Jumat, 30 November 2012

Review: IBUK, (by Iwan Setyawan)


Paperback, 293 halaman
Penerbit: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama
Tahun terbit: 2012

Novel ini termasuk salah satu dari nominasi sepuluh besar KLA (Khatulistiwa Literary Award) 2012. Tentu saja ekspektasi saya sangat besar. Jadi saya membeli buku ini, berharap kehausan saya akan karya anak bangsa yang bagus bisa terobati—jujur saja saya jauh lebih sering membaca novel dengan genre fantasy, yang lebih mudah didapatkan dari novel non-Indonesia.

Buku ini jelas sekali berkisah tentang kehidupan si penulis sendiri, anak lelaki satu-satunya dari lima bersaudara. Tokoh “Ibuk” dalam buku ini tak lain adalah si Ibu dari penulis, bernama Tinah, yang menikah di usia belia dengan sopir angkot bernama Hasyim yang sempat mendapat julukan playboy pasar. Settingnya sendiri di kota Batu, Malang, dan dituturkan sejak kisah cinta Bapak-Ibuk terjalin hingga meninggalnya sang Bapak di bulan Februari 2012.

Beberapa bab awal buku ini berkisah tentang kisah cinta yang lugu dan manis antara seorang pemuda playboy pasar dan gadis belia. Kisah tersebut berlanjut hingga pernikahan mereka, dan kelahiran kelima anak mereka. Setelah itu kisah lebih terfokus pada si anak lelaki dalam keluarga (Bayek), mulai dari kuliah, bekerja di Jakarta, hingga lika-liku kehidupan dan kariernya di New York.

Ibuk dan Bapak merupakan tokoh orangtua tangguh yang meskipun dalam kemiskinan dan kesulitan, selalu berjuang untuk masa depan dan kebahagiaan kelima anaknya (Isa, Nani, Bayek, Rini, Mira). Mereka bahkan harus berhutang hanya demi membeli sepatu baru anaknya. Yang patut dikagumi adalah kesadaran kedua orangtua mereka terhadap pentingnya pendidikan, dan inilah, yang menurut saya menjadi kunci perubahan nasib dan kehidupan mereka sekeluarga di masa depan.

Jujur saja, buku ini agak dibawah ekspektasi saya. Saya menikmati membaca beberapa bab awalnya sebagai sebuah kisah yang manis, namun semakin ke belakang, banyak sekali tulisan-tulisan yang menurut saya terus diulang-ulang oleh si penulis (meski dengan kalimat yang agak berbeda, namun intinya sama); contohnya adalah ketika si penulis menggambarkan karakter dan sifat si Ibuk atau si Bapak, dan ketika si penulis berkali kali menceritakan hasrat hatinya sepanjang pertengahan cerita hingga akhir (agak seperti curcol). Saya tahu bahwa si penulis ingin memberi penekanan tertentu terhadap beberapa bagian di buku ini, namun hal ini malah membuat saya agak jengah dengan membaca hal yang sama diulang-ulang. Juga ketika dalam beberapa bab tertentu, tiba tiba sudut pandang berubah dari orang ketiga menjadi orang pertama (biasanya hanya dua sampai tiga halaman saja), lalu berubah lagi menjadi sudut pandang orang ketiga. Bagian ini saya rasa agak tidak perlu, kecuali dari awal kisah memang sudah direncanakan akan berganti-ganti sudut pandang.

Finally, meskipun disana-sini masih banyak kekurangan, buku ini mampu menginspirasi pembaca untuk selalu menggapai mimpi tanpa kenal lelah. Lumayan juga quote-quote yang bisa diambil, terutama dari dialog si tokoh Ibuk. Dan yang terpenting, siapapun kita bebas untuk bermimpi dan berusaha untuk meraihnya. Kalau mereka bisa, kenapa kita tidak?

Senin, 26 November 2012

Review: The Mark of Athena (The Heroes of Olympus #3) by Rick Riordan


I read all Percy Jackson series in English (the e-book version), so I guess to make it fair, I should write my review in English too.

The story is about the Quest of seven demigods of a prophecy, and their journey through the Mare Nostrum or Mediterannean Sea. There are four demigods of Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Leo Valdez, and Piper—sorry I forgot her last name) and 3 demigods of Camp Jupiter (Jason, Frank Zhang, and Hazel—now, I forgot Jason’s and Hazel’s last names too! Terrific!). So anyway, the story starts with the long-awaited reunion of Percy and Annabeth (which is quite funny, actually). Annabeth and her team (Leo, Jason, Piper) come to Camp Jupiter by Argo II, a war ship built by Leo the son of Hephaestus. They are welcomed by the Romans and their praetor, Reyna the daughter of Bellona, Roman godess of war. Unfortunately, in the middle of Reyna and Annabeth’s civil discussion about the two camps, Leo (possessed by an eidolon) starts a war by attacking the Romans in the New Rome from Argo II. Thus, the seven demigods of the prophecy are forced to leave New Rome and Camp Jupiter with two missions: find the Mark of Athena and save Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades; with the angry Romans on their tale seeking revenge.

Of course, being demigods, things are never easy for them. They meet many obstacles, gods and people they’ve never met before—including Baccus (Roman form of Dionyssus), Nemesis, Keto, Phorcys, Narcissus, and Hercules. Yeah, you read it right: Hercules! They also have a major problem regarding twin giants they must face in the end—since a giant can only be killed by a demigod and a god working together. The gods, however, cut their communications with their children, the demigods, since they have identity crisis of Roman and Greek (this is silly, actually); and the three gods that are not affected by this phenomenon are the god of wine, the godess of revenge, and the godess of love. Major problem is also waiting for them because Gaea is behind this all, very close to be awaken from her forced slumber.

Comment:
I really enjoyed Leo’s and Percy’s naration. Those two can think weirdest yet brilliant plans in a crisis to save them from danger. Those two characters are immensely funny too! Love them so much! But sometimes I got bored when reading through Jason or Piper’s naration.

There are several Percy and Annabeth moments together. I think they are cute and funny, so Rick should write about them more. But the stable scene, the lunch date, and the eternal fall are so great. I cried a little reading the eternal fall scene. Why? Oh why??? Well, but at least we know that the next book, the House of Hades will focus on Percy and Annabeth’s adventure in tartarus.

My favorite part (the eternal fall)—SPOILER ALERT (don’t like, don’t read!):
            Percy tightened his grip on Annabeth’s wrist. His face was gaunt, scraped and bloody, his hair dusted with cobwebs, but when he locked eyes with her, she tought he had never looked more handsome.
            “We’re staying together,” he promised. “You’re not getting away from me. Never again.”
            Only then did she understand what would happen. A one-way trip. A very hard fall.
            “As long as we’re together,” she said.
            She heard Nico and Hazel screaming for help. She saw the sunlight far, far above—maybe the last sunlight she would ever see.
            Then Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and together, holding hands, he and Annabeth fell into the endless darkness.

A Little Bit About the Author (Rick Riordan)
Richard Russel "Rick" Riordan was born on June 5, 1964. He was graduated from University of Texas at Austin in 1986, double-majoring in English and Social Studies. Some of his published books including the Percy Jackson series, the Kane Chronicles series, and the Heroes of Olympus series.

Kamis, 01 November 2012

Review: The Last Guardian (Artemis Fowl #8) by Eoin Colfer

format: e-book

Finally I read this book, after an extremely long time of waiting and torturing (I’m an Artemis fan, what could I say?).

Well, the story started right after Artemis’ last therapy for his Atlantis Complex with dr.J.Argon in a clinic in Haven city. The therapy was okay, for Artemis’ standard, and he was finally declared functional. Butler was ready to take him home when (of course) a problem arose. This is Artemis we are talking about, so of course the problem was not as simple as losing a pair of shocks—it was an armageddon-level problem.

Opal Koboi, Artemis’ arch enemy, reanimated dead fairy warriors who were buried in the grounds of Fowl Manor. The spirits of the fallen fairy warriors possessed Artemis’ twin brothers (Myles and Beckett) and Juliet Butler. They planned to wipe the entire human race. It’s armageddon! Of course Artemis had to act! He had to stop the end of the world no matter what, and he had until sunrise to get rid of the spirits and save the world—again.

Of course Artemis was not alone. He had help from Holly Short, his fairy bestfriend, Butler, Foaly, and even Mulch Diggums the dwarf. Unfortunately, with all the help he could get, there was one thing that he need to do it alone: in order to stop the disaster, he need to sacrifice himself—his life for humanity. What a tragic conclusion.

Comment
Eoin Colfer is such a genius! Thank you...^_^
The story flies in an incredibly fast pace. I couldn’t even close my e-reader before I finished reading it. The twists can be found all over the book. The dialogs, as usual, are smart and funny, and I found myself laughing from time to time ;D

But I was a little disappointed because I expected more interaction between Artemis and his family, which was not explored yet. I mean, Artemis was “dead” in this book, and there was not a glimpse of his family’s reaction? Come on...!

Anyhoo... I will include some of my favorite parts of the story here. Here we go...

                        “Have you heard of the theory of relativity?”
            “Artemis blinked. “Is this a joke? I have traveled through time, Doctor. I think I know a little something about relativity.”
Note: I laughed hard because of this silly, yet extremelly smart and funny dialog ;D

This shows Artemis feeling towards his bestfriend, Holly:
                        Artemis looked at Holly then and felt a tremendous affection for her. He wished that he could loop the past ten seconds and study it at a less stressful time so he could properly appreciate how fierce and beautiful his bestfriend was.

The following dialog is between Artemis and Holly when Artemis intended to sacrifice himself:
                        “It has to happen. Perhaps in time, with resources, I could develop an alternate strategy...”
                        “Develop an alternate strategy? This is not a corporate takeover we’re talking about, Artemis. It’s your life. You itend to go out there and kill yourself. What about Butler?”

And this is the heartbreaking goodbye between Artemis and Holly before Artemis executed his plan:
            “No. It has to be me, Holly. If the second lock is opened, then I will die, but if my plan succeeds, then all fairy souls inside the magical corona will be drawn to the afterlife. Fairy souls. My soul is human, Holly, don’t you see? I don’t intend to die. And there is a chance     that I may survive. A small chance, granted. But a chance nonetheless.” Artemis rubbed his eye with a knuckle. “As a plan, it is far from perfect, but there is no alternative.”
Artemis made Holly comfortable with cushions. “I want you to know, my dear friend, that without you, I would not be the person I am today.” He leaned in close and whispered, “I was a broken boy, and you fixed me. Thank you.”

The death scene of Artemis:
                        There was no time for questions. The green mist was sucked backward into the Beserkers Gate as though drawn by a vacuum. For a moment Artemis was left standing, unharmed, and Butler dropped Holly to rush to his charge’s side. Then Artemis’ fairy eye glowed green, and by the time Butler caught the falling boy in his arms, Artemis Fowl’s body was already dead.

Characters
Artemis Fowl
The first appearance of this character in the first book shows that he was a selfish boy. He was also incredibly ingenious yet extremely arrogant. The iteresting part is that this character evolves with the books, since his last act as a human, in this last book, is to sacrifice himself for humanity. It shows a massive act of selflessness.

Holly Short
She is a captain from LEP and an attractive elf. She is also a wonderful pilot. She is known as an impulsive and reckless but compassionate woman. She was Artemis’ hostage in the first book, but she became Artemis bestfriend later on.

Butler
This character doesn’t talk a lot, but he is very serious in taking his job to take care of his charge, Artemis. In a lot of occasion he acts more like Artemis’ father than his bodyguard.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...