First I will confess that "The Year of Living Dangerously" is my favorite movie. I watched the movie (probably half a dozen times) before I ever read the book years ago. I'm not sure what compelled me to pick it up again, but I'm so glad I did. While I love the movie for its atmosphere, I love the book for its insights into the politics of Indonesia in the early 1960s. That time period was so politically volatile, and it was completely overshadowed by the rapidly growing war in Vietnam. This boo More...

Ini adalah novel yang cukup baik menggambarkan masa-masa kelam sejarah Indonesia tersebut. Sebelumnya sangat jarang, hanya bisa dihitung dengan jari, sebuah roman yang menggambarkan masa-masa pemberontakan G 30 S/PKI tanpa adanya sponsor dari pemerintah. Untuk itu, novel ini terhitung berharga untuk bangsa Indonesia.

Indonesia disini dipandang dari kacamata orang asing. Pada masa itu, Indonesia sangat membenci orang asing dengan propaganda Soekarno yang anti Nekolim. Indonesia pada masa pemerinta More...

"Novel terbaik tentang Indonesia."(www.amazon.com)

Hmm..sepertinya tidak ah, biasa saja tuh. Kisahnya berlatar belakang di Indonesia pada tahun 1965an dimana ada kudeta oleh PKI. Kisah ini dibumbui dengan percintaan segitiga warga negara asing yang menjadi tokoh sentral.

Mungkin buku ini memang tidak cocok saja dengan saya, capek dan letih membacanya. Ditambah lagi dengan penyebutan satu tokoh yang berganti-ganti. Billy Kwan, kadang disebutkan Billy kadang Kwan. Guy Hamilton, kadang disebutkan Guy More...

Asisten Anda, Kumar, Adalah seorang PKI

Sebuah pesan singkat terketik rapi diatas sehelai kertas segi empat, tanpa nama pengirim, dimasukan dalam sebuah amplop putih yang tertutup rapat, tergeletak di atas karpet. Sengaja diletakan ditempat yang mencolok agar Guy Hammilton bisa menemukannya.

Guy Hamilton seorang wartawan yang baru dipindah ke Indonesia untuk menggantikan pendahulunya Potter. Saat itu wartawan Inggris dan Amerika dicekal, hingga untuk urusan berita mereka dilayani sebagian besar o More...

I loved the movie, but the book was far better. Even if you don't give a fig about Inodensian politics, The Year of Living Dangerously is a must read. Guy Hamilton is a problematic hero; he is far more likeable in the movie. But that's what makes the book shine...there are no heroes, just shadowy characters set against the folkloric myths of Indonesia's spooky wayang puppets (see Youtube link below).

In defense of the movie, the casting of Linda Hamilton as Billy Kwan could not have been more spo More...

Buku yang satu ini konon tidak boleh beredar di era orde baru; sekarang mungkin gue tau kenapa buku ini nggak boleh beredar. Tapi yah, akhirnya beredar juga dan gue bisa sedikit menganalisa mengapa buku ini nggak boleh keluar.

Buku ini bercerita mengenai seorang jurnalis bernama Guy Hamilton yang ditempatkan di Indonesia untuk meliput kegiatan Indonesia paska kemerdekaan (1960 something). Penempatan Guy di Inodnesia membawanya bertemu dengan Billy Kwan, seorang kameramen handal asal Australia. Pe More...

Reading Patrick Holland's new novel got me thinking about Australian authors covering S E Asia and digging through my library for a book I almost forgot I had, and I started re-reading it. The Year of Living Dangerous is a masterpiece, and somehow, nearly forgotten here in Aus. For all the talk you get about the Asian Century and how dynamic life in and around the Australasian region has become, our literati sure do seem to like their distractionist (is that a word?) Historico-Euro fluff. Not th More...

This is the first sentence:
"There is no way, unless you have unusual self-control, of disguising the expression on your face when you first meet a dwarf."
Bloody brilliant! It is set in Jakarta in '65 when Sukarno's regime was at the height of it's destructive powers. It is told through the eyes of jaded journo, Hamilton. It is Hamilton's association with dwarf cameraman, Billy Kwan,that is effected by their assignment and provides the emotional heart of the novel. I've read it three times now an More...

I thought this was really interesting. I haven't seen the film in years and want to watch it again now. It takes place in Jakarta in 1965 and centers on a ring of correspondents who are reporting on the dictatorship. It was interesting (I need to expand my vocabulary)to read about them living an almost quarantined life as it was quite dangerous for them to go many places. They live in a country for a short time, mostly in hotels, but don't really know it, or the people. Their friendships are mad More...

Set in Indonesia during the Sukarno regime in 1965. Guy Hamilton is an Anglo-Australian journalist who arrives to Jakarta as a first time Australian ABC Radio correspondent. He will face one of the most important turmoils of the Indonesian history and will survive to tell his story... A most evocative book. So short, yet it weaves together stories of love, friendship, courage, and political drama. And it also shows love and friendship against the terrifying backdrop of major real-world events (S More...

Guy Hamilton is an Australian journalist who arrives in Indonesia to cover the growing unrest. He is 'adopted' by a Chinese-Australian dwarf cameraman Billy Kwan, whose friendship helps him find stories and make a name for himself. Billy is passionate and idealistic, though, and in his friendships tries to manipulate people to create the life he wants for them. He sets up for Guy to begin a relationship with British secretary Jill, and tries to convince the Western journalists that Indonesian pr More...

Thirty years after I first read this, Koch's writing still evokes the same sensations and feeling it did originally. It is if I had only read it yesterday. The now long gone era of post colonialist fervor of Indonesia in the pre Suharto days of the Bung Karno (Sukarno's mad regime) is brought to life if only in the dreams of the characters and shadows of wayang kulit puppets to the sound of the gamelan music.

While the style of writing may be different than current fashion dictates, it is not dat More...

Wayang,
Padi dan dewi sri
Soekarno,
Kelompok kiri dan kanan,
kemiskinan.

Itulah Indonesia dilihat dari sudut pandang wartawan asing pada masa menjelang dan jatuhnya Presiden Soekarno. Masa yang dijadikan judul buku ini: The year of living dangerously.

Tokoh dalam novel ini adalah para wartawan asing yang bertugas meliput perkembangan politik di Indonesia. Negeri yang baru lahir, dengan kecantikan negeri dan kekuatan pidato Soekarno membuat dunia melirik. Ada yang Jatuh cinta ada juga yang was-was. More...

Sebenarnya sudah lama membeli buku ini karena stuck di tengah,akhirnya buku ini dikembalikan ke rak to-read. Setiap pagi sebelum berangkat kerja biasanya aku memandangi rak buku kira-kira buku mana yang akan menemani perjalanan ke kantor. Beruntung,buku ini kembali terpilih untuk dibaca. Momennya juga pas dengan peringatan 30 September 1965 dan aksi protes ‘Ganyang Malaysia’ yang kembali populer akhir-akhir ini.

Guy Hamilton, wartawan Australia ditempatkan di Jakarta pada masa-masa ‘ vivere peric More...

Set in Indonesia just before, during and just after the ouster of Indonesian leader Sukarno by a coup, the novel is narrated by a journalist named Cookie, whose role here seems to be as a father confessor to a handful of fellow journalists, some who have been in Indonesia for a while, and some, like Guy Hamilton, who have only just arrived. Guy is one of the central characters of the novel -- ambitious, looking to make a name for himself. Hamilton is taking the place of another Australian journa More...

Yang membuat saya semangat bacanya karena orang bule nulis tentang Jakarta dan Pak Karno. Dengan. Sangat. Literer. Dan. Indah.

Yang membuat saya bingung adalah kenapa buku ini dilarang terbit di Indonesia waktu jaman orde baru? maksudnya bukannya harusnya Indonesia dengan tangan terbuka menerima buku ini? Ini tidak menggembor-gemborkan keburukan orde baru dan semacamnya kan. Ini tentang wartawan yang terjebak di Indonesia, Jakarta terutama waktu lagi musimnya ganyang malaysia.

I saw the movie made from the novel first - it was some years ago. I was very taken by the movie (starring Linda Hunt portraying a man - it works), and that is why I later read the book. It did not disappoint. It offers an important piece of history of a land we Westerners know little about in a moving, compelling story with memorable characters. Highly recommended if you love stories set in different cultures spiced with political intrigue.

The dialogue was a bit contrived, but overall, the significance of certain cultural phenomena exaggerated and the accuracy of some of the terms used stretched, but overall, provides a fascinating snapshot about a Jakarta that used to be and its citizens in a very specific time in its history. The face of "New Jakarta" has changed so much that it is unrecognisable today. Makes me wonder whether the characters in the book would have been as passionate about the city and the country it represents, More...

This novel of international intrigue makes an exciting read. It is also a good place to start for Western readers (like me) who don't know much about Indonesia and its history. What sets it apart from all the other hard-boiled romances about journalists in danger is the author's real compassion for his characters, their frailties and their aspirations, as well as for Indonesia itself. The Year of Living Dangerously is thrilling but not manipulative, sensitive but not maudlin. It explains Indones More...

pertama-tama..bingung kenapa ya buku ini dilarang beredar pada masa Orde Baru? menurutku isinya biasa saja..ya mengenai masalah dan konflik yang dihadapi para reporter asing; mereka ditugaskan, mereka meliput kejadian perkara dilapangan dan mereka berbagi cerita dan pengalaman mengenai Indonesia dan juga mengenai kebijakkan Presiden Soekarno di Bar Wayang (Hotel Indonesia)..ataukah karena salah satu wartawan dalam cerita ini: Hamilton berhasil mewawancarai ketua PKI pada masa itu..D.N Audit..mun More...

A most evocative book. So short, yet it weaves together stories of love, friendship, courage, and political drama. Like Casablanca, it shows love and friendship against the terrifying backdrop of major real-world events (Sukarno in Jakarta). And it does a beautiful job with Indonesian culture -- especially the meaning of the wayang puppet theater.

Such a great book deserves a better blurb than "The City lies inert in a hot brown twilight, which smells of petrol, frangipani and fear." I waited a long time to read this because I loved the film so much and was worried the book wouldn't hold up, but the book is actually better. Beautifully written.

The movie, based on this book, is one of my all-time favorites. The book is a bit different, the characters more complex, more flawed, less romantic. Indonesia, as a character, dominates this story. It is a political thriller, a love story, and a study of East and West.

I'd actually give this a 3.5/3.75....A good description of the turmoil in Indonesia, circa 1965. How the world has changed - in some ways. Communisim is no longer our great fear, of course. The main charcters, especially Billy Kwan, were well done, as was the humidity.

Haunting first-person narration as he watches Guy Hamilton struggle with the dark side of ambition and loyalty. The movie wisely condense the time and cuts the idiotic part about the Russian spy, but it loses the narrator, and that's what makes this book sing.

this was my first time reading about the experience of foreign journalists (i.e. australian) during the 1960's indonesian political upheavals. makes me wanna watch the mel gibson movie. and sparked an interest of bung karno and whether the version of history that i know is actually accurate. i guess it's true what they say about history and victors.

i like the character billy kwan. i kind of understand his duality, and also his preoccupation with keeping dossiers and files for everyone that strik More...

this was my first time reading about the experience of foreign journalists (i.e. australian) during the 1960's indonesian political upheavals. makes me wanna watch the mel gibson movie. and sparked an interest of bung karno and whether the version of history that i know is actually accurate. i guess it's true what they say about history and victors.

i like the character billy kwan. i kind of understand his duality, and also his preoccupation with keeping dossiers and files for everyone that strik More...

Terlepas dari berbagai kontroversi tentang buku ini, saya masih nggak mengerti mengapa buku ini sempat dilarang beredar pada jaman Orde Baru.

Yah, barangkali saya memang agak gagap sejarah namun seingat saya kejadian G30S/PKI yang diceritakan di buku ini nggak beda dengan yang diajarkan di sekolah.

Barangkali kritik agak pedas dan sindiran terhadap Presiden Soekarno ya penyebabnya?

Ataukah karena penggambaran kondisi rakyat Indonesia pada jaman Orde Lama yang menyedihkan sekali, sehingga "bikin m More...

One of the most compelling and true representations of the crazy energy of the foreign correspondent in a crisis that is only half-understood. Chris Koch was there (Indonesia, 1960s) and it shows.

Nice book - I was expecting a political thriller, but the book was more character driven than I would have thought. I remember only vaguely the film -- so that helped... (the 'vaguely' part, that is...).