Laksmi Pamuntjak

The Birdwoman's Palate has an intriguing premise and for the first couple of chapters I was thinking this would probably be a four star book. It tells the story about Aruna, an Indonesian woman in her mid-thirties who's a bit of a foodie and is working for a government agency during an outbreak of avian flu.

As it became clearer that there was no real plot arc or structure to the book, and that the avian flu subplot was an odd McGuffin, I revised my opinion to perhaps a 3 out of 5. After show more all, there was still plenty of vivid colour to Laksmi Pamuntjak's description of the various different kinds of food that make up Indonesian cuisine.

Then the characters acted less and less like actual people—Nadeszhda was a caricature—while others were cyphers. Two stars, I thought.

And then the sex scenes began, and amidst tears of laughter I revised downwards to just one star. I don't know which was more hilariously awful, Pamuntjak's description of cunnilingus (women "flare up like a candle the second a man parts their vulva [...and] lap up and devour, with the flames of their new knowledge, the pastures of manhood." Nothing like a woman's genitals being described as a pasture of manhood!) or how she describes penetrative vaginal sex (the vagina is a "cavity"; the penis "incubates in its wetness." Incubates.).

A hot mess. show less

In 2006 a woman visiting a grave on the former prison island of Buru is attacked by the dead man's wife and half-killed. When she recovers she tells the story of the passionate affair she'd had with the man for a few weeks in 1965 although she was engaged to somebody else, how they'd been separated during an army raid on a subversive friend's wake, and how she'd loved him ever since, despite their never meeting again.

The historical background was fascinating and the emotional complexities of show more the characters and their relationships with each other and their families and others reminds me just how foreign Indonesia is even after 28 years. show less

enjoyed the read though wondered how a group of people could eat so much food. i couldn't! all that description makes me want to take a trip to Indonesia, however. i was mostly fascinated by the food descriptions, honestly - i think the avian flu mystery and such could have been fleshed out better - this book had the potential to make a crazy political statement in that regard.

I enjoyed this book. This is not a part of the world I know much about, but I discovered so much. There's a loose plot based on an outbreak of avian flu and some romance, but at its heart, this is a culinary and cultural tour of Indonesia. I just wish there was an Indonesian restaurant nearby, the food was so lovingly depicted I want to try some