A Tale from Bali

by Vicki Baum

Vicki Baum's evocative historical novel recounts the lives of peasants and nobles in colonial Bali, reared against a backdrop of bloodshed and cultural invasion. Dutch imperialism brings upheaval and revolution to the beautiful island, and the Balinese rebel in what would become a powerful and poignant example of symbolic resistance. A Tale from Bali culminates with the historic Battle of Badung, in which thousands of Balinese soldiers, clothed in white and armed only with daggers, threw themselves upon the merciless efficiency of the Dutch guns.

Genres: Fiction, Asia, Historical Fiction, Historical, Classics, Germany, Novels

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

Vicki Baum (penname of Hedwig Baum) was born in a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria. She moved to the United States in 1932 and when her books were banned in the Third Reich in 1938, she started publishing in English. She became an American citizen in 1938 and died in Los Angeles, in 1960.

Reviews

[Soma Helmi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this one. I read this as part of my book club and can't say that I ever would pick it up again. On the positive side, being born in Bali it was quite interesting reading about Bali before tourism. Village life is described in exquisite detail by Baum, as are all the customs and rites. She's really captured the essence of the Balinese way of doing things, their sense of ethics. My only problem was on the factual side, specifically how much of it was fact and how much was the fancy of an outsider? The puputan at the end is horrific, but only briefly touched on, as if she was shying away from the awfulness of the event. As usual, pieces written about Bali by foreigners (unless they're by the ones who have dropped anchor here and refuse to move despite the mildew that grows on them) always leave me with questions...

[Literarischunterwegs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ich habe wirklich versucht das Buch zu lesen und mit Blick auf die Autorin zu mögen. Aber es gelingt mir einfach nicht in der Geschichte anzukommen. Die Erzählweise ist mir zu zäh, die Personen und das Setting zu uninteressant. So konnte sich auch kein Lesefluss bei mir einstellen. Ich habe es immer wieder begonnen, dann wieder weggelegt und etwas anderes gemacht. Bevor es mir eine sehr unschöne Leseflaute beschert, breche ich das Buch lieber ab. Es hatte wohl seinen Grund, warum es noch immer in meinen SUB lag.

[Pauline Van etc. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vicki Baum’s novel is based on notes written by a Dutch friend of hers who lived in Bali for most of his life and worked as a doctor. She herself was passionate about Bali and decided to organize these notes into a book. The story takes place when the Bandoung kingdom (currently Denpasar) was taken over by the Dutch in 1906 after a terrible event referred to as a “puputan” (the end). Baum focuses particularly on three Balinese characters : a Shudra (a peasant), a Brahmin (from the rich and religious elite) and the Rajah (the prince).

The book is well written and gripping. It offers a lot of insight into Balinese lifestyle, religion and culture. However, I found that her women characters were poorly developed compared to the male ones and I was sometimes shocked to read things explaining that a female character was not really a woman because she was not loved by her husband! Baum is also sometimes guilty of idealizing the Dutch’s rule in Bali (who did an admirable colonizing work, according to her) but she also pays respect to the intelligence, spirituality, patience and beauty of the Balinese people. Overall, I enjoyed the book and found it a nice accompaniment to my visit to Bali.

[Ira Therebel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vicki Baum wrote this book based on real historical events taking place in the early 20th century in Bali.

It starts a bit slowly but then it picks up and the events and characters are getting more and more interesting. Vicki Baum does a great job getting into detail when describing the surroundings as well as creating an interesting plot. She did a lot of studying of Balinese culture and brings it to the reader in a very engaging way. While it makes one a bit sad by how the people of Bali had to face colonization I was also questioning myself to what point I can respect a different culture. They were burning the widows alive to go with their man to heaven, come on. But other than that it was a great description of their culture and ways of life that had a lot of beautiful parts. Definitely liked the book.

[Jennifer Louden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great resource if you are wanting to know more about the history of Bali. I read a history book first which helped. The writing style is a bit dated (mid 1930's) but otherwise a compelling read.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my Bahasa teacher's recommended this book...and while I was glad to get a book recommendation...I would have liked to read something more thrilling.

The story is "fiction" yet based on letters...really one is led to believe from the notes that the letters are from the author's friendship with Walter Spies. None of that is really important...it is the story of a Balinese man at the beginning of the 20th century...and every day life. His yearning to take a second wife, his hope to become an important person in his village...it is also the story of a dancer and his relationship with his wife and the king of his regency...and the colonization of the island. And how the Balinese fought...

The story is depressing...but most stories about colonization are. It is full of details and Balinese history that I was not familar with...so that was a big plus in reading the book. My complaint is that the writing is outdated and the book was quite dry. Yawnable...

BUT...as I currently live in Bali I find the story flashing into my mind often as I visit different areas or hear about different traditions that are still alive in Bali today.

Read if you live in Bali...or love Bali...or want to know more about the Balinese past.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story of the peasant Pak and his family and friends, about the culture and religion of southern Bali just before the Dutch invaded and took the area. Very beautiful descriptions. I'd recommend it.

[Patrick Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Review of A Tale of Bali by Vicky Baum

I really liked this book but the five stars I give it are based on my experience, and that is influenced strongly by my recent reading of 'The Theatre State' by Geertz, which I found interesting but deeply frustrating.

What Geertz failed to Analyse, Baum describes.

I *imagine* that one of the main aims for this book was building enough of a complex emotional, moral, spiritual and social world that when reaching the final part of the book, the great massacre, in which the radja of Badoeng leads a huge crowd of his people directly onto massed Dutch guns in a great ritual suicide, the reader could both see and intuit both why so many people would be willing to commit frentic mass suicide for a dream, and why they might not do so.

To do that she must build an image of the social and spiritual life of Bali in a few hundred pages, which I think she does pretty well.

…………….


Where do I even begin?

Bali is full of flowers, trees, wildlife, people, farm animals, its just full. The place is packed. There is nowhere to go where you are not dealing with some complex arrangement of living things. True in many places perhaps but it seems in Bali you feel it more.

Someone could probably write an essay on just the use of flowers in, this book alone. The farmer, Pak has a bunch of Hibiscus flowers. Its pretty common for men in a certain mood to place an Hibiscus flower behind one ear. Pak is having an affair with the daughter of a local landowner and so is mainlining those flowers, meaning the hibiscus bush in his own compound is laid bare. This is something everyone can see and tells them something particular about Pak, even if they don’t know about the affair.

This combination of beauty, cultural ritual & signalling, flora & faua, plus a dude being horny, is perhaps emblematic of the small rituals, behaviours and interactions with life that form almost a substrate, or a half-tongue of this book and the culture it is trying to talk about.

Bali, at least in comparison to the temperate north west Europe where I live, feels like a kind of jewel box of life, or a bulging treasure chest of ecosocality. There is just so much of everything. (I am not saying it’s a 'paradise' so don't @ me in comments, for instance Bali being a great place for humans and their farm animals also makes it a great place for disease, but it does have a lot of 'paradisical' elements.)

There are few walls, no, there are many walls, but few completely enclosed spaces. People seem to do much of their living in these part-open shelters within walled compounds but within the compound, though everyone and everything has their and its own place, everything wanders. Privacy and secrecy in Bali seem to be almost more social modes than actual hard states, for everything that is not meant to be seen, someone sees it, so the matter is really about whether people will communicate about it, pass on the information.
There are trees, forests, shrines, everywhere, as there are people everywhere. So anything can be hidden a little and nothing can be well hidden.


"Beyond the western courtyards, where most of the slaves lived and kept their poultry and pigs, rose a wall, and beyond this wall the stir and noise of the puri suddenly ceased. It bounded a ruinous part of it where no one lived and no one ever went. Creepers and shrubs had overgrown the tumble-down buildings and dragged them to the ground in their embrace. The chief building of this forgotten courtyard was surrounded by a ditch, but the bridge had given way and sunk into the water. The demons who guarded the entrance were nothing now but moss-covered blocks of stone. Wild bees made their homes in the trees and huge butterflies hovered undisturbed above the flowers. Mosquitoes hung in dense clouds over the stagnant water and the smell of decay mingled with the penetrating scent of salicanta flowers.”



Raka;

"But after a while his attention wandered and he looked again at Raka, whom he found particularly pleasing. A black head-dress whose edges had a pattern in gold was wound about his glossy hair; he wore a kain of dark wine-red in which a silver thread gleamed here and there, and a lion-cloth of brown silk encircled his remarkably slender hips and reached to his chest. He was not adorned with hibiscus flowers as the lord and most of the other men were; instead he had a single orchid in the middle of his forehead, which by its shape and the way it crept out beneath his head-dress suggested an animal rather than a flower. This scorpion-like orchid was indefinably in keeping with Raka's fine, arched nostrils and oblique eyes and long eye-lashes. The sensuous outline of his lips made him seem to be always smiling in a half-mocking mysterious way."

Raka in ‘Tale’ is the emblematic example of beloved Balinese manhood. I would say he is the ‘Chad’ of the community, the star football player, the vector of everyone’s hopes and desires. The very beautiful, very charming, expert dancer beloved by all and welcome anywhere. In some ways Raka is what it’s like to be “truly Balinese”, in the same way that being Taylor Swift is what it’s like to be “truly American”. He gives us a view, not from the very top of its hierarchies, but from the very centre of its culture. He is the man who the culture has made and who it is made for. A magnificent man happy to play a magnificent role, a hand within a glove, (until things go wrong in the latter parts of the book).






Alit - the mid Radja (too many books and opium)

"There was only one place on this morning of noise and excitement where silence reigned, and that was the house of the old lord of Pametjutan. The old man had passed the night in great pain and now lay exhausted on his couch, propped up with many kapok cushions at his back. The two balains of Badoeng and Taman Sari has been in attendance. They had massaged him and given him narcotics and now the prince felt easier. He pulled at his opium pipe and his head grew clearer and threw off the fevered haze of the night. Alit, the young lord, his nephew, whom he had adopted, squatted beside him and his usually limp face had a remarkable expression of concentration, of exertion, of perhaps preoccupation. He, too, was smoking opium to clear his head for the hard thinking this critical hour required. Unconsciously he let his fingers run up and down the vertebrae of Oka's spine. The boy crouched at his feet and his warm smooth skin had a warming effect on his master.

'We are agreed then, father,' Alit said, 'we cannot submit to the shameless demands of the Dutch. They are only seeking an excuse to humble us. If we give way to them this time, they will find some new reason for oppressing us. They are proud , although they have no caste, and they have no manners. They do not seem to understand with whom they are dealing. Because a few lords have turned renegades and traitors they think they can cow us all. They will see that they are deceived about Badoeng."

The old lord looked at the younger one before he spoke. "I am old and tired and sickness has made the fighting blood in me slothful and often clouds my thoughts. But you are young and you must oppose your heart and your forehead to the white men. I have watched you grow up and I was not sure that you would hold to the way of our fathers. Sometimes you seemed to me to think more as a Hrahman than as a Ksatira. I am glad that you would have not forgotten your kris for your books."

"I have discoursed' Alit replied, ' in long prayers with our forefathers. My friend, the pendata of Taman Sari, has spent many days and nights with me and helped me to find the way. The old books, my father, are as string as the kris, and even stronger when they are understood rightly. I ahve learnt one thing from them - that I am nothing. I, Alit, the lord of Badoeng. I am only a link in the chain, one single bamboo pole in the whole bridge. I must hand on what I have received from my mighty forefathers. I am not free and it is not permitted to me to act by my own choice. I cannot give away or throw away or sell my inheritance and I mut stand firm there where my birth has set me. That is what I have read in the books."

Alit, the friend, lets say, very close friend of Raka, and by his descent and culture, literal lord of all, or most, he surveys. A somewhat physically unprepossessing man, like most Balinese aristocracy of the time, doing waaaaaaaay too much opium, and facing the incursions and slowly tightening claims of the Dutch, and of the outside world generally.

Alit does occupy the top of the hierarchy, and while not a perfect expression of his cultures higher qualities like Raka, he knows a lot more about it. (All that time spent with the Palm Leaf texts). He knows the dream of his culture, the background invisible part of any society that its hard to intuit without living in it for a good long time, and maybe without being born in it. He is not just an aristocrat, in the same way that, in Tuchmans ‘A Distant Mirror’ the Sire de Coucy was not just a soldier, or even just a knight, and like Alit, at the end of his book, de Coucy commits something that looks a lot like ritual suicide by-foe, for equally deep and obscure reasons of honour and selfhood.

A lot of this relates to the Indic tradition still present in Bali. Alits sense of himself of simply fulfilling a role in an inevitable process which will result in him entering heaven would make sense to Arjuna being advised by Krishna in his chariot, just as the general three-part structure of Balinese society would make sense to the steppe invaders of India, who, by a very long chain of circumstance, also gave Europe the same three-part society, and perhaps germinated de Coucy’s final doom-and-honour death charge, a long way away and many years separate from Alit.




Pak – the everyman

Pak is probably the most interesting, frustrating character in the book. An image of the Balinese everyman. He is kind of slightly stupid but at least knows that he is. He is hard working, loves his fields, is trying to save up enough to have his mothers bones cremated, has lost sexual interest in his (probably more intelligent) wif Pluglug, has vague dreams of somehow becoming more, and is sexually obsessed with the daughter of one of his landowners.

A not-that-good, but not very bad man who loves his family, generally, plays his part in the gamelan orchestra (always being sent here and there), the rice hydraulic cult, the village meetings, as a somewhat competent household leader, a son, a father, a slightly crap husband, the guy dreaming and doing most of the heavy plough work, (always kind to his cow, it’s a tragedy when she gets sick and dies). A man, in Balinese terms, who could go from the borders of poverty to the borders of low wealth in the course of a year, and does.

If there is one thing Pak can do relatively well, its work, (and play his role in a crazed plethora of community organisations and cults), and he does a lot of work;

Paks new house;

"'I am employed in building the house for a second wife and her house has to be a finer one than my main house,' he said in one breath, for he had thought out this piece of eloquence beforehand. He could not possibly have hit on a better way of informing Wajan of his designs on Sarna and respecting the proprieties at the same time.

'I heard something about it.' The old man remarked. "I wish you joy and peace in your house.'

'I have been looking round for trees for the timbers of my new house. Nobody has such fine ones as you and I wanted to ask whether you would sell me six durian trees and four palm trees from your northern plantation.

'Why not?' Wajan said. He would reckon the price and perhaps he would let him have them, although he had really intended them for fruit. Pak in his reply again laid stress on his desire to build a fine house, and repeated that Wajan's trees would suit him better than any in the village. But when Wajan asked for six hundred kepengs a tree, Paks heart sank and he gasped for air. he could not pay this price, and yet he did not wish to appear a poor man in the eyes of his future father-in-law. He offered to pay half down and to work for the rest in Wajans sawahs. When at last the deal was concluded, Wajan sent his youngest son up a palm tree and offered Pak the milk of a young coco-nut as an honoured guest and Pak walked home on air, swollen with pride and satisfaction.

Next day he went with his axe, accompanied by several of his friends, to fell the first four palms. he did as his father had taught him. He embraced the trunk of each palm. 'Palm tree, my mother,' he said, 'I must fell you not because I wish to kill you, but because I need posts for my house. Forgive me, dear palm, and allow me to cleave your trunk with my axe." And when they felled the trees and their crowns sank to earth with a loud rustling, Pak felt the strength of ten men in him, for he caught sight of Sarna hiding in the plantation watching him work; and nothing makes a man so happy as when the right woman admires him as he works.

While the trees were left to dry, he went out to cut bamboo stems for the roof, and he was fortunate in having a bamboo thicket on the edge of his sawahs; so he did not have to buy them. The bamboos grew cool and tall, shading the stream that ran beneath them, and Pak had good weather for cutting them and shortening them to the right length. He also mowed alang-alang grass for the thatch; it grew tall in his uncles pasture, almost up to his chest. It hissed and whispered as it fell to his sickle and lay in swathes and was dry in two days and ready to be tied in bundles. He spoke to Krkek, who sent him men to help him build the roof, and he paid them with rice from his well-filled barns.

......

For now he had the walls to finish and the door to fix, besides working in Wajans sawahs to pay for the trees. He also spent a lot of time cock-fighting, for he felt happy and succesful and could bet with a good courage. His white cock did, in fact, win three time, and in this way Pak procured seven hundred of the three thousand kepangs he owed Wajan. And he went to the beach collecting coral, which contained a lot of chalk, and carried it in baskets to the lime-kiln in Sanoer and gave the lime-burner six ripe coco-nuts for burning him beautiful white lime to wash the walls of his house with. Also he took his copra to the Chinese, Njo Tok Suey, and got two thousand two hundred kepangs for it. It was a poor price, but it helped towards the expenses that still lay before him."


Pak has a great cock by which I mean he comes into the ownership of a fighting bird of near magical potency and through this we see the dreams of his small soul burn. The whole chapter about Paks fighting cock and how much it means to him is magnificent people who do not get the cock chapter cannot be my homie;

"He scarcely knew himself afterwards how it happened. he had arrogantly refused various matches, which for one reason or another did not appeal to him, and then when the keeper of the lord's cocks held the red one out to him he did not dare say no. He looked at the Srawah and he saw that he wanted to fight the red one and conquer him. Terror and courage laid hold on him at once. And he accepted combat. It was the same red cock that had killed the punggawa's white one, before whom Pak had beaten a retreat that day. he had been jeered at and mocked. His cock was a good one - as good as any lords cock. He took on the match and won.

Pak never forgot his excitement as the clamour broke out behind him and the men jumped to their feet and the bets got bigger and it dawned on him that this was the match of the day. When he released his cock for its battle with the lord's his arteries were so full of throbbing blood that he felt as if his chest would burst. He staked twenty-five ringits himself - a fortune. Thousands of ringits were laid against his cock, money enough to buy a whole kingdom. There stood his Srawh, white with his black down-feathers and he himself was but a man of low caste. many of the lords of Bali with all their households betted against him- but the smith had put a hundred ringits on the Srawah. When the fight began and the clamour ceased on the instant, Pak felt that his heart had stopped, to beat no more.

There were five rounds in the fight, for neither cock could wound the other. Five times the coco-nut shell sank and five times the gong went for the next round. Five times Pak carried his cock into the corner, talked to him, bathed him, breathed his strength into him, encouraged and implored him to fight, to conquer, not to leave him in the lurch. The ring was strewn with feathers white and red. Some of the lords jumped down from their platform and crouched on the ground to get a better view. The lord of Badoeng crouched beside Pak, the peasant, and shouted for excitement. Pak could hear himself shouting too.

In the sixth round the Srawah killed the red cock.

Pak was bathed in sweat when he bore his cock away. He had to be careful not to drop the ringits he had won. He nearly cut himself as he untied the spurs, his hands shook so. His cocks heart beat so violently that he feared he might after all collapse and die of a burst heart, merely from the excitement of the fight and his victory. My cock has beaten the raja's, he told himself. My cock has beaten the radja's, my cock has beaten the radja's. He bought him a rice cake and sat down beside his basket on the grass. My cock has beaten the radja's."

But in the end, what happens?

‘A fine cock, the anak Agung said. He bent down and lifted the bird from the grass with his own hands, ran his fingers through his plumage and felt his weight. The cock crowed, flapped his wings and struggled. The anak Agung held his feet and counted the rings on his middle claw. “A genuine Srawah,” he said with awe. Pak nodded. “I have been offered a hundred ringits for him,” he said. It was more than he could do to keep it in.

“The lord has taken a fancy to your cock. He does you the honour to accept him,” the anak Agung Bima said. He beckoned to a man and gave him the bird to take away.

[Complete review on the Substack if you want it]

[Agnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vicky Baum captivatingly describes Balinese culture and way of life with a lot of detail. Towards the end of the book, she also describes how the Balinese viewed the Dutch invaders culturally. The story is based on historical facts, which she describes from the Balinese point of view. The end is rather dramatic.

[TC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good journey into old Bali. Gets you into the mindset of how the Balinese think and feel. Not a page turner but a great painting of a culture

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in Bali in 1906 the theme of this book centres around how steadfast you are in your values and beliefs. Are you brave enough to rethink them, resolute enough to risk everything or die for them?

Given the fast-paced, always on world we live in this was a quote in the book that stood out for me: "The gods did not make men that they might work till they dropped, but that they might enjoy life and have time to keep the feast days and have enough rest"

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I randomly picked up this book at a second hand bookstore - the binding was pretty and the description reminded me a little of the Pearl Buck novels I grew up reading. I actually enjoyed this book a lot - the story is well paced, the characters interesting and the historical context very compelling, in particular the climax with the battle scene.

[Josephine Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entitled "Love and Death in Bali" in the version I read, and read while in Bali, it was a fabulous tale which explains a lot of about Balinese customs and beliefs. The significance of their ceremonies was put into perspective and is a book I would recommend to travellers to Bali. A

[Suzanne Brink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deze zin op de laatste bladzijde: 'Maar zijn hart was tevreden met een tevredenheid die de blanke niet kent.' Het gaat over het hart van de Balineze boer Pak nadat zijn dochtertjes zijn neergeschoten door de Nederlanders en zijn vader bij de aanval van de Nederlandse troepen op het eiland om het leven is gekomen. En dan toch zo tevreden zijn! Vicki Baum schreef haar boek in 1937. Het is gebaseerd op ware gebeurtenissen en ze heeft aantekeningen van een arts als basis gebruikt. Heel gewaagd van haar om te schrijven vanuit een Balinese boer en een begaafde danser die de pest krijgt. Veel van wat ze schrijft is levendig en geloofwaardig, bijvoorbeeld de omgang van de mannen met hun vechthanen. Er zitten ongelooflijk veel details in over hoe een sawa bewerkt moet worden en de kleppers die je daarvoor moet snijden om de vogels mee te verschrikken. Er wordt ook lekker op los geromantiseerd en geïnterpreteerd. Je weet niet wat waar is en wat niet. Was die vorst Alit echt zo verslaafd aan opium en stiekem gekker op zijn vriend Raka dan op zijn mooie vrouwen? Ik kwam op internet niet veel recente beschouwingen tegen. E. dus Perron heeft zich er kennelijk over gebogen in 1938. https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/du_p001ver... 'Maar de manier waarop deze vreemdelinge balische karakters heeft aangedurfd is kranig; en als men het folkloristische, dat meer wetenswaardig is dan ontroerend, en dat dit soort romans altijd verzwaart, voor lief neemt, bevat het menige voortreffelijk vertelde pagina en enige scènes van onmiskenbaar dramatische kracht.' Vier sterren omdat het voor mij op een levendige manier een hele andere wereld oproept en ik daardoor ga nadenken over de verhouding tussen vorsten en boeren, en marktvrouwen, om maar iets te noemen.
Maarrrr... dit staat in de inleiding: 'Intussen hebben de Nederlanders bewonderenswaardig koloniaal werk verricht. Men kan nauwelijk in de wereld een tweede voorbeeld vinden dat inboorlingen onder blanke heerschappij zo gelukkig, onveranderd, ongestoord en vrij hun eigen leven konden leiden als op Bali.' Anne-Lot Hoek heeft met haar boek De strijd om Bali in 2021, bijna een eeuw later, definitief een einde gemaakt aan deze mythe. Ook interessant om na te denken over hoe die verouderde visie uit de twintigste eeuw het boek van Vicki Baum heeft gekleurd. Zeker het slothoofdstuk lijdt eronder.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

We're getting ready to go to Bali, so I read this book to learn more about the culture. This is a fictional account of the Dutch invasion in 1906 and the resultant mass suicide, or puputan, when the three princes of Badung realized they were outgunned and outnumbered by the Dutch and decided rather than surrender and become subjugated to the Dutch, they burned their palaces, dressed in their finest white clothing, and charged the Dutch with their ceremonial golden kris (special swords). It was a slaughter and, in all, 4,000 Balinese people died, either gunned down by the Dutch or taking matters into their own hands by plunging their kris into their children, wives and themselves.

Of course, there is much leading up to this mass suicide, and we meet some of the characters involved, including Pak, a poor peasant who owes his livelihood to the raja; Lambon (Pak's sister who becomes one of the raja's many wives); Pak's two wives Puglug and Sarna, and his children; and the handsome and well-loved dancer, Raka, and his wife Teragia. We meet some of the Dutch soldiers and the priests and other people in the towns, and how their lives are personally affected by the raja, by the gods, and then the showdown with the Dutch.

Overall, this was a dense book and not particularly easy to read considering the Balinese names of people, places, festivals and things, which are thrown at the reader from the opening sentences without any explanation of what these things are. It would have been helpful to have a kind of index or dictionary at the back of the book to give the reader an inkling of what things were. I found it very difficult to get into the book, but finally, I got into the swing of things and was able to understand through context what was happening and what things were.

[Mark Stangroome · Rating 2 out of 5]

It could have been the writing style of Vicki Baum or it could have been the writing style of the 1930's
when this book was written or it could have been the German writing style of the 1930's (this book is a translation from German) but whatever it was I found this book very dull.

If the style is trying to emulate the slow pace of life in Bali,where the book is set, in 1906 then possibly some kudos should be given but simple pieces of action became pages in length thus negating any activity that was trying to be portrayed.

The book is set in 1906 immediately prior to the Dutch stamping their colonial authority on Bali and follows a rice farmer and his wife soon to become wives and a male dancer named Raka and his wife. Raka is good friends with the local Lord and this link gives the reader access into the higher echelons on life in South Bali and the decisions that are made after a Chinese owned trading vessel comes aground in a storm.

The blurb on the back of the book would have one believe that the book immediately goes to a battle between the locals and their colonial 'masters' after the Chinese continues to inflate his losses with accusations of plunder by the locals.

This battle does not happen until the last 5% of the book; prior to that we get to read about the spiritual nature of the locals and the feudal system that they live in. The best aspect of the book is that it does not attempt to portray Bali as some kind of idyll murderously exploited by the Dutch but rather a spiritual, complex, misogynistic, sometimes brutal and often unfair feudal society.
But even given this it was not an interesting read, I often put it down after one or two pages of prose that was completely uninteresting.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before reading Love and Death in Bali, I did not know Vicki Baum at all. Of course, I had heard of Grand Hotel. But even in that instance, I had only seen the 1932 move and not read the novel. So Bali was an utter surprise to me. I didn't know what to expect. Turns out, that it is one of the most fascinating stories of Southeast Asia I've yet read.

Written in 1937 and set in a period from 1904 to 1906, when the Dutch intervened to enforce direct rule on Bali, the book focuses mostly on the lives and beliefs of a Balinese village. There is a secondary portrait of the Dutch officials. But the vast majority of Baum's novel details and sympathizes with the Balinese. Overall, Bali seems reminiscent in style to Pearl Buck's China novels. Added in, however, is a sense of urgency to the situation of Bali. And it's remarkable how Baum achieves this. For right from the beginning, even if you didn't know the history of events, Baum lets the reader know that a massacre and slaughter looms at book's end. Yet so vivid is the telling of the individual lives and aspirations, you can't help but begin to worry almost immediately who will survive and who will not. In this instance, actually, it sort of reminds me of Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey, published a decade before Baum's work.

Baum herself was something of an adventuress. She studied boxing, came to the United States in 1932, and acquired American citizenship in the wake of Nazi rule in Germany. In 1935, she lived in Bali and became friends with the painter Walter Spies, whose knowledge of Bali helped form the outline for Love and Death in Bali.

[Edmund Bloxam · Rating 3 out of 5]

The back cover promises a book like the tale of the Titanic. Unlike in the movie, the 'huge event' at the end is incredibly short, a mere fraction of the book. Not much of this book is about colonialism. That's just the end. It's about village life in Bali.

My contemporary brain wants there to be more 'build up', more 'plot'. But this is kind of written in an old style. Where there are a sequence of events that are not necessarily related, but are interesting enough in and of themselves. There are a number of subsidiary characters who don't contribute much. And there's a kind of authorial certitude that can sometimes be distracting.

But then again, perhaps the people of the colonies really did believe in what they were doing, with there rituals and cock fighting. The Dutch colonialists, when they do appear, are either buffoons, or sympathetic. So maybe this is an ode to the rural Balinese lifestyle.

And if you want action scenes, when they do happen at the very end, they come from the perspective of one person who can barely see what's going on, which I found quite amusing.

[Krishnadas Mohandas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful journey into the past, and how life was a century ago in the island of gods, and one of my favorite places on earth, Bali. Their faith, gentleness, beliefs, problems & culture.

Especially loved it since there are so many parallels with the Indian context of sati, monarchy, palace intrigue, the self justified colonial rule that tries to replace the natives’ older, primitive ways with their own “enlightened” ways, royalty that’s too comfortable, set in their own ways, having petty squabbles with immediate neighbours and living entirely on past glory with nothing achieved in their own time.

“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.” Indeed.

[Amy Rollo · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fact that it took me three months to finish this books speaks volumes. I had a hard time feeling connected to the characters and, at times, even understanding who is who. I was looking forward to this story because historical fiction is my crème de la crème, but it was difficult for me to get into it. I generally have a hard time with books written a long time ago because the writing just doesn’t captivate me. I kept thinking that the story would pick up, but I basically forced my way through 500 pages. This is one I should’ve just put down after the first 100 pages didn’t get my attention.

[Aimee · Rating 2 out of 5]

A unique cultural portrait of Bali before the Dutch annihilated the island and the tourist hordes descended. Bali deservedly enjoys a reputation as a place of great beauty, kind people, and deep spiritual connections, but its idyll appearance masks a history that was tough and often brutal (as is the case most places) . While I could forgive the slow start, most of the characters in the story were not engaging. I also wondered to what degree the story would be the same if it were written by a Balinese.

[Sarah Norton-Staal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book in the airport as we left Bali. Using the last of our Indonesian rupees. I recalled that I bought this same book years ago when we first visited Bali, but never managed to read it. Perhaps it is now in our storage in Malaysia with so many other books? I loved this book. It made me better understand the history and culture of Bali, particularly the Duty colonial era and the relationship between these very different cultures. The characters depicted in this story were so compelling. It helped me to understand the western fascination with Bali.

[Sara Elsherif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bali is soooooo damn interesting. It is like in fairytales. This is the real alf leila w leila. Can't believe this novel was based on a true story! and spending a month on this exotic island and mingling with the locals and experiencing parts of what I was reading in the novel and experiencing the culture firsthand was FREAKING AWESOME and mind-blowing. This was not your typical "honeymoon trip" to Bali, this was an adventure and more like a cultural trip. Bali will always have a special place in my heart.

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prior to reading this, I had no knowledge whatsoever of the history of Bali, or the mass suicide by members of the royal family. The book was written in 1937 and at times I found it boring, with too much detail. However, it didn't take long for me to get hooked on the fictional story of Pak and his family. I learned a lot in the process and it made me more curious about this island's history.

[Mark Eveleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best novels ever written about Bali and still surprisingly timeless even now. I read this book years ago and loved it. Then I re-read it recently when I was doing my best to soak up background inspiration and imagery for my own novel (based in the west of the island - rather than the east where Baum's story takes place). I loved it even more the second time...and will almost certainly read it again. A wonderful but sadly underrated book.

[Johann_tor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this I felt like it was an exemplary novel of the 20th century. A Jewish immigrant woman author writes in the days before WW2 about a colonized, exotisized space for an American commercial press, because of her fascination with that place and people. By god, she will put those century old tools to good use: a cast of characters, enough space to breathe life into them and their perspectives, to build attachments to the reader and to situate them in their world. A great piece of work.

[Jeremy Jl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A serious story set against the history of the island paradise, it is not as exotic or as racy as the title suggests. Very well written and worth reading for anyone with an interest in this paradise island

[Rita]

1937 historical novel
Liebe und Tod auf Bali -original title
also published in English as Life and Death in Bali,
and published in Dutch as Leven en Dood in/op Bali

discussed in Brokken's book De Kamp Schilders, pp 170ff

[Antonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ein langsamer Anfang, was aber in der zweiten Hälfte kompensiert wird. Demonstriert den Kontrast der Weltanschauungen im Kolonialismus. Wahrend ich gelesen habe musste ich oft an meinen Comprehensive Peacebuilding Kurs denken an der Ewha, Howe hätte ein gefundenes fressen gehabt.

[Paz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Extremadamente lento