Description
Indonesia under Japan's brutal occupation during WW II is the setting for this electifying novel, written in 1947 while Pramoedya was in a Dutch forced-labor camp. The hero, Raden Hardo, a young Indonesian platoon commander, leads a nationalist army revolt that is quashed when a co-conspirator leaks the plan. Disguised as an itinerant beggar, hunted by Japanese soldiers, Hardo returns to his hometown in Java. His mother is dead; his half-crazed father drowns his sorrow in compulsive gambling; his fiancee has moved away; and his father-in-law-to-be promptly reports his whereabouts to the Japanese. The plot, an explosive mix of love, betrayal, collaboration and revenge, is ironically heightened by the fact that the Japanese are only a day or two away from surrendering to the Allies. The prose is lyrical, musical, yet hard as shrapnel.… (more)
Genres
Collections
Publication
London : Penguin Books, 1992
Pages
128
User reviews
LibraryThing member John
This is the first thing I’ve read by Toer. I liked it. The story is simple: a couple of nationalists who led a rebellion against the Japanese occupiers now live as hunted men, but they return to their home town disguised as beggars (though they really have reached pretty much the bottom of
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physical appearance and health); one is betrayed and the Japanese launch a search for him. A third man is still active with the Indonesian domestic police, working with the Japanese, and is considered a traitor by the nationalists because he failed to deliver his part of the revolt and that allowed the Japanese to more easily crush it. But, as with most things in life, events and actions are not always black and white and motivations and rationales depend on perspectives at all levels. Toer explores this through the action of the principal protagonist, Hardo, particularly in an extended, strange meeting with his father where Hardo gains insight into the complexity and nuance of individual motivations wrapped up in public actions, and in Hardo’s much greater degree of understanding for the actions of the man considered a traitor. A couple of characters are true to form: we just know that the local village chief will betray Hadro’s presence in the region (for which he pays a terrible price), and the Japanese that appear are brutal, but other characters, even in this short book, are more nuanced. Toer touches lightly on, but does not elaborate (the book ends with the surrender of the Japanese) the tensions within nationalist forces that will come to the fore with the defeat of the Japanese. A good tasting that encourages me to read more by Toer. Show Less
LibraryThing member FicusFan
This book is for a RL book group. It is set in east Java, Indonesia, at the end of WWII. The main character is an Indonesian who once worked with the Japanese, as an Indonesian soldier, but who tries to rebel against them. He and the other leaders are betrayed by one of their own, and he must go
He returns to his home to see his family and friends, but he must keep his distance so they will not be arrested or killed by the Japanese. He lives as a beggar, and spends his time hiding. He visits his fiancee's family, though she is not there, he also visits his father. Two other rebel leaders are also there as beggars and they discuss the fate of the fourth who betrayed them.
The family members show what is important to them: love, family, safety, propriety. Various people act in heroic, or cowardly ways. Some lie to themselves and others. One of the betrayed also talks about justice leading to vengeance against the traitors and the collaborators. The main character takes the side of mercy with a view to human frailty and the future when they will need good military men to also free themselves from the Dutch.
The book took me about 40 pages to get into it, even though it is very short. It is translated and very simply written, but the writing flows. The setting and nature are very important and a strong part of the story. Perhaps trying to set the story as a shadow play. I became interested in the story and the characters.
The book was written in prison where the Dutch put the author, over the issue of Indonesian Independence.
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into hiding.He returns to his home to see his family and friends, but he must keep his distance so they will not be arrested or killed by the Japanese. He lives as a beggar, and spends his time hiding. He visits his fiancee's family, though she is not there, he also visits his father. Two other rebel leaders are also there as beggars and they discuss the fate of the fourth who betrayed them.
The family members show what is important to them: love, family, safety, propriety. Various people act in heroic, or cowardly ways. Some lie to themselves and others. One of the betrayed also talks about justice leading to vengeance against the traitors and the collaborators. The main character takes the side of mercy with a view to human frailty and the future when they will need good military men to also free themselves from the Dutch.
The book took me about 40 pages to get into it, even though it is very short. It is translated and very simply written, but the writing flows. The setting and nature are very important and a strong part of the story. Perhaps trying to set the story as a shadow play. I became interested in the story and the characters.
The book was written in prison where the Dutch put the author, over the issue of Indonesian Independence.
Show Less
Original language
Indonesian