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Ai: /lav/
[Reworked into "Mementoes of Mai"]
[Revised 10/2/2011]
One man decides to visit his past..
Ends up falling in love..
And along comes the journey that will bring him to meet...
Himself
[Revised 10/2/2011]
One man decides to visit his past..
Ends up falling in love..
And along comes the journey that will bring him to meet...
Himself
Nook
First published January 5, 2011
13 people want to read
About the author
Helmy Kusuma
6 books19 followersHelmy Kusuma was born into a small family where he spent most of his childhood dreaming and fantasizing about galaxy far far away and being a captain of starship enterprise.
Growing up he met up with the world and its mysterious beings, girls. Thus he spent the next twenty years or so on the precarious subject, man's addiction to these beings.
And so became his first novel.
Growing up he met up with the world and its mysterious beings, girls. Thus he spent the next twenty years or so on the precarious subject, man's addiction to these beings.
And so became his first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 19, 2011
Written by a writer for whom English is not his first language, this novelette reads rather like a piece of autobiography. Although Helmy is writing in a language which is not his native tongue, he has a better grasp of idiom, grammar, spelling and sentence structure than a lot of indie authors who claim English as their mother tongue. That's not to say there are no errors; there are slips in tense, structure and word order. There are occasional odd characters (textual rather than fictional) scattered amongst the words, suggesting that the conversion from a PC document to the format needed for an ebook has not been totally successful. But I'm nit-picking. The story has a charm and innocence about it that drove me to finish the book in spite of its slight deficiencies. It is a coming of age tale, a story of personal enlightenment and epiphany.
Some of the language borders on the poetic and Helmy paints word pictures that are both evocative and instructive. I feel I now know a great deal more about his homeland and those places he visits in the pursuance of his dream, and, more importantly, my wish to visit these places has grown stronger.
The philosophical asides chime well with the narrative and rarely come across as author intrusion, since they seem to come naturally from the mouth of the viewpoint narrator.
I enjoyed this story. It is a good book in search of an English speaking editor to make it into a very good book. But, even as it stands, I can recommend it as a gentle and feelgood read.
Some of the language borders on the poetic and Helmy paints word pictures that are both evocative and instructive. I feel I now know a great deal more about his homeland and those places he visits in the pursuance of his dream, and, more importantly, my wish to visit these places has grown stronger.
The philosophical asides chime well with the narrative and rarely come across as author intrusion, since they seem to come naturally from the mouth of the viewpoint narrator.
I enjoyed this story. It is a good book in search of an English speaking editor to make it into a very good book. But, even as it stands, I can recommend it as a gentle and feelgood read.
July 4, 2011
Mementoes of Mai is a relatively simple, personal and very genuine feeling work. The length puts it somewhere between a long short story and a short novel. The length works well for the story. The events feel very ‘real’ and the protagonist and narrator (Helmy) shares his name with that of the author. But the book is listed as ‘fiction’, so I suspect it is a fictionalized story but based heavily on real events in the author’s life.
The story is set mostly in Vietnam, but also has some events in Indonesia. I have never been to either place and the glimpses of those cultures presented in the story were very interesting to me (My favorite TV show is “Bizarre Foods” – not because of the food, but because of the glimpses of culture that show presents. This book worked in a similar way).
There are no murders, spies, monsters or other sensational elements, so if you’re looking for something like that, this may not be your thing. But if you’re looking for a simple, personal story with elements that touch on the real drama that we experience in our lives, and if you enjoy learning about and experiencing other cultures, I’d highly recommend it.
The story is set mostly in Vietnam, but also has some events in Indonesia. I have never been to either place and the glimpses of those cultures presented in the story were very interesting to me (My favorite TV show is “Bizarre Foods” – not because of the food, but because of the glimpses of culture that show presents. This book worked in a similar way).
There are no murders, spies, monsters or other sensational elements, so if you’re looking for something like that, this may not be your thing. But if you’re looking for a simple, personal story with elements that touch on the real drama that we experience in our lives, and if you enjoy learning about and experiencing other cultures, I’d highly recommend it.
October 9, 2011
It was obvious from the start that English was not this author’s first language. I started getting frustrated with the obvious lack of attempting to write full sentences but once I realized that it wasn’t written by an English speaking person I began to also realize that maybe that was the intention. I didn’t get the impression when I first agreed to review this book that is was a biography or I probably would have turned it down. I don’t like true life type tales and autobiographies usually leave me cold.
However, this was kind of a cute little story. I still didn’t really like it as there wasn’t really a plot to cling to and I do love my plots. I decided to go ahead and review it because I can say that I liked the author’s way of putting his feelings up front and discussing his acquaintances honestly. I really don’t know that much about this type of book so don’t know if I would recommend it. For me, it was hard to read and I couldn’t follow the actions very well.
But I’m giving it my minimum stars because of the blatant honesty in the book and, what I feel, the intention of writing as if you were speaking to the narrator. It came off endearing to me.
However, this was kind of a cute little story. I still didn’t really like it as there wasn’t really a plot to cling to and I do love my plots. I decided to go ahead and review it because I can say that I liked the author’s way of putting his feelings up front and discussing his acquaintances honestly. I really don’t know that much about this type of book so don’t know if I would recommend it. For me, it was hard to read and I couldn’t follow the actions very well.
But I’m giving it my minimum stars because of the blatant honesty in the book and, what I feel, the intention of writing as if you were speaking to the narrator. It came off endearing to me.
July 11, 2011
This was a beautiful, moving story of one man's journey to find himself and follow his destiny. At first, the writer's grasp of the English language (English is not his first language) is a little bit off-putting, but once you get used to it, it adds to the beauty and simplicity of the story. I now couldn't imagine it being written any other way. This is a story told from the author's heart, and that comes across beautifully. And his descriptions of Vietnam and Bali make you want to ditch it all and hop on a plane to go there. This is not a quick, action packed read by any means, but paradoxically, I read it quickly, because you do want to find out if he ever finds his way back to Mai again. It kind of sneaks up on you that, hey, that's not really what you are supposed to get out of this book. It is about deciding for yourself which path to follow - to help you find yourself, and to help you find your passion.
In essence, this is a very personal look into someone's life and their personal journey to find and follow their passion.
In essence, this is a very personal look into someone's life and their personal journey to find and follow their passion.
May 14, 2011
This was a totally different read for me, although i have to say i found it thoroughly refreshing.
It is written as an excerpt, of a person's life and how he coped with emotion and the dawning realisation of how life doesn’t always work out the way you want it, therefore having to turn in another direction and succeed.
I found the whole story very sweet, natural and sometimes sad. I loved the descriptions the author used, making me feel that i could actually taste and smell the things he was describing.I thought this was extremely well done considering English is not the author’s first language.
To conclude, the book isn’t a page turner nor is it fast paced. It is simply a relaxing, sensitive read.
It is written as an excerpt, of a person's life and how he coped with emotion and the dawning realisation of how life doesn’t always work out the way you want it, therefore having to turn in another direction and succeed.
I found the whole story very sweet, natural and sometimes sad. I loved the descriptions the author used, making me feel that i could actually taste and smell the things he was describing.I thought this was extremely well done considering English is not the author’s first language.
To conclude, the book isn’t a page turner nor is it fast paced. It is simply a relaxing, sensitive read.
June 25, 2011
This is an interesting short story that reads a little like a travel diary which is a novel idea. It is about taking chances and not always receiving the outcome you expect.
The descriptions of the sights and sounds were so vivid I felt like I was really there and this I enjoyed. I have never been to Vietnam and to be taken on a journey around the different markets and foodie places was great.
Unfortunately for me the story didn’t flow very smoothly. I understand that English is not the authors first language and I commend him for writing a story thusly. Some of the conversation seemed either forced or stilted in parts. That being said with some clever editing this could be a really lovely travelogue type short story.
The descriptions of the sights and sounds were so vivid I felt like I was really there and this I enjoyed. I have never been to Vietnam and to be taken on a journey around the different markets and foodie places was great.
Unfortunately for me the story didn’t flow very smoothly. I understand that English is not the authors first language and I commend him for writing a story thusly. Some of the conversation seemed either forced or stilted in parts. That being said with some clever editing this could be a really lovely travelogue type short story.
July 12, 2011
English is the second language of this author, and he clearly has an outstanding and most admirable knowledge of it. Whilst evident that it is not his native language, this novella was charmingly written. Whilst Mai of the title, the girl Helmy believes is 'the one' does not feature in person a great deal, she is constantly present in Helmy's thoughts along with the decisions he suddenly needs to make when he realises he has reached a crossroads in his life. He wants to grab life and opportunities with both hands, which he hopes will include Mai. I read this after reading a rather depressing and somewhat violent book and found it wonderfully uplifting.
June 28, 2011
To me, this was part travel log, part food review (food comes up a lot in such detail you can taste it) and part nostalgic glance back over the life of a young man making decisions on life. The book took me to another place, filled with new sounds, a different language (I liked the touch of a dictionary at the back and learnt some words), new smells, different traditions, new foods and various scenery. The pace of the book is quite leisurely and the main character drifts along, remembering his experiences and trying to make sense of everything that is happening around him. On his search for his ‘true love’, he discovers many things about himself, his values and what he really wants.
June 18, 2011
If you're looking for a slow paced story of love and life, you might enjoy this. The story basically showed how making plans for your life don't always work out the way you want them to. It was apparent that the author's english is a second language as a few words felt like the wrong version used and there were a few misspellings thus the 3 stars.
March 16, 2011
Because I am the author, I would certainly biased to my book :D
It's a good read :D
And I dare say, addictive!
It's a good read :D
And I dare say, addictive!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews