I can't remember the last time I was so in love with a book, I wanted to eat it and then tackily tried to write a fan fiction based on the original. (Okay, I remember. It was for The History of Love. I wanted to write a spinoff where Gursky could actually see his son and learn the love between father and son) But after a long, long while, I finally found one that can fill that void and longing to read something so good it breaks my heart knowing it's a mere fiction, and that it eventually ends. And Chudori's Pulang is probably that book for me. For now.
I knew this book from someone who recommended it to just about everyone, and even though I don't really like this person (sigh) I really like her taste in literature and arts, and I don't have a lot of people whom I admire in that manner. Anyway, I haven't read an Indonesian book since I started to discipline myself with reading 3 years ago. No, actually, scratch that. I have, but they are so modern, and so many foreign languages get in the way of the writing itself. But Pulang, despite the occasional English and French it contains, is very, very Indonesian. It has some small details that really exist in my daily life, such as minyak jelantah, ulekan, and all the other stuffs and it got me to think, "Gila, hal kayak gini could make a story too?" And what I love about this book is that It is written in such a way that's so intelligent, and I can imagine how much research Chudori had to do before she started writing. As a girl raised in a family that is still keeping the Javanese traditions strong, I'm amazed by how many aspects in this book is derived from the ancient tale of Mahabharata. It's from India, of course, but Indonesia's wayang culture were departed from this very tale and it's just a timeless classic.
So, this book focuses on Dimas Suryo, the Indonesian exile who seeks for asylum in France along with his 3 pals. All the way through the book, he was always compared to the two Mahabharata characters that he loved: Bhima, and Ekalavya. Well, because he has the characteristics that were just like them. Like Bhima, all he ever wanted to do was to protect the women that he loves. But just like Ekalavya, he always feels rejected in the world. He was even rejected from Indonesia, his motherland, whom he always, always long to be. He has a daughter, Lintang, who was always in wonder whether to call France or Indonesia as home. And here she is probably the heroine of the story. She is a smart, beautiful woman who's full of opinions and criticism and she loves her family, her estranged father who's always... Not fully present, as his spirit was left in Indonesia, with the woman he always genuinely love and all that is attached to it. Of course, like a lot of classic heroines, she is also a bit of a bitch because she has the perfect Prince Charming, Nara, back in Paris, but what she really wants was Segara Alam, the alpha male she met while on research in Indonesia, and also the son of her father's eternal love.
Complicated, huh? Well, I haven't told you the full story because you have to figure it out yourself. It's a beautiful tale that came from the gruesome era of politics, intelligent without being snobby, and lovely without being oh-so-sickening. If you ask me, I would say that Pulang is a lot like Les Miserables. Set in the hard times of a nation and centered on a man who lives a life that's always at the edge of being discovered, and a beautiful daughter who builds her own part of the story with the young love she found in hopeless place. Perfect, huh? And if you ask me what I really learn from this story, it's this: Choose. Whatever you choose, doesn't matter. But you have to stand for something. Because choosing means you can take control of you life, of your fate. Because you shouldn't let life gets the best of you. But either way, not choosing should be okay, too. Not choosing is indeed a brave act, almost as much as choosing would make you. And whatever you do, choose or not choose, you can always try to deal with yourself and make peace with it.
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