Indonesia and Not, Poems and Otherwise: Anecdotes Scattered

by Max Lane

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction

About the author

Max Lane is a writer and researcher and translator, editor and consultant with 36 years of experience in and with Indonesia, as well as with Singapore and the Philippines and with the East Timorese community in Australia.

Reviews

[Johanna]

Kumpulan puisi dan kisah berdasarkan pengalaman pribadi / cerita orang. Kebanyakan dalam bahasa Inggris, walau beberapa puisi ada yang berbahasa Indonesia.

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With the exception of some poems written in Indonesian language, the rest were in English.

The stories outshined the poems for me, especially "Bali 1969, 1972" (in which Lane told of his first trip to Indonesia, observed the peculiarities of Balinese society, and got introduced to Marhaenism).
Personally I would love to have more anecdotes, but perhaps I was being greedy.

My favorite line from the collection was easily the last line of "Nasi Goreng":

"And I paid for it far less than it was worth, and nowhere near enough for the pleasure it gave."

Incidentally, that's how I would describe my mother's (nasi goreng) cooking :)

[Amira Maitsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Udah 2x baca hahahahah
Max Lane is easily my favorite translator and writer🫶🏼
Thankyou for everything u do to make sure Pram’s books were being published
Indonesia owed u big time

[Orkhiroz · Rating 3 out of 5]

➕
1. Ada momen-momen mengharukan, wholesome, mengkhawatirkan, menyedihkan, dan lucu di sini.
2. Sangat menarik membaca perspektif orang luar yang kritis terhadap politik, kebudayaan, makanan, keuangan, sejarah, bahasa, dan keindahan alam Indonesia.
3. Banyak quotes indah, ikonis, dan menusuk di sini.
4. Isinya membuatku lebih membuka mata soal hal-hal yang terjadi masa lalu dan yang masih ada sampai masa kini di sekitar.

➖
Mungkin karena aku memang kurang cocok dengan puisi, sejarah dan politik bukan bidang keahlianku, bahasa Inggris pas-pasan, serta mungkin aku sedang mengalami reading slump, jadi aku kurang bisa menikmati bacaannya dan enggak paham sedang baca apaan.

[Alvin Qobulsyah · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's always fascinating when an Indonesianist using Bahasa Indonesia to express his words. Especially in the poem and prosaic form.
.
Well known as a Buru Quartet English Translator, there are many frank observation during his time in Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines well written in this piece.
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"The Sawangan Incident", "Tidur di Toa Payoh MRT", and "Second Lost in Manila" are my handpicked best stories. But "Worker" is still making serotonin shot until now.
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'Bloodshot eyes, bloodshot eyes, bloodshot eyes. Sleeplessness from heat and crowded quarters, crying child, weary wife?'

[Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It begins with his poem about Jakarta and ends with profiles of some incredible people who got him through tough time in Indonesia back then. He writes about Indonesian realities. humanity. tragedy. politics. injustice. affliction. survival. everything. He put his perspectives into poems, prose, ad short stories which is pretty interesting to me.

[Kate Walton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The poetry wasn't for me but I really enjoyed the prose anecdotes from Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines.

[bojfischer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saya menikmati perspektif Max Lane tentang Indonesia, Filipina, dan Singapura. Buku ini berisi puisi dan memoar perjalanan Max Lane di beberapa negara Asia Tenggara terutama Indonesia. Saya suka.

[Niamh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book!

I really enjoyed the structure of it, and the idea of ‘ anecdotes scattered’ ; having short stories and then poems intermingled gave it a really fresh & quick feel, whilst still having a lot of feeling & knowledge packed into them.

I learnt a lot from this book that I quite frankly wouldn’t have even heard about otherwise. I feel more educated on the the basics of Indonesian recent history now, & it’s definitely something I’d be keen to read more about.

Two particular pieces that stood out, one a short story & the other a poem respectively, were :

[TBC] .....

[Zahra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought-provoking. The book left quite an impression on me that I think I won't be able to forget it in a long time.