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Atlas Der Unsichtbaren Welt (2009)

by Tash Aw(Favorite Author)

3.29 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

3499249464 (ISBN13: 9783499249464)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

rororo

review 1: Tash Aw tells a good story.This book based in the mid 60s in Indonesia, it discusses the impact of the change from Dutch Colonialism on the people of Indonesia, the rich, the poor, and those Westerners who wanted to stay part of Indonesia as it seemingly moves into civil war. The focus is on two brothers, orphaned and then separated. The oldest brother is adopted by rich Malaysians but in his late teens had been embittered and is on a path of self destruction. He is surrounded by wealth but his life has no purpose. The younger brother, Adam, is adopted by a Dutch artist, who has love and empathy for both the country and his son. The Dutch artist is arrested and goes missing and his son goes to Jakarta to find him. Adam is poor but is rich in knowing the importance of... more family, respect, honesty and fairness.In Jakarta, Adam finds his father’s ex-girlfriend and soon finds himself in a whirlwind of communist activists, riots, corruption, greed and mistrust. The story ends with a new beginning
review 2: At first I didn't know that Tash Aw was Malaysian and when I found out, I was afraid it was going to be terribly biased. I was wrong, though. The book depicts Indonesia nicely and the national conflict within it. Though, I'm rather sad that Adam and Johan's relationship wasn't explored in details and they didn't get to see each other again in the end. In fact, at the end, it almost seemed like Johan was about to commit a suicide. However, I liked the idea of Margaret and Karl. To have a foreigner think of Indonesia as their own home, it was seriously touching. Also, I think the ending was a little less majestic than I had thought it would be. Of course, it is only natural that her story did not play a huge role in the country. It was clearly fictional, which has nothing to do with the actual history. If she made a huge, majestic ending, it would alter the actual history and the story would seem rather preposterous. less

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