Novel-In Translation-Indonesian
By Eka Kurniawan. Translated from the original Indonesian by Annie Tucker
While other boys his age get girlfriends and go to the theatre, Sato Reang is forced to spend every night in prayer recitation. There are tragedies involving fire. Fire begins to feel like a slowly developing leitmotif, a stand-in for anger, rage, rebellion and other teenhood feelings.
And then father dies. What initially feels like freedom from religious duties quickly starts to escalate into a taste for violence for the teenager. He quickly realizes that his father can no longer force him to play by the rules. Sato Reang is suddenly and absolutely and violently free to do anything he pleases.
Reviewed by: Deepa Bhasthi