I started reading books on Indonesia during the beginning of the pandemic. I intended to travel to the country the minute borders opened up.

Well, unfortunately, it took Indonesia way too long to open, so I took a detour through Central America. Hopefully, one day I will get there as I find this country of over 17,000 islands to be fascinating.

Here’s a list of 16 books on Indonesia that I read during the summer of 2020 as well as one world-view-changing book I read in 2021. I’ve divided these 16 books into 4 categories:

• Books on Indonesian History
• Travel Books on Indonesia
• Books on Bali
• Novels Set in Indonesia

Just jump to the section you’re most interested in.

I’ve also given each book a rating from 1 – 5 stars depending on how much I enjoyed the book. Hopefully, my rating system and review will help you decide where to start.

If you’ve read any of these books or have a book to recommend, please let me know by leaving a comment at the end of this post.

Books on Indonesian History

Start your Indonesian reading adventures by learning the history of the country. I’ve listed 4 EXCELLENT books on the country’s history.

A Brief History of Indonesia is a good start. It’ll give you a nice comprehensive history of the country.

If you want to know the origins of colonialism, read Nathaniel’s Nutmeg. It’s fascinating!

In the Time of Madness is a mind-blowing read on what was happening in Indonesia in the 1990s.

However, by far the best book on this list is The Jakarta Method.

1. A Brief History of Indonesia: Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis: The Incredible Story of Southeast Asia’s Largest Nation

By Tim Hannigan (2015)

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

“But there is another kind of tangible history, one that cannot easily be corralled to meet the needs of authority. It is there when Indonesians speak of churches or flags or windows and unknowingly use a Portuguese word to do so. It is there when they talk of the exhaust pipe of their car or the washbasin in their bathroom, and use a Dutch term for the purpose; or when they speak of thoughts and breaths and books and schedules and use Arabic words, but then use Sanskrit terms when they describe stories and colour and language, and even simple things like bread and hats. It is there in the words for ‘you’ and ‘me’ in Jakarta patois, lu and gue, which come from the Chinese Hokkien dialect. It is there in the food carts selling Chinese-style noodles and meatballs at every street corner in every town on every island in the country.”

Before reading any other book about Indonesia, read Tim Hannigan’s A Brief History of Indonesia  By having an overview of the country’s history, you’ll be better able to understand and appreciate other books set in Indonesia.

The first three chapters cover the earliest known history up to the 1400s, the beginning of colonialism. I felt that these chapters were the weakest part of the book, and while reading it, I literally wanted to throw my Kindle across the room in frustration. Partly, it was the writer’s fault (it read like an excerpt from an Encyclopedia), but mine as well for not having enough knowledge of pre-colonial Indonesian history.

However, I’m glad I stuck with the book because starting in chapter four, East meets West begins and the writing and history take off. And the book flew by fast (hard to do with a history book) as I became engrossed in the stories of the fighting between European nations over control of the spice islands, Indonesia’s war of independence, the reigns of Sukarno and Suharto, and the post-Suharto years. Hannigan’s account of post-colonial history was as exciting as that of say accounts of Germany or China’s histories.

I want to end this review by saying that I really liked Hannigan’s writing style. He has a unique way of ending his paragraphs with a little cliffhanger. It keeps you wanting to go on even when you’ve got to get to work.

Buy it! You won’t be disappointed!

2. In the Time of Madness: Indonesia on the Edge of Change

By Richard Lloyd Parry (2007)

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

“An extraordinary thing had taken place, and passed by with no more than a glance from the outside world: an ethnic war of scarcely imaginable savagery, fought according to principles of black magic, a couple of hours’ drive from a modern city of banks, hotels, and airports.”

Have you ever read a book that made you angry with yourself?

Angry because you’re reading about horrible events that you weren’t aware of at the time they were going on?

Maybe the media didn’t mention it or maybe you just didn’t care enough to pay attention. 

That is what it felt like for me while reading In the Time of Madness. 

Why wasn’t I aware of what was happening in Indonesia in the 1990s?

In East Timor?

To the Chinese in Indonesia?

In the Time of Madness is one of the most disturbing and most important books on Indonesia that I’ve read.

Written by foreign correspondent, Richard Lloyd Parry, it’s about a series of disturbingly violent events that took place in Borneo, Jakarta, and East Timor in the late 1990s.

Borneo, 1997 and 1999: 

While covering the elections in Jakarta, Parry heard rumors of fighting between two ethnic groups in Borneo: Christian Dayak and the Muslim Madurese migrants. 

Sparked by a minor incident between the two groups, the Dayak proceeded to drive out the Madurese by burning down their homes and businesses and murdering them (men, women, children, babies, and the elderly) indiscriminately by … 

I’m going to stop here and not tell you how the Dayak murdered Madurese. You HAVE TO read it to find out. It is chilling and disturbing.

Reading Parry’s own account of seeing headless bodies and people eating human femurs and hearts and his interviews with the Dayak who cheerfully brag about their cannibalism is chilling and unforgettable.

Jakarta: The second part takes place in 1998 in Jakarta during the Southeast Asian financial crisis and the reign of Suharto and his corrupt family.

Student protests broke out across Java and Sumatra calling for Suharto to step down.

Parry describes how the government responded and then how the protests went from peaceful to an attack on the Chinese-Indonesian population. 

Fascinating and deeply sad.

East Timor: The last part of this book on Indonesia involves the former Portuguese colony of East Timor.

It wasn’t until 1974 that Portugal finally gave East Timor its independence.

But then in 1976 the Indonesian army invaded and annexed East Timor. From 1976 to 1998, East Timor experienced guerilla warfare and reprisals by the Indonesian military.

Finally, in 1998, President Habibe, the president at the time, announced that Timorese would be allowed to vote on whether to stay with Indonesia or become independent.

In the Time of Madness is probably the most important book about Indonesia on this list. It reveals so many things about Indonesia that I didn’t know and so many things about governments, militaries, and ethnic conflict in general.

3. Nathaniel’s Nutmeg: or, The True and Incredible Adventures of the Spice Trader Who Changed the Course of History

Giles Milton (1999)

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

“The island can be smelled before it can be seen. From more than ten miles out to sea a fragrance hangs in the air, and long before the bower-hat mountain hoves into view you know you are nearing land.”

Another informative and entertaining history book on Indonesia is Nathaniel’s Nutmeg.

Written by Giles Milton, the book tells the story of the competition between Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and England for control of the spice islands—a tiny group of islands located in southeastern Indonesia, officially called the Maluku Islands.

The book mainly focuses on the most lucrative islands in the Malukus called the Banda Islands. This was the only place in the world where nutmeg grew.

In the 1400s and 1500s, it was believed that nutmeg was a magical cure for the plague that was ravaging Europe then. Profits from the sale of nutmeg were astronomical.

In the Banda Islands, one pound of nutmeg cost less than one English penny. In London, that same spice sold for 2.10 pounds—a mark-up of a staggering 60,000 percent.

Getting to these islands wasn’t easy. Many ships never made it. Merchants and explorers looked for alternative passages to get to the islands—some sailed across the top of Russia, while others sailed west, leading to the European discovery of the Americas. the book tells the story of these attempts.

Nathaniel’s Nutmeg is a fascinating and suspenseful book. You never know if an expedition is going to succeed or not. 

I’m so thankful to Giles Milton for opening my eyes to the tragedy that the people of the Banda Islands endured. Their lives and their islands were completely destroyed by the West. Yet so few people know about it.

4. The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World

By Vincent Bevins (2020)

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

“Internally, when anticommunism is the ruling ideology, almost the national religion, any legitimate complaint from below can easily be dismissed as communist. Anything that would be an obvious inconvenience to the small clique of rich families that run the country can be easily categorized as dangerous revolution, and cast aside. This includes any whiff of socialism or social democracy, any land reform, and any regulation that would reduce monopoly power and allow for more efficient development and market competition. It includes unions and any normal demands for workers’ rights.”

The Jakarta Method was the BEST book I read in 2021. It completely changed my view of the world and opened my eyes to the history of not only Indonesia but also that of the United States and most “3^rd world countries.”

The book is not only about Indonesia but also about Latin America, and Iran.

The Jakarta Method focuses on the secret history of how the United States government and its allies in Indonesia and Latin America brutally murdered and crushed anyone asking for social and economic changes in their countries.

In 1965, the Indonesian military with the support of the United States murdered around one million people. This mass killing sparked other right-wing politicians in other countries (particularly Latin America) to follow what became known as the Jakarta Method to get rid of its own left-wing groups whether they were communist or not.

If there is one book on Indonesia that you should read on this list, it is The Jakarta Method. An absolutely brilliant world-view-changing book. You’ll have a hard time putting it down!

I’m not the only one who thinks this is a brilliant book. It was also named one of the 10 best books of 2020 by NPR, The Financial Times, and GQ.

Travel Books set in Indonesia

If you’re interested in learning more about Indonesia beyond the islands of Bali and Lombok, I highly suggest reading one of these two travel books on Indonesia–most likely, Indonesia, Etc.

5. Indonesia, Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation

By Elizabeth Pisani (2014)

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

“We, the people of Indonesia, hereby declare the independence of Indonesia. Matters relating to the transfer of power etc. will be executed carefully and as soon as possible.’ Indonesia has been working on that ‘etc.’ ever since.”

The best travel book on Indonesia is Elizabeth Pisani’s Indonesia, Etc.

Pisani was a reporter and epidemiologist in Indonesia for several years before spending a year traveling from one end of the archipelago to the other. 

She traveled to Sumba Island, Flores, West Timor, Sulawesi, Maluku, Kei Islands, Banggai Islands, Aceh region of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok, Borneo, and a few other smaller islands.

As she traveled, she immersed herself in the lives of the local people by living with the locals, working alongside them, talking to them, and listening to them.

She weaves these stories of her travels with information about Indonesian culture, history, and current events.

This is a fascinating and well-written book about Indonesia.

Pisani’s understanding of the country and the language are so good that at one point a group of villagers on one island sat around discussing whether Pisani was from Java or a foreign country.

6. The Malay Archipelago

By Alfred Russel Wallace (1869)

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

“To Charles Darwin, author of “The Origin of Species,” I dedicate this book, not only as a token of personal esteem and friendship but also to express my deep admiration for his genius and his works.”

The Malay Archipelago is the perfect book about Indonesia for those who love travel and science.

Written by Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago is the account of his travels around Indonesia and Malaysia in the 1800s and his theory of the natural history of the region. 

Born in the nineteenth century, Alfred Russel Wallace was a naturalist, explorer, traveler, socialist, etc. etc. etc. who independently came up with the theory of evolution based on natural selection at about the same time Charles Darwin did. Unfortunately, most people remember Darwin as the guy who thought of the idea.

I did a bit more research on this discovery and found that Darwin’s diaries prove that he had come up with the idea of natural selection BEFORE Wallace. 

Luckily, for Wallace, he got credit for another theory that this book is based on.

The book is divided into 5 sections.

Part 1 is about Wallace’s theory of natural selection based on the flora and fauna of the Malaya Archipelago

Parts two through six read like Wallace’s diary entries. There are detailed descriptions of the flora, fauna, typography, and people and customs of the archipelago. You’ll also find his views on colonialism, slavery, and the different races. 

I have really mixed feelings about The Malay Archipelago. On the one hand, it’s informative and inspiring. I loved reading Wallace’s scientific discoveries and his descriptions of the flora and fauna, the Dutch colonial system, and the local customs of the various islands.

The ethnic diversity of the archipelago is something I was unaware of before. And I now have a better idea of what places I want to see on my trip to Indonesia (definitely, Sulawesi).

Now for the bad: Wallace was a racist and misogynist who was also a firm believer in colonialism.

Surprised?

You shouldn’t be given that he lived during a time when most white people were as well. I thought about not finishing the book because of what kind of person Wallace turned out to be but then decided to continue because I found his views to be fascinating in a historical sense. THIS is what people thought back then, It’s horrible. But here’s direct proof.

It was also a nice companion to the debate about the dismantling of statues of historical figures. Should they be taken down or not? Should we still revere these men who on the one hand accomplished great things in science or politics but on the other hand, held horrible views of race and gender or even held slaves?

I still recommend reading The Malay Archipelago if you’re into history, science, and/or travel.

Books about Bali

For those who are just interested in reading books on Bali, here is a list of five books you might want to check out. There are some good ones here and some real humdingers. To be honest, I wish there was something better than these five.

7. Bali Daze: Freefall off the Tourist Trail

By Cat Wheeler (2009)

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

“I was once asked to speak to a class at an International School about adjusting to life in Asia. I declined, because I don’t think it is a skill that can be learned. Like the cellular memory of a begonia cutting, I believe we are born with the potential to thrive in different climates and cultures. If we don’t have that, no amount of wishing or training will make it so. Perhaps.”

Bali Daze is a memoir written by Cat Wheeler, a Canadian woman who moves to Bali. She builds a house there and acquires a whole bunch of animals from dogs to ducks.

The book consists of short disconnected chapters filled with anecdotes of her life in Bali, her impressions of Bali culture, and her opinion of environmental issues facing Bali.

My one gripe with the book is that there are too many grammar mistakes (verb tense errors), typos and typesetting mistakes (no spacing between periods and the beginning of the next sentence), choppy writing, and unfinished sentences. All these errors were sometimes distracting.

There’s some fascinating content about Bali culture and society. It’s interesting learning about the gamelan, Nyepi, and other Balinese beliefs about ghosts and spirits.

She has another book on Bali called Retired Rewired: Retired, Rewired: Living Without Adult Supervision in Bali.

8. Eat Pray Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

By Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

“This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something.”

Eat Pray Love is the story of Elizabeth Gilbert’s travels to Italy, India, and Indonesia after the collapse of her marriage, bouts of terrible depression, and the end of a love affair.

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love this book and those who hate it. I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s in between.

I fall into the “love it” camp. For those who hated it, please don’t be put off from trusting my other reviews of books about Indonesia. Let me explain why love this book:

I love it when authors show their vulnerability and reveal their deepest darkest secrets and the worst parts of their personalities. Gilbert does a lot of that in this book.

And as someone who is filled with a similar sense of wanderlust and who is a commitment-phobe like Gilbert, I could relate to her as a person. I was going through a divorce and depression at the same time I was reading this book, and so much of what she wrote was exactly how I felt during and after my marriage—the fear of taking that big step of leaving and the inability to admit when something is over.

I’m not going to say anything more about this book. It’s too well-known to go into detail. I love travel memoirs and most of them can be really self-indulgent. That has never bothered me.

9. A House in Bali

By Colin McPhee (1947)

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

“Balinese music is based on five tones. In the sacred writings of the priests these tones have cosmological significance, for they are linked with the gods of the five directions, north, east, south, west, and centre, where in the middle of a lotus sits Batara Siva, Creator, Destroyer, Lord God of All.”

I didn’t find what I was looking for in Bali Daze. But I did find a bit of that ex-pat life I wanted to read about in Colin McPhee’s A House in Bali. 

The book is about the author’s time spent living in Bali and building a house on the island in the 1930s.

McPhee, a composer, one day hears a recording of some Balinese music, the gamelan (traditional ensemble music of Bali made up of mostly percussion instruments). He’s so intrigued that he sets off to Bali to learn more about the music.

McPhee travels to Indonesia 3 times, staying for a year to several years each time.

On his second trip, he builds a traditional Balinese style house there.

He fully immerses himself in the Balinese culture by spending most of his time with the local Balinese people and not with other ex-pats. All of his closest friends seem to be Balinese.

The book is filled with lots of information about Balinese music, and even if you’re like me and have no ear for music, you’ll still find McPhee’s passion for the music engrossing.

The book is also filled with lots of anecdotes about Bali culture and the Balinese people.

I think what makes this such a great book about Indonesia is the writer himself, Colin McPhee. I learned not just about Bali but I also learned about how to be a better visitor to a foreign country. He’s curious, open-minded, observant, and patient. For a man of the 1930s, he’s the least racist or bigoted person I’ve met in a book from that time period. There is not an ounce of white or western superiority. The little things that annoy most western tourists seem to roll right off him. He takes everything in stride.

Throughout A House in Bali, I had a nagging feeling that the author was hiding something.

In all the years that he lived there, he never once mentioned a lover or romantic companion.

He’s celibate?

He’s gay?

Upon further research, I learned that McPhee’s wife was with him the whole time he was in Bali. Not once does he mention her. When they left Bali permanently, they divorced. I guess his revenge was to erase her from this book. Ouch!

10. Love and Death in Bali

By Vicki Baum (1937)

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

“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”

Another book about Bali that I read was Love and Death in Bali.

Written by the German writer, Vicki Baum (she also wrote Grand Hotel) and published in 1937, Love and Death is based on the letters and notes of a friend of Baum’s, a Dutch doctor who lived in Bali for many years.

The story is set against the backdrop of the Dutch conquest of the Kingdom of Bandung (now known as Denpasar) and the mass suicide of the Bali royal family called the “puputan.”

The book follows the story of Pak, a selfish and rather foolish rice farmer. He’s married and has several daughters, the latter of which in Bali culture is considered a fate worse than death.

In his eyes, his wife isn’t beautiful enough for him (but she is by far much smarter than he is; the moments when she one-ups him are some of the best scenes in the book), so he goes in search of a second wife.

Along with the romantic angle, Pak also goes about attempting to improve the life of his family through acquiring more land, selling his sister,  cockfighting, and salvaging.

There are a few secondary Dutch and Balinese characters that we hear about as well. None of them are really that interesting.

The story is entertaining and the details of Balinese culture and history are fascinating.

I have one major quibble with the book, and that is the superficial and brief way the author dealt with the aftermath of the Dutch invasion and the mass suicide of the royal family.  I understand from doing some background reading on Baum that she was a great admirer of the Dutch colonial system, so she may have seen these events in a positive light.

I do highly recommend Love and Death in Bali. The story is interesting and learning about the events that led up to the invasion and suicide is enlightening.

Novels Set in Indonesia

There are a variety of Indonesian novels I have here. There are some that are written by foreign authors. The BEST is The Year of Living Dangerously, a novel that I can’t stop gushing about. I absolutely adore this book. The movie is also brilliant.

The book This Earth of Mankind is the only book I have on this list that was written before independence and it is the first in a series of books. I could only get through the first one. However, if you want to understand the discrimination the local Indonesians faced under Dutch rule, this is a good book to read.

The most famous modern Indonesian writer is Eka Kurniawan and I have included his most famous book here, Man Tiger. It’s a rather interesting read that I highly recommend.

My favorite Indonesian novel, however, is The Birdwoman’s Palate, a book filled with lots of delicious Indonesian food, descriptions of different places in the country, and interesting characters.

11. The Birdwoman’s Palate

By Laksmi Pamuntjak (2018)

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

“After all, instinct doesn’t fall from the sky or seize you like a jin, directing your five senses to the right choice without fail. Instinct is born of experience.”

It took me a long time to get through The Birdwoman’s Palate not because it was bad, but because I wanted to savor the beautiful descriptions of the food and places of Indonesia.

The Birdwoman’s Palate follows the story of Aruna (Birdwoman because she studies zoonotic diseases from birds), a thirty-something single and a very snarky and socially-awkward Indonesian woman. She’s also an epidemiologist and a foodie (her palate).

Her employer (some government department called SoWeFit) sends her out to investigate 8 cases of bird flu occurring in 8 different cities throughout Indonesia (Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and Lombok).

Aruna, who doesn’t seem to take the mission seriously, invites her two best friends (Bono, a talented chef, and Nadezhda, a food critic) along on her travels throughout Indonesia.

I really loved this book! This praise might surprise you since reviewers on Good Reads have been rather negative (3 stars total! I don’t get it!).

It’s got most of the elements I love in a good book:

• a quirky and socially-awkward female main character,
• witty and sarcastic writing that’s evocative and lyrical,
• an ability to spark my wanderlust (I really want to explore Java and Sumatra),
• lots of fascinating information about Indonesia (what people think of Madurese and what the Aceh region is like after the Christmas Tsunami)
• and timely (she’s an epidemiologist dealing with a possible bird flu epidemic).

I love her ability to describe places so vividly.

The hospital doesn’t even look like a hospital. A facility, more like it—squalid, low security, a shelter for petty criminals instead of the infirm, the sick instead of the sickly. It even lacks the harsh fluorescent lighting usually associated with heartless functionality. Instead, there are broken bulbs, rain-stained walls, and crummy corridors from which I almost expect a zombie a tow to pop out.

But what I really love about this book is the food–lots and lots of gorgeous descriptions of delicious dishes, many of which I had never heard of before but that I am now dying to try.

• Pempek--a savory fishcake delicacy made of fish and tapioca (Wikipedia)
• Sate Klopo–satay mixed with grated coconut and special seasoning
• Sambal Lingkung–fish meat pounded fine, stir-fried powder-dry, delectably seasoned with galangal, cumin, and coriander.

The book is not perfect. There’s a mystery (what’s with these 8 bird flu cases? what’s this possible government scandal?) that peters out, a romance (Aruna and one other character) that doesn’t sizzle, and the story of personal growth that doesn’t interest me since I love Aruna the way she is. All are overshadowed by the group’s quest to find the best dishes in each Indonesian city.

Still, I loved it!

12. This Earth of Mankind

By Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1980)

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

“I put my trust in scientific understanding and in reason. With these, at least, there are certainties that can be grasped.”

Have you ever read a book that you really, really wanted to like but just couldn’t?

That is how I felt about the Indonesian classic, This Earth of Mankind. 

It’s the first in a series of four books called the Buru Quartet and centers on the main character, Minke, a young, ambitious, and bright Javanese man living in Surabaya during the late 1800s when Indonesia was under Dutch rule and in the throws of its Ethical Policy (the policy of improving the welfare of the Indonesians instead of just raping the country of its natural resources).

Minke is one of the few native Javanese attending a prestigious Dutch high school. He’s enamored with learning and science.

One day he’s invited to the house of a wealthy concubine (nyai) and her children. He falls in love with the daughter, Anneliese, a half-Dutch and half-Indonesian young woman. 

Over time, he experiences the injustices and racism of the Dutch colonial system.

At times, I found the story a bit contrived. Some things just didn’t make sense like a couple of incidents involving the father and a brothel owner.

The character of Minke is portrayed as almost superhuman to the point that I started to really dislike him. The woman he falls in love with is weak and pathetic.

The writing and especially the dialogue sound like a cheap Harlequin romance.

What is the most interesting aspect of this book is how Pramoeday Ananta Toer wrote it. While serving a political sentence on the island of Buru, he first told the story orally to his fellow prisoners.

It wasn’t until after he left prison that he wrote the story down.

13. Man Tiger

By Eka Kurniawan (2004)

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

“If a man couldn’t control his beast, it could turn so violent that nothing could restrain it once enraged.”

Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan was a nominee for the 2016 International Booker Prize, It lost out to Han Kang’s, The Vegetarian (a book I loved and reviewed in my best books on Korea article).

The book starts out with a murder. Anwar Sadat (not the murdered Egyptian president) is murdered. Sadat’s throat has been torn to pieces as if it were bitten by a tiger and not a human. Everyone knows who did it–Margio, a sweet, good-natured twenty-year-old man who people describe as someone who’d never hurt a fly.

The mystery is why Margio killed Anwar Sadat.

Gradually, over the course of 192 pages, Kurniawan reveals the solution to the mystery by telling the story of Margio’s family from the perspective of his loving sister, his abusive father, his friends, his girlfriend and so on. It’s not until the last sentence that you discover the ultimate reason.

How well you enjoy the book depends on whether you take the story literally or metaphorically. 

If you look at it literally you’ll see the story as one of family abuse and the consequences of that abuse on the minds of its victims. I was looking at the story in this way for the first 40% of the book and I was kind of just ho-hum about it.

Another is to see the story as a metaphor for colonialism. Interviews with the author actually reveal that this latter interpretation was what Kurniawan was getting at. Once I took it in this way, I began to make an emotional connection with the characters and truly appreciate its brilliance.

Man Tiger is a great book. The writing has a nice flow to it. The pace is perfect. The way the story moves back and forth in time is at first confusing but after a while, it’s used perfectly to build up suspense.

He has written a number of other books that received praise. You might also want to check out, A Beauty is a Wound. I haven’t read it yet.

14. Saman

Ayu Utami (1998)

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

“Here he would tie me to my bed at night and drill me in the first two rules of love. These were his lessons: First. It is the prerogative solely of the male to apporach the woman. A woman who chases a man is a whore. Second. A woman shall give her body only to the right man, who shall supoprt her for the rest of her life. That’s what is known as marriage. Later, when I had grown up a little, I decided that marriage was nothing more than hypocritical prostitution.”

One of the last novels about Indonesia that I read was Saman by Ayu Utami.

The book starts on an oil rig in the South China Sea. One of the main characters, Laila, is working for a production company that is doing a profile of the oil company that owns the rig. There she meets Sihar, who she falls madly in love with.

Then the story jumps to Saman, another man that Laila was madly in love with when she was younger but couldn’t have because he was a Catholic priest. The second part is the most compelling part of the novel. Here we learn how Saman went from being a priest to an activist.

The book takes another jump in narration, storyline, and timeline to that of a childhood friend of Laila’s. Here we learn about the friendship of a group of four friends and how they managed their childhood, teenage years, and young adult years dealing with their sexuality and their place as women in Indonesian society. This part was the most intriguing and I wanted to know more about these women and their friendship.

However, that would not be the case because the book then returns to Saman’s story where we learn about what happened to him in the form of emails and diary entries.

I started out really liking this book and then I ended not liking it so much. The writing had a nice flow to it and some of the characters were intriguing. I just wish it had been structured in a different way instead of jumping from storyline to storyline. It would have been better if the story had been told from the point of view of each of the four female friends with a focus on them growing up together and then becoming adults. Through these women, we learn what it’s like being a modern woman in an Islamic country.

I like the themes of feminism, sexuality, and oppression. However, I wish they had been presented in a less heavy-handed way. 

15. The Year of Living Dangerously

By Christopher J. Boch (1978)

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Swift evening spreads across Jakarta. The city lies inert in a hot brown twilight, which smells of petrol, frangipani, and fear. All energy burns low, like the failing street lights; but fear mounts like erotic excitement in these stormy nights of the northwest monsoon. Jakarta awaits always for explosions.

My favorite novel set in Indonesia is The Year of Living Dangerously.

The story centers around a group of western journalists covering Indonesia during the end of the Sukarno years, one of the most violent and important times in the history of Indonesia.

The title of the book comes from the title of a speech Sukarno gave in 1964, which he had gotten from Mussolini.

Sukarno had kicked out American and British journalists, left the United Nations, threatened war with Malaysia, and was on the verge of turning Indonesia into a communist state.

The story centers around two major characters: the cameraman, Billy Kwan, and the journalist, Guy Hamilton.

Billy is probably the most complex and unforgettable character in western fiction. He’s an idealistic Chinese-Australian; also a dwarf as Boch likes to remind us. Billy’s been in the country for a while, and there is a lot of mystery and rumors about him.

Billy sees a connection between Guy and him. Since Guy is fresh off the boat, Billy takes him under his wings, teaching him about Indonesia and helping him make the connections with those in power that he needs to be a star reporter in Indonesia.

As the story progresses, Billy becomes more disillusioned with Sukarno and his friendship with Guy begins to break down. These things happen against the backdrop of a country on the brink of collapse.

The Year of Living Dangerously perfectly captures that sense of place and time. It’s so evocative of the tense atmosphere of what I  imagine Indonesia would be going through in 1965.

As I was reading the book, I could feel myself transported to Jakarta. The sights, sounds, and smells are so perfectly presented.

Boch knows how to write about political intrigue and setting, but the romance part of the story falls flat. There’s no chemistry between Guy and Jill or Billy and Jill.

Although I love this book, there are some things that made me uncomfortable. Pedophilia is just shrugged off. For me, I think this nonchalant attitude toward it just represented the feelings people had at the time. 

There is also a lack of a strong female character. The one female character in the book, Jill, is dull and pathetic. 

The book was also made into an excellent movie starring Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, and Linda Hunt. Hunt, a woman and a caucasian, played the part of Billy Kwan–you would never guess that the character is played by a woman. It’s beautifully acted. Hunt won an Academy Award for her role.

More Books on Indonesia

Here are some more books on Indonesia that I haven’t had a chance to read yet. Check them out!

 

Final Thoughts

I’m glad I went on this Indonesian reading adventure. I don’t think my desire to visit a country has ever been so sparked by books as it has with these 16 books on Indonesia.

After reading them, I actually have an itinerary planned out for when I do make it there (must be positive!): Bali, Lombok, Sulawesi, Banda Islands, Java, and Sumatra.

If you’ve read any of these books on Indonesia, tell me what you thought of them in the Comment Section below. Let me know if I’ve left any books off this list!