UNRAVELED
GABY RUSLI WRITES (in an on-going series of reviews of Indonesian classics) — A grandfather who seeks to marry off his granddaughters to his wealthy friends for connections. A young, successful model who suffered the consequences of her early success. A Chinese-Indonesian family was left with the scars and traumas…
BOOK REVIEW: TIGER! TIGER! (1991) BY MOCHTAR LUBIS — A TALE OF ONE MAN’S BATTLE AGAINST HIMSELF
GABY RUSLI WRITES (in an ongoing series of Indonesian classics) — Every person has within themselves a personal ‘tiger,’ whether it is vice, trauma, or an immoral act we bury inside of us. We spend our lives trying to subdue this tiger. Some succeed in taming their tigers, while others…
BOOK REVIEW: MAX HAVELAAR (1860) BY MULTATULI — REVISITING THE FUEL THAT IGNITED A REVOLUTION AGAINST DUTCH OPPRESSION
GABY RUSLI WRITES (in a series of reviews on Indonesian classics still in print) — It is a well-known fact that many great revolutions started from the circulation of finely written, brave literature. For the Indonesian natives who were growing weary of endless backbreaking work and hunger, Multatuli’s Max Havelaar (1860) represented what many…