“Anak Semua Bangsa” by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Book no. 2 out of 4 of the Buru Quartet, and right from the very beginning it dives straight into the chaos that the first book left us with. It has a plot twist early on from a forgettable object from the previous book, which turns out to have a pretty big background story. And even the first 2 chapters already provided more bombshells that they eclipsed the intensity of the entire first book.
No direct spoiler as usual, but let’s just say things are quickly becoming very interesting from the start, before the plot of the book then slowly calmed down and things turned into a more familiar discussion mode.
In this sequel, the social struggles between the [3rd class] locals towards [1st class] Europeans and [2nd class] Chinese and Japanese becomes more apparent. All the envy, resentment and injustice – oh the injustice – that are portrayed in the book can be felt so real, just as it really was in history. This somehow gives me a more complete understanding with what really happened in the East Indies during the Dutch colonial era, and helps me connect the dots with the stories that my grandmothers used to tell me.
And they resonate very well with the main theme of this 2nd book, on understanding our land and culture more closely, to pay more attention towards the locals and their day-to-day struggles, and ultimately to ignite nationalism.
Which is fitting, as I started to read the Buru Quartet funnily due to the encouragement of a foreigner friend that wanted to know more about Indonesian literature and culture, with him specifically encouraged me to read them in their original language bahasa Indonesia in order to get the real feel of it. Best advice ever.
Just like in the first book, the strength in the second book is in the bold characters and their incredible back stories, which gives a unique psychological reasoning behind their decision makings, even the cruel ones. Of course that doesn’t justify all the nasty things happening in the story but it does teaches us many new perspectives on how people live their lives, which is never black and white.
Moreover, the book also provides a surprisingly good big picture on how the media industry works in those days, complete with all the process of journalism and reporting, censorship, and how news spread slowly across the globe.
And by the way, remember that question I had on my review for Bumi Manusia, about why the Suharto regime banned the Buru Quartet? I get it now. It shows and teaches people how to stand up against the powerful tyranny, from the grassroots level to the big national mobilization.
But did they succeed on doing it? The ending of this book is so very satisfying, but brilliantly it also gives the exhilarating feeling of what will happen next. Things are just getting started.
More on Buru Quartet: Book 1 | Book 3 |Book 4 | The making of Buru Quartet
THE CHAOS THEORY 