Title : Cantik Itu Luka
Author : Eka Kurniawan
Publication date : January 2015
by Gramedia Pustaka Utama
First of all, I wouldn't have heard about this book if it wasn't for a phone app I downloaded about a month ago. A bookish app, a virtual library to be precise where users can borrow ebooks and read them on their phone. An awesome app, if you ask me. It is called iJakarta, and if you are from Indonesia (or speak Bahasa Indonesia), it is a good source for reading materials.
People rave this book and it got me curious so I borrowed it. Cantik Itu Luka has been translated into several language as well, English included, which called Beauty is a Wound. I read this in its original language, Bahasa Indonesia (because I speak it, duh!) and well, here's what I think of it.
Cantik Itu Luka is a complex story about the citizen of Halimunda, a fictional small town set between the fall of the Dutch colonization, the incoming of the Japanese until the rise and fall of communism in 1960s. The story started with the resurrection of Dewi Ayu, the most famous prostitute in Halimunda. Well, I meant it literally. She came back from her death after 21 years being buried on a grave. Ain't that chilling?
I cannot tell you much about the plot since this book is complex, complicated and intertwined with each other. If I can shorten it into a few sentences, I would say that it's One Hundred Years of Solitude a la Indonesia. Some scenes are even too similar with OHYoS, if not the exact carbon copy.
That irritated me a lot, actually. I wish Cantik Itu Luka to be more original because gosh, Eka Kurniawan is one heck of a writer, he could do better. I wonder where and how he got these crazy ideas, some of them are absurd and the rest are hilariously strange. This book made me laugh, scoff and cringe. Oh, and there's rape. A lot of it, actually and it got me confused because we Indonesians don't really talk about sex out in the open, but this book, geez! There's rape, incest, bestiality, practically everything we consider as taboo.
Since this is a very strange and crazy book, the characters are strange and crazy as well. I am not telling because I believe you have to find out for yourself. I am going to keep this short. I originally rated this 2, but since it haunted my mind in the past few weeks (it's an unforgettable tale, anyway), I have to raise it to 4.
I'd love to know about what you've read. What's the craziest book you're read so far? Tell us!
That irritated me a lot, actually. I wish Cantik Itu Luka to be more original because gosh, Eka Kurniawan is one heck of a writer, he could do better. I wonder where and how he got these crazy ideas, some of them are absurd and the rest are hilariously strange. This book made me laugh, scoff and cringe. Oh, and there's rape. A lot of it, actually and it got me confused because we Indonesians don't really talk about sex out in the open, but this book, geez! There's rape, incest, bestiality, practically everything we consider as taboo.
Since this is a very strange and crazy book, the characters are strange and crazy as well. I am not telling because I believe you have to find out for yourself. I am going to keep this short. I originally rated this 2, but since it haunted my mind in the past few weeks (it's an unforgettable tale, anyway), I have to raise it to 4.
I'd love to know about what you've read. What's the craziest book you're read so far? Tell us!
