Usually, I’d include a cookbook or a poem in my introduction to the vote, but Julie Wakefield inspired me with her mention of a book this month when she noted that it was “rich in Indonesian history, culture, & cuisine.” Since more than half of the novel takes place in France where a group of Indonesian exiles moved after being banned from their home country, the book wouldn’t qualify for the vote. However, it sounds so interesting & also won the Khatulistiwa Literary Award, Indonesia's most prestigious literary prize so I thought it should be spotlighted here.
“An epic saga of families and friends entangled in the cruel snare of history” (Time Magazine), Home examines the tragedy of political exiles during Suharto's regime forced out of Indonesia after the 1965 massacre of presumed leftists and sympathizers, alternating between Paris and Jakarta, delving into the lives of the exiles, their families and friends. A story of longing, lust, and betrayal, but also love, laughter, adventure, and mouthwatering descriptions of Indonesian food, Home further illuminates Indonesia's tragic twentieth-century history made known in the West by the Oscar-nominated documentary The Act of Killing.
“An ambitious saga that intertwines narration from various generations and creates a wide-ranging picture of Indonesia.” —Publishers Weekly
“A wonderful exercise in humanism . . . [by] a prodigious and impressive storyteller.”—Jakarta Globe
THE VOTING
You can vote from now until Mon., May 30 at 11:30PM on which book you’d like the club to read next. (That's NYC time. See this converted to your local time below.)