A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Setelah sukses dengan buku best selling-nya, The Kite Runner, pada tahun 2004, Khaled Hosseini kembali dengan novel barunya berjudul A Thousand Splendid Suns di tahun 2007 silam. Cukup lama, namun penggemar buku-buku historical fiction karyanya selalu dinanti dan memiliki tempat tersendiri di hati para penggemarnya.


He is one of the best male author of all time. Dalam A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini lebih mengupas sisi sejarah kelam Afghanistan di bawah pemerintahan Soviet dan Taliban dibandingkan dalam novel terdahulunya. Penderitaan yang tergambar sangat riil dan menciptakan sensasi tersendiri ketika membacanya. Kesakitan yang sama, kebencian yang sama seperti yang mereka rasakan pada saat itu. Bagaimana jiwa-jiwa tak bersalah dibunuh dan disiksa tanpa ampun dan bagaimana rakyat yang bertahan hidup dalam ancaman.

Hosseini juga mengupas sisi kehidupan wanita Afghanistan yang selama ini menjadi misteri. Bagaimana dulu wanita diperlakukan dalam rumah tangga, dan bagaimana anak-anak perempuan dipaksa berhenti sekolah dan menikah pada usia belia. Wanita-wanita tidak diperbolehkan keluar rumah; kehidupan mereka hanyalah terbatas oleh pagar dan dinding di sekelilingnya. Bila mereka harus keluar rumah, mereka diwajibkan memakai burqa dan wajib ditemani oleh mahramnya--wanita sama sekali tidak diperkenankan berkeliaran di jalanan seorang sendiri. Wanita dijaga sedemikian rupa, namun juga pada satu sisi lain mereka hanya dijadikan objek dan benda tak berperasaan, sebagai sasaran kekerasan oleh suaminya.

Di balik penderitaan dan kesakitan yang tercipta, Hosseini membubuhi bumbu lain yang membuat novel ini nampak sangat touching; bahwa di dunia yang tak bersahabat, di tengah kehidupan yang penuh oleh pembunuhan, pengeboman, dan siksaan, every single little pleasure may become one of the great happiness. Love, friendship, still live in the hearts of people who hope...

Bingkai Imaji

"Kampus kita Rin, kampus kita itu cuma menjadi bingkai imaji yang mengurung kita dari kehidupan luar. Sadar gak sih kamu Rin, kalau kampus itu banyak dihuni oleh orang-orang yang berdaya, sementara yang tak berdaya terlupakan di balik bingkai itu. Kita seolah-olah nggak pernah dihadapkan oleh kenyataan yang sesungguhnya, bahwa rakyat Indonesia itu gak semuanya seperti mereka . . . maksudku, kalian.”

That paragraph above is the excerpt of a short story titled Bingkai Imaji. I wrote this story and sent it to Olimpiade Ilmiah Mahasiswa FIB UI .

This story was written based on my observation toward university students, especially in big cities, like Depok or Jakarta. I think there are many things that we should concern and think critically about campus life; not only the academic life, but also the other aspects. I took one of the example of how a campus could be the "stage" of showing off your economy status. The pride of driving cars to campus, wearing branded clothes, or competing to have the newest and more sophisticated gadget are the "usual" things to see. They forget that, behind that gate, outside those walls, there are so many mouths longing for food, so many men trying to find shelter, and so many children trying to survive by knocking your car windows...

You could agree with that, or you could deny it. That's what critics do.

Anyway, I'm not trying to show off, but this short story became the big 10 of Lomba Cerpen dan Puisi OIM FIB UI 2012. And this story was compiled into an Ebook that could be downloaded freely. Here's the link and you could give me your feedback after reading the full version of it. Thank you :) 

The Help oleh Kathryn Stockett

Siapapun yang menyukai buku historical fiction, The Help merupakan salah satu a highly-recommeded book to read before you die. Pada awalnya saya sendiri sulit untuk dapat menyerapi buku-buku historical fiction. Pertama karena tebal bukunya kadang nggak nanggung-nanggung. Kedua karena isu yang ditampilkan dalam buku-buku tersebut kadang terlalu berat untuk otak saya *sigh*

Namun, lama-kelamaan saya jadi menemukan kecintaan tersendiri terhadap buku-buku ber-genre ini. Saya selalu salut oleh para penulis yang "berani" mengusung genre ini. Memunculkan latar belakang sejarah dan isu yang berkembang--bahkan di zaman saat mereka sendiri belum lahir--pasti merupakan pekerjaan berat yang membutuhkan riset yang tak sedikit.

The Help salah satunya.

Buku ini mengisahkan tentang tiga orang perempuan yang hidup pada tahun '60-an di Amerika Serikat, pada saat rasisme masih menjadi isu sentral. Ada pemisahan yang jelas antara mereka yang berkulit putih dan keturunan Negro di negeri itu, terutama di negara bagian Mississippi. Yang berkulit putih distereotipkan bahwa mereka yang berada dalam hierarki tertinggi, sementara para Negro hanya menjadi kaum pekerja atau buruh dengan kondisi sosial dan ekonomi yang menyedihkan. Pemisahan antara rumah sakit, lingkungan tempat tinggal, hingga sekolah masih sangat terasa. Bahwa mereka yang berkulit hitam di"haram"kan untuk memakai fasilitas yang sama dengan mereka yang berkulit putih.

Ironisnya, wanita-wanita yang berasal dari kelas ekonomi dan sosial menengah ke atas (which are, the Whites), kebanyakan dari mereka merupakan pekerja sosial. Mereka mengirimkan donasi atas barang-barang dan makanan kepada mereka yang kelaparan di Afrika, sementara mereka yang tinggal dekat sekali dengan mereka diperlakukan selayaknya budak.

Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan dapat mencium bau ke"tidaknormal"an ini selulusnya dari universitas. Ditambah lagi, Constantine, pengasuhnya semenjak bayi, menghilang entah kemana dan tak ada seorang pun yang mau membuka mulut untuk menjelaskannya. Bagi dia, Constantine itu lebih dari sekedar seorang pengasuh atau pembantu (The Help). Baginya, Constantine merupakan sosok ibu kedua yang menyayanginya dan menanamkan nilai-nilai kebaikan untuknya.

Berangkat dari sana, Skeeter memutuskan untuk membuat suatu perubahan dari sebuah hal kecil: melihat perspektif baru tentang isu the Whites vs Colored dari perspektif mereka yang berada dalam kategori subordinat. Yaitu para orang-orang berkulit hitam. Dari kalangan pekerja rumah tangga. Skeeter menulis sebuah buku yang berjudul Help, sebagai representasi "ini loh keadaan antara kulit putih dan kulit hitam di Mississippi tuh gini..." dan membuka pandangan masyarakat akan kenyataan yang ada. Tentu, sepanjang perjalanan penulisan buku itu, banyak pahit manis dan jatuh bangun Skeeter dan kedua sahabat kulit hitamnya yang membantu sepanjang penulisan buku, Abeileen dan Minny. Bekerja secara diam-diam, dimusuhi oleh teman-temannya, hingga ancaman maut yang menghadang.

Tentu, dalam hal itu bukan hanya hal-hal buruk saja yang disampaikan. Banyak kisah indah persahabatan yang dikisahkan antara mereka yang berkulit putih dan berkulit hitam. Banyak kisah mengharukan dalam menyatukan perbedaan-perbedaan itu yang menunjukkan bahwa they can change the condition. And sure, they can.

Life in the Form of Fiction

"The pain increases the bliss."

The Cookie Club

"Don't keep fighting battles that are already lost."

One Day

"Bad things happen to good people."

Shooting Kabul

"When you get old and look back on your life, it's not the things you did that you regret, it's all the things that you didn't do that come back to haunt you."

Mum's the Word

"You could make something amazing out of something awful."

Last Little Blue Envelope

"Sometimes life leaves you without directions, without guideposts, or signs. When this happens, you just have to pick a direction and run like hell."

13 Little Blue Envelopes

"What is important cannot be seen."

The Little Prince

"As we turn toward the future, let us not ever forget our past, but learn what we can from it. We must not let the memories be a burden to us, but a joyous reminder for our past blessings."

Change of Heart

"It's scary how powerful hate can be."

Something Like Fate

"Chemistry could sparkle in the most surprising places and between the most unlikely people."

Love in Headscarf

"I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you."

The Alchemist

"Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot."

Breakfast at Tiffany's

"A boy who can't stand up for himself became a man who can't stand up to anything."

The Kite Runner

Emily Giffin and Her Four-Star Novels

Raise your hand if you're (also) the big fan of Emily Giffin! Everyone who knows the movie Something Borrowed must know that this movie is based on best selling novel with the same title. And who doesn't know the author? For those who have watched this movie I recommend you to also read the novel. NO, to read all Emily Giffin's novels!

To me, she's the best American chicklit author so far. I love her way of describing things and developing characters. If we take a look to the plot, it might be some kind of ordinary. Urban life, adultery, breaking up, and family conflicts. All those kinds are ordinary things. However, there's something different in her writing style. She develops these "ordinary" things into something different, something fresh and new that will never make the readers bored. What makes me really fall in love with her writings is the unexpected ending. From her 5 novels that I read, not even one book that I could guess how the ending is. This what makes me stick into these books until the ending.

In addition, the characters in these novels are also related. For example, Rachel and Dexter are the main characters of Something Borrowed. Darcy and Ethan, Rachel's best friends, are the main characters of Something Blue. Claudia, Ethan colleague's in the same publishing company, is the main character of Baby Proof. And Tessa, Dexter's sister, is the main characters of Heart of the Matter. This kind of relationship makes all those characters felt so real.

Inspiring? Yes, indeed. Here are some quotes that I found in her 5 novels.

Something Borrowed

"Sometimes good people do bad things."

"Have you ever been gone down a road, for down it, and wondered maybe if it wasn't what you want."

"Time heals all wounds, particularly if you pack a bunch of stuff into that time."

"When you're in love, sometimes you have to swallow your pride, and sometimes you have to fight to keep your pride. It's a balance."

"Sometimes the sameness in a friend is what you like the most about her."

"Patience is a virtue. Good things come to those who wait. Time cures all things."

"We can't help the way we feel."

"Nothing lasts forever, especially the good stuff."

Something Blue

"I marveled at how such a monumental realization can unfold in an instant and change every single thing in your life."

"The opposite love isn't hate; it's indifference."

"Happiness is the best revenge."

Baby Proof

"Sometimes it's easier to take things in small steps."

"Sometimes the timing is wrong--and sometimes you realize the heart of the matter way too late in the game."

"It's just that moving on sometimes consists of some minor setbacks along the way."

How emotions seemed so magnified when you're a child. Joy is more all-encompassing, disappointments more crushing, hope more palpable."

Love the One You're With

"Dreams sometimes--often--mean absolutely nothing."

"Everyone needs to get dumped once--that it's part of life."

"A son is a son 'til he gets a wife, but a daughter is a daughter all her life."

Heart of the Matter

"There is more heartbreak in continuous disappointment that a void."

"What fool ever said that it's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all."

"Just because two people believe in something, however intensely, doesn't make it real."

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

A couple weeks ago, for the first time, I finished reading a historical fiction book titled A Book Thief. It was a kind of achievement for me :p because so many times I was assigned with my lecturer to read some historical fiction books, but I never finished them. It was such a miracle I intended to read this kind of book without being obliged.

For those who want to read this book later, I suggest not to read this spoiler-contain review.

It was set in 1939, Germany, when the Nazi influence was still strong... When being a Jew became a sin... Liesel Meminger was a foster child of the Hubermanns. She was abandoned by her biological mother after the death of her brother. Up until the end of the story, she never told meeting her mother again. However, her life with the Hubermanns was much better. She was sent to school, she had a close friend, which was the boy next door, Toni (I forgot his family name).

What's the correlation between the plot of the story and the title, The Book Thief? Who actually is the book thief? Liesel is. The first time she stole a book when she was in her brother's funeral. The title of the book was A Grave Digger Handbook. It was such inappropriate for a 12-year-old (If I'm not mistaken) like her. However, her curiosity grew higher as she found this book. She was willing to learn to read, to open her world into a little wider. After that, stealing books became her habit. Liesel's stealing books was not because she was a thief or else, but because the economy of her family wasn't possible to afford her books. At the same time, reading became her only joy in this unfortunate situation.

If you ask some romance in this story, yes there was, but it was not as much as chicklit or teenlit books. As I mentioned before, Liesel became friend with her next door neighbor, Toni. From the very beginning, Toni showed the sign of being in love with Liesel. However, Liesel herself showed no interest in him. Funny thing was, Toni kept asking her to kiss him. Indeed, Liesel refused it again and again.

Sadly, the end of the book made Liesel suffered again of abandonment. Not because her foster parents left her, but because of the bombing that made them passed away. When she walked on the street in the following day, among the rubble, she found the dead body of her foster parents. And also Toni's. She cried and cried, holding and hugging his cold dead body. And in the end, she finally kissed him on the lips, tasting the cold blood of his that would never warm again...

"They say that war is death's best friend.
But I must offer you a different point of view on that one.
To me, war is like a new boss
Who expects the impossible." (The Book Thief--Markus Zusak)

Pertunjukan Teater "Goyang Penasaran"

Salimah meliuk-liukkan tubuhnya yang berkeringat disoroti warna-warni lampu panggung. Ditingkahi suara gendang, ia menghentak dengan celana ketat dan baju hitam penuh manik...

Salimah dihujat sekaligus tak henti dibicarakan. Dalam hati, setiap orang mengenangnya dengan cara yang berbeda.

(Cerpen Goyang Penasaran oleh Intan Paramadhita)

Penasaran.

Mendengar judulnya saja membuat penasaran.

Pementasan teater "Goyang Penasaran" ini dipentaskan pada tanggal 19-20 April 2012 lalu di Salihara, Jakarta Selatan. Tiket yang dijual kurang lebih 400 lembar selama 2 hari telah sold out bahkan beberapa hari sebelum pementasan.

Berkisah tentang Salimah, seorang penyanyi dangdut di kampung, mantan murid pengajian di masjid yang dipimpin oleh Haji Ahmad. Di kampungnya Salimah dipuja sekaligus dihujat karena goyangannya yang membuat para laki-laki berzina mata.

Diangkat dari sebuah cerpen yang ditulis oleh Intan Paramadhita, pementasan Goyang Penasaran ini merefleksikan kehidupan masyarakat Indonesia di sebuah perkampungan. Dengan setting padat penduduk yang sangat "Indonesia", celetukan-celetukan khas golongan kelas menengah ke bawah, membuat kita membuka mata akan realita yang ada.

Perempuan. Gender.

Perempuan dan Gender selalu menjadi hal menarik yang dibahas. Ada apa sebenarnya dengan wanita? Ada apa sebenarnya dengan isu gender dan feminisme?

Salimah di sini diwujudkan sebagai seorang perempuan yang seductive, mampu menyihir kaum laki-laki dengan goyangan "mautnya". Para laki-laki memujanya, membicarakannya, bahkan penasaran kepadanya. Namun di balik pujaan-pujaan yang dilontarkan itu, mengandung kata-kata yang justru merendahkannya ke derajat paling rendah. Ironis.

Aku sebenarnya kurang mengerti soal isu-isu feminisme yang berkembang, apalagi kalau disuruh mengkritik. Tapi aku melihat banyak keironisan dalam diri Salimah sebagai perempuan. Salah satu hal yang membuatku merinding adalah saat Salimah sedang bergoyang di atas panggung, sementara Haji Ahmad sedang memberikan ceramah di masjid soal zina mata. Bagaimana tatapan itu dapat mengundang hal buruk yang lebih besar. Bagaimana Salimah penasaran dengan tatapan mata Haji Ahmad yang dulu dilihatnya dan ingin dilihatnya lagi sekarang...

Sayang, penonton tidak diperbolehkan mengambil gambar dan merekam selama pementasan berlangsung. Jadi mungkin agak sulit untuk memvisualisasikannya. Anyway, bagi yang ketinggalan pementasannya dan penasaran seperti apa ceritanya, bisa langsung beli bukunya di Salihara. Edisi terbatas!

Oh iya, ini ada link trailernya kalau masih penasaran juga.

Selamat penasaran!

Trailer Goyang Penasaran