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Beauty is a Wound (2002)

by Eka Kurniawan

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
4681853,070 (3.69)18
"The English-language debut of Indonesia's greatest young novelist, Eka Kurniawan: "without a doubt the most original, imaginatively profound, and elegant writer of fiction in Indonesia today: its brightest and most unexpected meteorite" (Benedict Anderson). One afternoon on a weekend in May, Dewi Ayu rose from her grave after being dead for twenty-one years. So begins Beauty Is a Wound, an epic, sweeping, compulsively readable novel, combining history, satire, family tragedy, legend, humor, and romance in a sweeping polyphony. It is also a highly political book. Revolving around the beautiful Indo prostitute Dewi Ayu and her four daughters, various plotlines incorporate incest, murder, bestiality rape, insanity, monstrosity, and the often vengeful undead. Kurniawan's gleefully grotesque hyperbole functions as a scathing critique of his young nation's troubled past. The rapacious offhand greed of colonialism; the chaotic struggle for independence; the 1965 mass murders of perhaps a million "Communists," and the three decades of Suharto's despotic rule that followed. The bravura resilience on display here makes Beauty Is a Wound a luscious yet astringent product of the art blossoming since the fall of Suharto. Kurniawan's distinctive West Javanese voice will be entirely new to American readers, and its local sources (the all night shadow puppet plays, with their bawdy wit and epic scope; the famous local folk tales) will astonish, but Kurniawan draws as well on his favorite world writers, Melville, Gogol, Hamsun, and Marquez"--… (more)
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» See also 18 mentions

English (15)  Dutch (1)  All languages (16)
Showing 1-5 of 15 (next | show all)
Membaca Cantik Itu Luka bagaikan membaca kisah yang dekat dengan kepribadian bangsa sejalan dengan rincian sejarah yang apik. Novel ini memiliki konflik berlapis-lapis dalam rentang waktu sejak masa kolonial Belanda sampai Indonesia merdeka di Halimunda yang terletak di pinggiran pantai. Inilah kecerdasan Eka Kurniawan yang pertama: memunculkan sebuah daerah administrasi baru secara fantasi tapi berhasil memasukkannya dalam rincian sejarah Indonesia tanpa harus 'melukai' sejarah itu sendiri.
Kecerdasan penulis yang kedua menurut saya adalah bagaimana dia menceritakan bahwa: 1.) Sejarah akan terulang. 2.) Mental primitif sejak zaman kolonial tidak berhasil dihapus walaupun negara sudah merdeka dan Halimunda ikut merdeka. Bahwa kekerasan dan seks masih bahasa utama mengalahkan kecerdasan, diskusi yang baik dan keinginan untuk maju. Sejarah terulang kembali karena kolonial Belanda memporak porandakan Halimunda dengan kekerasan, kemudian terulang kembali ketika Jepang datang, lantas terulang kembali ketika perjuangan kemerdekaan, terus masih terulang ketika pemberantasan komunisme di Halimunda, dan akhirnya terulang ketika pembalasan dendam yang dilakukan oleh begundal-begundal Halimunda dipimpin Maman Gendeng, dibalas oleh Shodancho yang telah hidup melewati semua lintas kekerasan tersebut.
Seks terulang karena di zaman kolonial gundik menjadi komoditas, sedangkan di zaman Jepang pelacur dipakai untuk membuat tentara Jepang bersemangat, dan perpelacuran dipertahankan sampai Indonesia merdeka bahkan seakan-akan menjadi identitas Halimunda sendiri.
Tokoh-tokoh cerita ini bagaikan kekontrasan satu sama lain: 1.) Kamerad Kliwon, tampan dan pemberani bahkan jadi tokoh Partai Komunis terkemuka, diceritakan sebagai pemuda penakluk wanita dan akhirnya mati konyol setelah tak bisa setia dengan istrinya. 2.) Shodancho, sosok berpangkat militer yang lebih menyukai perang daripada masa damai sampai-sampai menaklukkan istrinya dengan cara serupa dengan perang. Pun akhirnya mati secara ironis oleh peliharaan-peliharaannya. 3.) Maman Gendeng, sosok bebal, preman yang semata-mata hanya menginginkan keluarga dan memang berniat insyaf, sekali lagi mudah menelusuri masa lalunya untuk membalaskan dendam meskipun akhirnya pergi dari dunia dengan cara lebih bermartabat daripada dua lelaki kuat lainnya. 4.) Alamanda, tahu betul kecantikan adalah senjata utama wanita, menggunakannya untuk mempermainkan pria dan akhirnya ia sendiri yang menderita akibat permainannya. Ironisnya lagi, ia menyembunyikan hal paling hina dari adiknya yang menyayanginya. 5.) Adinda, menyia-nyiakan kecantikannya untuk mencintai pria yang tidak mencintainya, akhirnya menderita karena suaminya meninggalkannya dan anaknya jadi lebih gila dari suaminya. 6.) Maya Dewi, anak terakhir pelacur Dewi Ayu yang begitu polos dan lugu, setelah berhasil menjinakkan begundal paling berbahaya di Halimunda justru melahirkan dan membesarkan anak yang sedemikian cantik tapi bodoh dan lupa memberikannya nasihat untuk melindungi diri. 7.) Ai, jatuh cinta kepada pria tapi gengsi dan akhirnya mencelakai diri sendiri. 8.) Krisan, tampan dan pemberani seperti ayahnya, tapi tak pernah belajar kesalahan ayahnya dan justru seperti mengulanginya semacam komedi amatir. 9.) Rengganis si Cantik, begitu cantik, polos dan disayangi ayah ibunya, tapi kecantikannya ternyata dibayar mahal dengan logika dan cara berpikirnya yang akhirnya membawanya pada celakanya sendiri. 10.) Dewi Ayu, hidup tanpa cinta dan harus mengandung rasa sakit sepanjang hidupnya, setelah mati pun masih harus melawan kutukan yang menghantui keluarganya.
Seperti sejarah, kutukan juga pada akhirnya akan terulang lagi dan lagi. ( )
  awwarma | Jan 24, 2024 |
This was billed to me as inter-generational magical realism to match Márquez or Rushdie. While imaginative flair shapes this modern Indonesian history lesson, it has some of the most nonchalant delivery of shock value I’ve seen: within a few chapters you’re hit with rape, incest, bestiality, pedophilia. This book could’ve been a great classic were it not for its misogyny. Women are valued largely for beauty and fall in line as child bride or whore. Rape is committed at a disturbingly gratuitous rate.

( )
1 vote jiyoungh | May 3, 2021 |
Before I start, imagine you are near a beautiful ocean and enjoying the sunset. the play of wind, clouds and ochre sun beams and the sun in all its splendour.
All of a sudden the wind and clouds decide to go away, the sun is a giant blob in the horizon receding towards listless ocean.

All the beauty and magic is gone.

The book behaves like that, full of magic and beauty and all of sudden it is in rush, to finish various the strands of the story. It feels like sheer waste of all the beauty. All the strands and the stories seems to be in a hurry to be closed as soon as possible.

It surely reflects the age of author who was 26 when he wrote this (impatience of a youth who is bored by his own creations). This book leaves you satiated at the same time dissatisfied and empty.

The book definitely is to be read and author to be followed. At 26 he created such an achingly, evocative and magical book and I am sure when he matures he would be simply irresistible. It is a must read, for the sheer joy of discovering such a beautiful voice.

Personally for me it was a great read as Indonesia seemed so familiar. The mythology and characters are all known to me. There is huge influence of Hindu Mythology in Indonesia and i could easily relate to it. Do read this book and discover the history of Indonesia right from the Colonial time of Dutch to Japanese Invasion (WW) to Revolution and there on. Read about Love and hatred, love mercilessly torn apart and its revenge and realization that Beauty is a Wound. Traverse the story with myriad ghosts who rises up in the very first line of the book and its various characters who are driven by love, lust and hate and ego. ( )
  RaVini | Aug 5, 2020 |
A gorgeous book and beautifully translated. There are so many striking turns of phrase or images. This is firmly in the genre of magical realism since it starts with Dewi Ayu rising from the grave after being buried for 21 years. Anyone interested in Indonesia and its history would find this fascinating; anyone interested in beautiful writing would be entranced, at least for a time. Despite the beauty, I found my attention wandering as the story started to veer off into a hundred little detours. I think it's more me than the book, since right now I'm craving strong plots. It's well worth dipping into on a rainy day to see if it appeals... ( )
  MaximusStripus | Jul 7, 2020 |
Ijak #14

Novel ini jorok dan menjijikkan *maaf* tapi aku suka, walaupun aku lebih menikmati membaca Lelaki Harimau.
Karena tokoh yang lumayan banyak jadi terkadang waktu flashback masa lalu tokoh tersebut terkadang merasa sedikit bosan.

Memiliki wajah rupawan adalah anugerah sekaligus kutukan. ( )
  Titut | Feb 10, 2020 |
Showing 1-5 of 15 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (6 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Eka Kurniawanprimary authorall editionscalculated
Davis, JonathanNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Tucker, AnnieTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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"The English-language debut of Indonesia's greatest young novelist, Eka Kurniawan: "without a doubt the most original, imaginatively profound, and elegant writer of fiction in Indonesia today: its brightest and most unexpected meteorite" (Benedict Anderson). One afternoon on a weekend in May, Dewi Ayu rose from her grave after being dead for twenty-one years. So begins Beauty Is a Wound, an epic, sweeping, compulsively readable novel, combining history, satire, family tragedy, legend, humor, and romance in a sweeping polyphony. It is also a highly political book. Revolving around the beautiful Indo prostitute Dewi Ayu and her four daughters, various plotlines incorporate incest, murder, bestiality rape, insanity, monstrosity, and the often vengeful undead. Kurniawan's gleefully grotesque hyperbole functions as a scathing critique of his young nation's troubled past. The rapacious offhand greed of colonialism; the chaotic struggle for independence; the 1965 mass murders of perhaps a million "Communists," and the three decades of Suharto's despotic rule that followed. The bravura resilience on display here makes Beauty Is a Wound a luscious yet astringent product of the art blossoming since the fall of Suharto. Kurniawan's distinctive West Javanese voice will be entirely new to American readers, and its local sources (the all night shadow puppet plays, with their bawdy wit and epic scope; the famous local folk tales) will astonish, but Kurniawan draws as well on his favorite world writers, Melville, Gogol, Hamsun, and Marquez"--

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