My confusion and alarm soon turned to fear. I felt with every cell on my skin my disadvantaged situation: I was the woman and he was the man, I was Asian and he was white, I was just another local girl and he was the dashing coveted foreigner, I was younger, less experienced, less beautiful, and I probably liked him much more than he liked me.
Banyak orang menjelang Ramadan dengan memperbanyak salat dan doa. Lain dengan Ferdian, Risa, dkk. Mereka mempersiapkan diri dengan melampiaskan nafsu berpesta, mabuk, dan teler habis-habisan supaya kuat puasa hura-hura selama sebulan. Keseruan pesta mereka terusik ketika Lani – pacar Patar yang merupakan ‘cewek baik-baik’ dan memiliki ayah soerang polisi – memaksa ingin bergabung.
Sesekali sebutir nasi atau seiris bawang goreng tersisa di pinggir bibir mereka, bagai seorang minoritas atau kambing hitam, yang kemudian mereka enyahkan dengan sapuan tangan.
She eyed the sweaty strangers around them, tearing off pieces of flesh, crunching into crackers, red sauce dripping from their fingers. Every now and then a lone grain of rice or shred of onion would cling to the corner of their lips, like a lonely outcast or scapegoat, only to be obliterated with a swipe of their greasy hands.
As democratic reforms swept Indonesia in the late nineties, the nation’s young generation asked themselves: what does it mean to be free? This novel is a compelling study of freedom and love, community and conformity, told with humour, sensuality and a subtly sharp political intelligence.
Eliza Vitri Handayani 