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Rumah Di Seribu Ombak (2012)

by Erwin Arnada(Favorite Author)

3.56 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Gagas Media

review 1: Also known as the idealist's guide to tolerance, this book aims to teach the readers the noble value of just that - accepting others' differences, particularly in terms of religion. It is a strong theme, I must say, and a particularly tricky one, but Erwin handles it with grace, though it's not without its shortcomings. Its main shortcoming is the ending. I feel that it's glorifying suicide - Yanik has gotten through his troubles, and although his mother has passed away, he could easily start a new life, especially since he now had a lover in form of his bestfriend's little sister. But he chose not to and killed himself instead, because "he doesn't have anything else to live for". I found that disturbing, since, having dealt with suicidal thoughts myself in my adolescence,... more it is not a simple thing. Nor it is beautiful as the writer made it seem to be in this book. Suicide is also a strong, tricky topic - and the writer didn't handle this one gracefully. Yanik could have still made his home amongst the waves with other, more rational plot twists, such as an accident in the sea. It would make much more sense and not romanticizing suicide. Another shortcoming is that it upholds lofty ideals and it didn't bring those ideas down to Earth very successfully - it follows a lot of fiction common tropes like the protagonist (Samii) conquering his fear through a combination of hard work and an amazing luck anyone would envy, and finally managed to become a pro surfer (Hero's journey trope). I get the feeling that Erwin loves his characters too dearly and didn't want to put them through real hell.But in the end, it makes one very interesting read, a breath of fresh air among Indonesian books in particular - and two thumbs up for the writer's gut to raise the issue of pedophilia. He also managed to capture the common, rural Balinese's day-to-day life and culture - and it's these things that count.
review 2: Ekspektasi awal saya terhadap buku ini besar. Saya sudah membayangkan bagaimana menariknya tema pluralisme dan persahabatan yang diangkat, plus Bali sebagai latar tempat. Rumah di Seribu Ombak bercerita tentang persahabatan dua anak Bali yang berbeda kepercayaan yaitu Samihi dan Wayan Manik. Sejujurnya pada bagian awal pendeskripsian cerita sangat baik, konflik-konflik yang menarik. Namun, di bagian menjelang akhir buku ini seperti kehilangan 'greget'nya. Meski ending cukup tak mudah ditebak, namun menurut saya beberapa bagian terlalu datar.Namun pun saya tetap mengagumi penggambaran detail cerita yang baik, sehingga pembaca mendapat visualisasi pernik Bali. Serta keberanian penulis untuk mengangkat konflik sosial seperti peristiwa bom bali dan kekerasan seksual pada anak. Pembaca dapat menangkap sudut pandang positif penulis dalam memandang perbedaan. less

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