What do you think?
Rate this book
The Anagram
Anagram: word rearranged to form another. A metaphor for change and reinvention, a hermeneutic examination of the self, which nevertheless retains the basic elements that make up the consciousness.
In her second collection of poetry, Laksmi Pamuntjak continues to look at human experiences and the stuff of everyday life: of love and loss, of grief and regret, of acceptance and rebellion, of fear of the unmapped and delight in the new, of redemption and the possibility of grace. This volume also includes eight poems on Buru Island in “From the Buru Notebook”, which focuses on a period during President Suharto’s administration (1965-1998) in which the island was turned into the site of a large penal colony where approximately 12,000 accused Communists and Communist Party sympathizers were detained for more than a decade without being formally charged or tried in court.
In her second collection of poetry, Laksmi Pamuntjak continues to look at human experiences and the stuff of everyday life: of love and loss, of grief and regret, of acceptance and rebellion, of fear of the unmapped and delight in the new, of redemption and the possibility of grace. This volume also includes eight poems on Buru Island in “From the Buru Notebook”, which focuses on a period during President Suharto’s administration (1965-1998) in which the island was turned into the site of a large penal colony where approximately 12,000 accused Communists and Communist Party sympathizers were detained for more than a decade without being formally charged or tried in court.
- GenresIndonesian Literature
77 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2006
2 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Laksmi Pamuntjak
20 books249 followersLaksmi Pamuntjak is a bilingual Indonesian novelist, poet, food writer, journalist and co-founder of Aksara Bookstore. She works as an art and food consultant and writes for numerous local and international publications including opinion articles for the Guardian.
She is the author of two collections of poetry (one of which, Ellipsis, appeared in the 2005 Herald UK Books of the Year pages); a treatise on the relationship between man and violence based on the Iliad; a collection of short stories based on paintings; five editions of the best-selling and award-winning Jakarta Good Food Guide; two translations of the works of Indonesian poet and essayist Goenawan Mohamad; and two bestselling novels.
Amba/The Question of Red, Pamuntjak’s first novel, won Germany’s LiBeraturpreis in 2016, was short-listed for the 2012 Khatulistiwa Literary Award, appeared on the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’s Top 8 list of the best books of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2015, and was named best work of fiction from Asia, America, Latin America, and the Caribbean translated into German on the Weltempfaenger (Receivers of the World) list. The novel is a modern take on the Hindu epic Mahabharata set against the backdrop of the Indonesian mass killings of 1965 and the Buru penal colony, and has been translated into English, German (Alle Farben Rot, 2015) and Dutch (Amba of De Kleur Van Rood, 2015). It also appeared in De Bild's Top 10 Books of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2015, and the ORF Kultur Top 10 List for November 2015.
Pamuntjak was selected as the Indonesian representative for Poetry Parnassus at the 2012 London Olympics. Her prose and poetry have been published in many international literary journals. She currently divides her time between Berlin and Jakarta.
She is the author of two collections of poetry (one of which, Ellipsis, appeared in the 2005 Herald UK Books of the Year pages); a treatise on the relationship between man and violence based on the Iliad; a collection of short stories based on paintings; five editions of the best-selling and award-winning Jakarta Good Food Guide; two translations of the works of Indonesian poet and essayist Goenawan Mohamad; and two bestselling novels.
Amba/The Question of Red, Pamuntjak’s first novel, won Germany’s LiBeraturpreis in 2016, was short-listed for the 2012 Khatulistiwa Literary Award, appeared on the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’s Top 8 list of the best books of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2015, and was named best work of fiction from Asia, America, Latin America, and the Caribbean translated into German on the Weltempfaenger (Receivers of the World) list. The novel is a modern take on the Hindu epic Mahabharata set against the backdrop of the Indonesian mass killings of 1965 and the Buru penal colony, and has been translated into English, German (Alle Farben Rot, 2015) and Dutch (Amba of De Kleur Van Rood, 2015). It also appeared in De Bild's Top 10 Books of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2015, and the ORF Kultur Top 10 List for November 2015.
Pamuntjak was selected as the Indonesian representative for Poetry Parnassus at the 2012 London Olympics. Her prose and poetry have been published in many international literary journals. She currently divides her time between Berlin and Jakarta.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 15, 2016
"This time,
the water did not relent. Came to
our shoulders as if to say, I'd
drown you if I could, for it
would have been better."
wonderful wonderful collection. it really is such a wonder to read a writer from your own country because you already know all the nuances. there are so many lines in these that i love, though when liking a whole piece i liked the second half of the collection more.
the water did not relent. Came to
our shoulders as if to say, I'd
drown you if I could, for it
would have been better."
wonderful wonderful collection. it really is such a wonder to read a writer from your own country because you already know all the nuances. there are so many lines in these that i love, though when liking a whole piece i liked the second half of the collection more.
June 17, 2016
I enjoyed her unique writing style. It is lacking the fifth star party because her sentence structure is different from that of a Canadian/British style, which I am use to reading. Similarly, some of the context I did not understand, and felt if I knew the author more or had read other works I would get more out of these writings.
November 24, 2014
"...your gnarled hand
in mine, old as oak,
as cold as tomorrow."
[The Final Hour, Laksmi Pamuntjak]
in mine, old as oak,
as cold as tomorrow."
[The Final Hour, Laksmi Pamuntjak]
December 9, 2015
What a phenomenal voice. I'm now a big fan.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews