Mike Stoner
Tuttle Publishing 2016
ISBN 978-0-8048-4629 - 5
the dozen books on Indonesia that I have reviewed, most of these pages were taken with a rather serious approach. There is a notebook and pen next to me as I read that I can note the quotes that I may be imbed somewhere in my prose, so I'll have a defined framework I get ready on the last page.
Mike Stoner, author of Jalan Jalan
But not the first novel by Mike Stoner: I romped through it in no more than two or three sessions. But this was because to me, and I suspect many readers of this review, there is a familiarity, a recognition that we both agreed chance -. A job on the basis of an interview five minutes back of the house "
a connection to the author, as well as other contributors added here is that" Beginner "and I came here to teach English in a language school. He landed, jetlagged, Medan, at the dawn of the new millennium, only two years after the anarchic chaos before the abdication of Suharto in May '98.
When it's time to enter the next phase of his life, as a safeguard of the past may be necessary, the culture shock of a 'wonderland' can help curiously personal adjustments. Learning a language unknown and that knives are not part cutlery dinner table, deal with different weather conditions and if you are able to adapt, then you can learn to survive.
Newbie past as "Old Me 'is heartbreaking: the death of his true love Laura. It is a "ghost", a voice in his head that does not leave it as he saw their intense relationship from their first meeting in a tea shop by the sea where he worked, through scenes that range from scorching in reflection . He has a conversation with her, even to the end of the book 285 pages later, when Newbie believes that it has become 'New Me'.
or there
When Newbie is not to have a conversation with his inner voice, he described his life outside:. The old and the new are inseparable
It is this consistent autobiographic voice that keeps readers engaged. Incidents and descriptions of the time, although with cigarettes clove apparently Rp.300 a packet, it crossed my mind that Stoner had obtained the decades mixed: a dozen years earlier my Commodore was a Rp.500 a cheap package
"I walk in the street, the hot, stinking busy street where dust sticks to me and everyone looks at me. Watches abroad. The strange man who is so big and clumsy. On the spot like a bull in a sheep field. "
His colleagues in Medan language schools are familiar, especially Kim, always effing and blinding (Hi, Carl), remote Naomi, and the" hippy chick "Julie. With over finished the week up their evenings Fridays the downing Mei umpteen large bottles of Bintang remind me of the glory days of Blok M. There are also weekend getaways together out of town: in Bukit Lawang , the famous tourist city for its orangutan sanctuary (before the flash flood that wiped in 2003), and Prapat at Lake Toba. (for Jakartans read Pelabuhan Ratu, Carita or Puncak.)
Everything this, however, is the daily reality hide the hallucinatory conversation with Laura - not the "magic" mushrooms, ecstasy and marijuana from Aceh marketed by the two sides in the "civil war" then being further north had no influence.
Inevitably, it seems, as one white man, it attracts a girlfriend, Eka, which is not so much a sheet on the rebound like no nonsense practical source relief, something of a nurse.
"What is it to me? It is not love, I know. She's a sounding board, someone to tell my troubles to pathetic. Someone who is mine . and not connected to anything else it is my release and my fantasy it is my sanity too. "
-" .. I have to go to work, "I say
-" Yes, go to work and think Eka, not dead girl. "
The "dead girl", Laura, took an active part in everyday life Beginner, offering comments, equal doses to advice and criticism. The manner of his death is not disclosed for some time; then its pure worldly extravagance adds to the sense of tragedy and his confusion of life, their life together, lost. empathetic readers will reflect on the fragility of our own lives.
- I had to watch this girl. Use sound for your own selfish needs. Well, I feel responsible. If it was not for me, she would not fall for my ice cream Boy. Because of me, she will feel heart broken and abused by you. I'm trying to be your conscience.
- You lost that right when you're dead
. - I do not ask for it
. - I know. I am sorry. But I did not ask what you leaving me.
This is the rare integrity and intensity in the story as the "Old Me" becomes progressively sought for 'New Me' I suspect readers will have a question for Mike Stoner: how much of this account overcome with grief is "factual"?
I asked for you, and he said that his reason for being here was not exactly the same as the beginner.
"This part was based on an unfortunate event in a previous life. However I was a bit by the grinder with relationships and stress before Indonesia, and really felt I had to go out somewhere completely different. And be in a place where I knew nobody and nobody knew me, definitely allowed me to go a little wilder than I would have before. I'm not the usual 'Mike' it is safe. There was a re-invention subconscious and certainly a good amount of not caring what people thought, but I am actually "Old Me" currently.
"Not sure this is a good thing but hey ho."
Yes, it is, Mike, you have written an impressive history and I for one look forward to the review your neighbor.