cw / tw: characters with depression and ptsd, depiction of trauma and depressive episode, depiction of assaults and blood, depiction of sexual assault, mention of incest, child prostitution
(ノ゚0゚)ノ Quite a nice book filled with lots of values I'd say! It's a mystery action drama about family secret, revenge and vengeance which also centred on moving forward, forgiveness and self discovery. Despite the pink cover and the title of the book, buku ni romance dia tipis and it wasn't the focus at all hihi
The story is about Engku Hud, dimana dia hidup penuh dendam after he found out that the helicopter crash that killed his entire family is actually a planned murder. Due to the accident itself, over half a decade he lives in severe depression, throwing away his entire life with the only goal in his life is to get back at the person behind the crash. But not only that, he's also being hunted, presumably by the same murderer, and the person also wants him dead. Who exactly is the murderer, and why does it seem like he's also filled with demdam, the same way Hud berdendam with the murderer? What secret is hidden by his family for his life to be turned in such a way?
After reading Osaka with Love recently, I'd say that I certainly prefer this book much more for various positive reasons! I usually don't like comparing works, but this book does have what feels missing from OwL and it left me with so much satisfaction I'd say. The character's development in this one feels so prominent and I really love the realistic growth shown in literally all of the main characters which came out of the hurdles they went through. On top of that, the chemistry and relationship between Hud with his friends, and even the love interest are so well told and shown, walaupun sikit, but the chemistry between all of them and their care memang berasa. Aliy, Zahra, Hud is technically a found family. Love them very much!
Suka dengan tema utama cerita ni where it touches more on the concept of dendam through Hud and Gibran, walaupun masing-masing berdendam — both are almost the same, clearly sakit, masing masing nakkan benda sama, terlekat dan hidup di masa yang lalu, yet they both approached it differently. And I like the cause and consequences shown through the characters. What I appreciate the most is probably on how the story does acknowledge the struggles and suffering the characters went through, yet it doesn't enable the bad things they're doing.
Zahra's character in contrast is shown as someone yang mempraktikan reda and memaafkan. Tetapi bukan secara bersahaja dia memaafkan, because she's still human, masih rasa marah yang teramat, masih rasa sedih menyesakkan, masih bertemu trauma dan jatuh. Her life conditions are just awful, the accident did take a toll on her mental and physical wellbeing. Marah memang marah, but eventually she returns to god and sees things rationally, fikir dan fikir, jatuh dan teruk bagaimanapun, kalau terbawa bawa benda tu tak bawa kita kemana.
Sebenarnya cerita ni banyak sangat values dan mesej dia ya and these are the things I wanted to talk about:
• From what Hud's parents have done, such secrets, past mistakes and awful acts could literally affect others. If it's not you, others close to you could be impacted over what you've done. On top of that, this is why in Islam we practice hiding aib, ada benda tak patut tahu, the past is past if someone is no longer there, or they've changed. Sebab no matter what good deeds one has done, yang jahat tu juga akan affects a listener the most.
• In correlation, the ultimate closure with Hud and Gibran broke me into tears. I'm glad it ended like that, walaupun macam simple, but it's meaningful, and I get what Gibran felt. Show your genuineness, spread kindess, the slightest of it can help and leave an internal impression towards someone.
• Walaupun hampir sedekad Hud hidup dan terkenang kenang akan masa lampau, it's soooo nice seeing his change and eventually appreciate living in this moment. The way this is written agak menyentuh.
• The issue with Gibran sangatlah frustrating to read, but I've met people like that in real life, not that severe but the gaslighting is nasty. Your suffering caused by other people isn't a ticket for you to do bad things to people that aren't related at all. You are responsible for your actions. If you acted like an arsehole, it's not because of what caused you to suffer or "I've lived a painful life before', but it's simply because you're an arsehole. Your mental health or suffering takda kena mengena pun.
• Mental health issues touched in the story is quite prominent, appreciate that it's something that's being highlighted, and not something just in passing. It's raw in a sense.
• Suka juak dengan how the story highlights how everything's happened ada hikmah nya. One of my biggest questions yang terjawab later is on Zahra's accident, it all makes sense why it feels like she's more acceptable during the recovery and towards Hud and all di hujung arc tu.
• Latar cerita ni seronok dibaca ya, daripada suasana kampung (oh you don't know how much I crave for akok after this story), suasana di Riyadh, serta perkampungan di Russia, I think the author did a good job at building the world environment in the story!
But, despite all of that, I was a bit disappointed with how flat the story felt for such a mystery action genre. I was actually anticipating surprise factor or huge reveals or shocking plot twists, tapi nothing really surprised me (except for certain things Gibran mentioned to Hud), the rest macam the reveals terlalu 'telling', sampai saya rasa macam 'eh itu ja?'. Gibran reveals pun takda surprise sangat, the same with the betrayal from his close friend yang memang it was technically given out on the first chapter lagi and repetitively mentioned afterwards.
Also, I think there are some loose ends or parts i don't really understand throughout the story:
• Aliy's job and life before helping Hud
• The entire ghost fiasco with Zahra, what even was that?
• Makcik pembantu rumah that showed up hanya sekali dan tidak lagi
• The random love plot of the Russian lady that I don't get what even is the contribution of it towards the story's progression.
• Zain. Daripada someone with a huge role tapi takda apa sangat di hujung cerita.
Overall it's an enjoyable story for me, dan walaupun majority cerita ni memang agak serious, but there are a couple of times I caught laughing due to the random funny scenes haha. Negara Teram will live in my head rent free.
If you're looking for something similar to this story, with the same genre on action mystery drama but with more thrillers, I'd suggest Ieya Sya's Selalu Ada Dia dan Aku Di Sini (yang satu ni romance dia banyak sikit lah)!