From the author of the internationally acclaimed "The Harmony Silk Factory" comes an enthralling novel that evokes an exotic yet turbulent place an...
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reviews
Feb 07, 2012
Miriiam
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This is an intriguing book with layered stories told from third person perspectives. Adam is an orphan who has trouble remembering his brother due to a traumatic separation experienced at an orphanage when he was five. He is eventually adopted by Karl de Willegen, Dutch by birth but staunchily believes he's at home in Indonesia. Margaret Bates is an American expat who gets roped in to help Adam find Karl after the latter is detained by the police and Adam discovers a photo of the young Marga
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Aug 07, 2011
Astrid
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i enjoy reading this book in the summer heat typically indonesian weather. this book was introduced to me as my b'day present last april from a very good friend of mine.
it took me time to engaged in the first few chapter but after that i could not stop until the end. some historical details about indonesia did bothers me a little. like the use of abang karno towards the president soekarno (explain in javanese), abang is not javanese at all (more betawi or melayu). i would not be annoy More...
it took me time to engaged in the first few chapter but after that i could not stop until the end. some historical details about indonesia did bothers me a little. like the use of abang karno towards the president soekarno (explain in javanese), abang is not javanese at all (more betawi or melayu). i would not be annoy More...
Mar 28, 2011
Kathy
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Reviewed at : Mama Kucing Meow
Reviewed Date : 27 January 2011
Review Link : Map Of The Invisible World
I have been waiting for this book to come to BookXcess since the first day it was released.
Can you imagine my delight when I spotted this book in BookXcess Facebook updates? I nearly missed it coz I was very busy earlier this month. When I spotted it, more than a week had passed.
Hoping against hope, I "FB-ed" them and sent the More...
Reviewed Date : 27 January 2011
Review Link : Map Of The Invisible World
I have been waiting for this book to come to BookXcess since the first day it was released.
Can you imagine my delight when I spotted this book in BookXcess Facebook updates? I nearly missed it coz I was very busy earlier this month. When I spotted it, more than a week had passed.
Hoping against hope, I "FB-ed" them and sent the More...
Feb 08, 2010
Felice
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Ta Da! Tash wa's new novel Map of the Invisible World, is now available. Once again just as there was in his first novel, The Harmony Silk Factory, there are multiple, disparate stories and ethnicities coming together in Map. That is a huge hook for me. As is any book set outside of the U.S. All the world is exotic to me.
In Map a distraught young orphan making his way to Jakarta to search for his Dutch foster father, the brother of that orphan raised in comfort in Malaysia que More...
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Jun 23, 2009
Krishna
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Sometimes, it's nice to have your expectations dashed. I started Tash Aw's second book after the Costa Award winning "Harmony Silk Factory" with the same trepidation I approach most tomes that come with the stamp of "literary work by an award winning author". The niggling anxiety that instead of a coherent plot I"m going to be bombarded instead with wordy digressions into philosophical ruminations, that instead of pace you get garrulous asides on 5 different ways to desc
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Jun 12, 2009
Stephanie
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Early on in Map Of The Invisible World, young Adam de Willigen wakes up to discover that it is his birthday. He enjoys it tremendously – his father, Karl, gives him a nice present and a hearty birthday dinner – and it is only after his father has turned out the lights after putting him to bed that Adam asks: “What day is today? What’s my birthday?”
Adam is an Indonesian orphan who was adopted at the age of five by Karl, a Dutch painter who has taken the citizenship of the newly-indepe More...
Adam is an Indonesian orphan who was adopted at the age of five by Karl, a Dutch painter who has taken the citizenship of the newly-indepe More...
Sep 22, 2010
Bart
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The book’s setting (1960s Indonesia) is interesting and, to the best of my knowledge, Aw captures the time well. His writing is sprinkled with interesting historical information, which strung me along. But there’s not much more to this book. Taw isn’t a great writer. The plot and characters are forgettable and Taw drowns you in flowery symbolism.
I thought this book was written by a graduate student taking a break from a dissertation on 1960s Indonesia. A graduate student stuck in col More...
I thought this book was written by a graduate student taking a break from a dissertation on 1960s Indonesia. A graduate student stuck in col More...
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Aug 01, 2009
Eleanor
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I'm surprised that I didn't like this book more than I did. Maybe I've just read too many like it to have loved it. It was an okay read. I finished it quite quickly and I believe that it dealt with important issues like nationality and I enjoyed learning some history. Indonesia is imagined by many to be a magical world, especially as compared to the apparent shallow life in Kuala Lumpur (as presented in the novel), and I appreciated how the author brought the country alive.
Howeve More...
Howeve More...
Aug 12, 2010
Anne
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The second novel of a young Malaysian man, there's much here that I enjoy: an interesting time and place....Sukarno's Indonesia in the mid-60's, a new to me author's voice, pretty good story-telling. What seemed less appealing to me were the characters themselves. Maybe the author is being ironic in the east/west thing, but the main character, Margaret Bates, the daughter of famed anthropologists in New Guinea and Bali in the 1930's, and are we not supposed to think the author is referring to
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Jan 20, 2010
The first real book I read on my return to Ireland, in the aftermath of my brain-destroying, attention span-depleting thesis wind-up exercise. I'd been starting to have doubts as to whether some mental faculty had been permanently damaged in the process but in retrospect Proust and Joyce were not good companions to the writing process and all I'd really needed was a good story. This book, in addition to being very visually attractive, was that good story. Set in post-colonial Indonesia, against
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May 31, 2010
Kathleen
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I made a typo when I updated my status on this book last week, and so I told Goodreads that I was on page 7219 (Every now and then I decide to update the progress as I'm reading - a totally unnecessary bit of information, of course - simply keeping records for the sake of it. Oh no! Am I becoming a petty bureaucrat?!) But back to the story - Goodreads then (very cleverly) decided that I must have finished reading it, so when I opened up today to write my Review, it told me "I'm finished"
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Mar 31, 2011
blah!!!
Awalnya gw penasaran banget sama buku ini. Penasaran karena penulisnya bukan penulis lokal dan settingnya di Indonesia pasca-kolonialisme, tahun 1960-an. Gw tertarik "melihat" sudut pandang pengarang non-Indonesia tentang Indonesia itu sendiri. Dan apa yang terjadi? Gw sampe nggak tau kudu ngasih rate berapa, saking sebelnya sama buku ini!
Tokoh sentral dalam buku ini:
1. ADAM de Willigen: seorang bocah peranakan Indonesia - yang yatim piatu dan diang More...
Awalnya gw penasaran banget sama buku ini. Penasaran karena penulisnya bukan penulis lokal dan settingnya di Indonesia pasca-kolonialisme, tahun 1960-an. Gw tertarik "melihat" sudut pandang pengarang non-Indonesia tentang Indonesia itu sendiri. Dan apa yang terjadi? Gw sampe nggak tau kudu ngasih rate berapa, saking sebelnya sama buku ini!
Tokoh sentral dalam buku ini:
1. ADAM de Willigen: seorang bocah peranakan Indonesia - yang yatim piatu dan diang More...
Mar 23, 2009
GillyP
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It seems to be trying far too hard to be ‘Important’ - Clearly the author wanted to write a novel about a Time and a Place; he did that quite successfully but a plot and interesting characters would have helped.
The writing is lovely but there’s no plot and the characters are amorphous figures I could never get hold of, couldn’t connect to and nothing very much happens to them. It’s a series of tales, individuals who never mesh; they move in and out of each other’s lives but no weave More...
The writing is lovely but there’s no plot and the characters are amorphous figures I could never get hold of, couldn’t connect to and nothing very much happens to them. It’s a series of tales, individuals who never mesh; they move in and out of each other’s lives but no weave More...
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Jan 20, 2012
Annisa
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Hhmm.. Menurut saya salah satu syarat dari cerita bergenre drama yang baik adalah kadar “realitas” dan masuk akal dari jalan ceritanya. Jika tidak maka masuk dalam kategori berlebihan dan tidak ada bedanya dengan cerita sinetron di tv.
So.. Back to the story. Buku ini bercerita tentang dua orang kakak beradik, Johan dan adiknya Adam yang ditinggal oleh Ibunya di panti asuhan sebuah pulau kecil yang bernama Pulau Perdo yang terletak di Kawasan Timur Indonesia pada tahun 1950-an. Tidak a More...
So.. Back to the story. Buku ini bercerita tentang dua orang kakak beradik, Johan dan adiknya Adam yang ditinggal oleh Ibunya di panti asuhan sebuah pulau kecil yang bernama Pulau Perdo yang terletak di Kawasan Timur Indonesia pada tahun 1950-an. Tidak a More...
Dec 06, 2010
Mady
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This book is being read by the "The Asian Book Group" and I thought about trying it, as I'm always interested in reading books taking place in Asia. Brought it from the local library :)
Not my cup of tea. I did read it till the end but at a very small pace, as I was never caught by the story or by the characters. Reading about Indonesia did get me curious as I don't know that much about the country (besides the whole story with Timor). However, the plot was never exciting, a More...
Not my cup of tea. I did read it till the end but at a very small pace, as I was never caught by the story or by the characters. Reading about Indonesia did get me curious as I don't know that much about the country (besides the whole story with Timor). However, the plot was never exciting, a More...
Mar 20, 2011
Marjorie
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This book was the best book I read this year. It has all of my favorites, political intrigue, third world countries and a believable woman heroine who is in her 40's.
Tash Aw writes about the political unrest in Indonesia in 1965 (you may remember this from the Mel Gibson movie "Year of Living Dangerously". Since Tash Aw is a native of Malaysia, he writes about the country and its mindset, based on his own experiences. A wonderful read for those who like political intrigue.
Tash Aw writes about the political unrest in Indonesia in 1965 (you may remember this from the Mel Gibson movie "Year of Living Dangerously". Since Tash Aw is a native of Malaysia, he writes about the country and its mindset, based on his own experiences. A wonderful read for those who like political intrigue.
May 31, 2009
Jason
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A masterful evocation of 1960s Indonesia under the reign of Sukarno. Aw's nonlinear character study of Indonesian teenager Adam, Adam's adopted Dutch father Karl, Karl's old American flame Margaret, and Margaret's Indonesian colleague (and revolutionary) Din weaves an incredible story of instability in the post-colonial country, the connections that all these characters (as well as Adam's brother Johan, long adopted by a Malaysian couple from KL) share, and the power of hope. Powerful, fluid, an
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Jun 15, 2009
Uma
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This was a fun quick read with the bonus of being a well written book. I think this is an improvement on the author's first book(The Harmony Silk Factory), although that received many awards!
Just that I found the characters were not developed enough when there was so much potential to. I didn't feel for anyone in the book, they were very two dimensional. So here's an area the author could work on.
Just that I found the characters were not developed enough when there was so much potential to. I didn't feel for anyone in the book, they were very two dimensional. So here's an area the author could work on.
Jan 25, 2010
Laura Stone
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I thought that having lived in Jakarta, Indonesia for nine years I might enjoy this book more than others, but, sadly, that was not the case. Several of the characters were weakly developed and I think some of the Indonesian words would be off-putting to non-Bahasa Indonesian speakers. Stick to D. J. Koch's "The Year of Living Dangerously" for a more evocative and tense depiction of 1964.
Apr 01, 2010
Jennifer
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A moving and extremely suspenseful novel set in the last years of Indonesian dictator Sukarno's reign. It's a love story but very much a thriller, in which an ex-pat American professor, a Dutch artist, and an adopted child reconnect as the gound shifts under their feet. Great literary fiction.
May 17, 2010
Barbara
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This is a very atmospheric book, from the same place/time as The Year of Living Dangerously, a film I enjoyed. The description is great and I feel like I know the characters. I think I missed some of the point, it would probably bear re-reading, as there's a lot here.
Mar 04, 2011
Vera
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The reason I interested to bought this book is because the setting took place in my country, I didn't really like his description on the relationship between the characters, as they aren't strong enough. Being Indonesian myself, I don't think I really enjoy it.
Dec 18, 2011
A book set in Indonesia in the early 1960's. A teenage boy is searching for his adopted Dutch father who has been arrested by the local police. It is also the story of an English woman and how she no longer feels that she fits in a country that she loves.
Sep 28, 2010
Lauren
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Inspired by Indonesia
Let me just say I found jakarta a lot more enjoyable than the characters did, but I learned a lot about the movement for independence. Nice to read as I traveled the country itself, especially as I met LOADS of Dutch backpackesr.
Let me just say I found jakarta a lot more enjoyable than the characters did, but I learned a lot about the movement for independence. Nice to read as I traveled the country itself, especially as I met LOADS of Dutch backpackesr.
Aug 18, 2011
Diana
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Memories and how those memories impact the present day actions of the protagonists in this beautifully written story of Sukarno's Indonesia is the basis of the plot. The descriptions of the surroundings are vivid. This would make a terrific movie.
May 10, 2010
Sarah
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I heard Tash Aw speak in Chengdu in March and like this book SO much more than The Harmony Silk Factory which I read before the talk. It's fun to read a book once you've heard the authors insight / background on why they wrote the book.
Jul 18, 2011
Bruce
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This was mostly the story of the separation of two bothers in the turbulant last days of President Sukarno of Indonesia. The ending was a little too pat but the tension of surviving in political chaos was well captured.
Nov 18, 2010
Stefan
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One of the best books I have read in quite a while. Good story telling. Very well developed characters. A wonderful canvas of an important time in Indonesia. A powerful flowing progress. Glorious sadness.
Jul 13, 2011
Beth
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I was excited about this b/c it is set in Indonesia, where I grew up. But it left me behind so many times. It ended so abruptly. I'm not sure what the point was...
Dec 04, 2010
Andrew
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well written and moving and highly imagined - given that Aw is much younger than the period in which the novel took place. A promising career..
