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Ramadan Sky
A contemporary twist on a classic story of forbidden love, set in Jakarta, capital city of Indonesia.
When Vic accepts a teaching position in Jakarta, she has already been working and travelling in Asia for many years; she thinks she knows what to expect. However, before long she becomes troubled by the casual coexistence of vast wealth and woeful poverty, and by the stark differences in freedom and power between the men and the women. It also becomes apparent that there will be no support or companionship from her fellow Westerners and colleagues.
Fajar has lived in Jakarta all his life. He gets by, loaning money from friends and family, spending his nights racing, and his days working on the roads as an ojek driver. When he impresses a customer with his understanding of English, he sees an opportunity. He dedicates himself to being the woman’s driver – taking her to and from work, running her errands. He thinks he’s won big.
Neither Fajar nor Vic expect to find friendship and solace in their strange arrangement. But, before long, they will step outside the mores of their cultures together, crossing a boundary that will shake both of their lives.
102 pages, ebook
First published September 26, 2013
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January 29, 2014
Ramadan Sky by Nichola Hunter
AMAZON BLURB:
A contemporary twist on a classic story of forbidden love, set in Jakarta, capital city of Indonesia.
When Vic accepts a teaching position in Jakarta, she has already been working and travelling in Asia for many years; she thinks she knows what to expect. However, before long she becomes troubled by the casual coexistence of vast wealth and woeful poverty, and by the stark differences in freedom and power between the men and the women. It also becomes apparent that there will be no support or companionship from her fellow Westerners and colleagues.
Fajar has lived in Jakarta all his life. He gets by, loaning money from friends and family, spending his nights racing, and his days working on the roads as an ojek driver. When he impresses a customer with his understanding of English, he sees an opportunity. He dedicates himself to being the woman’s driver – taking her to and from work, running her errands. He thinks he’s won big.
Neither Fajar nor Vic expect to find friendship and solace in their strange arrangement. But, before long, they will step outside the mores of their cultures together, crossing a boundary that will shake both of their lives.
COMMENTS:
Since I also added the blurb, I will only summarize my impressions here.
Three characters tell the story in alternating chapters.
Fajar: - The jobless young Jakartan who ends up using his motorbike as a taxi to earn an meager income. This way he meets Victoria.
Victoria: - The much older English teacher from Australia who applies for a teaching position and hires Fajar to be her personal driver.
Aryanti:- the Muslim young girl who first fell in love with
Fajar, but then rejects him because of his unemployment, and then starts obsessing about him to a point of becoming dangerous.
The love triangle sparks passion in all three lovers that eventually rules everything in their day. Animosity rings loud: for the white unmarried woman; for Fajar who benefits, as a Muslim man, from the situation: for Aryanti who decides to put a spell on Fajar and tries to scare the white woman away.
There is no romance in the story. However, what started as a loveless passionate affair between the cougar Victoria and the young Fajar, slowly spirals into much more than she ever bargained for. Passion becomes a weapon for all three characters.
The story is a fast-paced, energetic, emotionally almost aggressive novella, highlighting the differences between cultures, between rich and poor; between religious and nonreligious outlooks on life; and the attitudes of the ex-pat white women and men in Jakarta. The tale is winded around realistic, almost cynical and often harsh descriptions of the people, the city and the cultures.
There is picturesque prose in the book, which makes it an interesting read. There is, however, very little to romanticize reality. Informative, for sure. As a novella it was well-written and detailed. I can't say I loved it. But it was worth reading.
A Netgalley read.
AMAZON BLURB:
A contemporary twist on a classic story of forbidden love, set in Jakarta, capital city of Indonesia.
When Vic accepts a teaching position in Jakarta, she has already been working and travelling in Asia for many years; she thinks she knows what to expect. However, before long she becomes troubled by the casual coexistence of vast wealth and woeful poverty, and by the stark differences in freedom and power between the men and the women. It also becomes apparent that there will be no support or companionship from her fellow Westerners and colleagues.
Fajar has lived in Jakarta all his life. He gets by, loaning money from friends and family, spending his nights racing, and his days working on the roads as an ojek driver. When he impresses a customer with his understanding of English, he sees an opportunity. He dedicates himself to being the woman’s driver – taking her to and from work, running her errands. He thinks he’s won big.
Neither Fajar nor Vic expect to find friendship and solace in their strange arrangement. But, before long, they will step outside the mores of their cultures together, crossing a boundary that will shake both of their lives.
COMMENTS:
Since I also added the blurb, I will only summarize my impressions here.
Three characters tell the story in alternating chapters.
Fajar: - The jobless young Jakartan who ends up using his motorbike as a taxi to earn an meager income. This way he meets Victoria.
Victoria: - The much older English teacher from Australia who applies for a teaching position and hires Fajar to be her personal driver.
Aryanti:- the Muslim young girl who first fell in love with
Fajar, but then rejects him because of his unemployment, and then starts obsessing about him to a point of becoming dangerous.
The love triangle sparks passion in all three lovers that eventually rules everything in their day. Animosity rings loud: for the white unmarried woman; for Fajar who benefits, as a Muslim man, from the situation: for Aryanti who decides to put a spell on Fajar and tries to scare the white woman away.
There is no romance in the story. However, what started as a loveless passionate affair between the cougar Victoria and the young Fajar, slowly spirals into much more than she ever bargained for. Passion becomes a weapon for all three characters.
The story is a fast-paced, energetic, emotionally almost aggressive novella, highlighting the differences between cultures, between rich and poor; between religious and nonreligious outlooks on life; and the attitudes of the ex-pat white women and men in Jakarta. The tale is winded around realistic, almost cynical and often harsh descriptions of the people, the city and the cultures.
There is picturesque prose in the book, which makes it an interesting read. There is, however, very little to romanticize reality. Informative, for sure. As a novella it was well-written and detailed. I can't say I loved it. But it was worth reading.
A Netgalley read.
December 16, 2013
A somewhat unusual story, Ramadan Sky presents the uneasy relationship between Vic, a 40 year old Australian woman arriving in Jakarta to teach English as a Second Languague; Fajar, the young motorbike driver who ferries her around the city and becomes her lover; and Aryanti, Faraj's former fiance, who still loves him.
In an impoverished city of impossible pollution, religious barriers, poverty and futility, with islands of extreme wealth, Vic's situation seems almost unreal. In fact for a part of the story I really didn't see this relationship happening at all. Vic seemed a force out of another, earlier novel where the white woman/man helps the dark skinned man/woman move beyond their means.
But this is a more modern story and it includes a wry look at modern pitfalls including the use of cell phones. I was left feeling tossed between cultures as Vic likely felt, unsure where I wanted to land but knowing that I needed change.
There is some gorgeous writing here in the descriptions of Vic's first sight of Jakarta from the plane, engulfed in a petrochemical smog, in the pictures of the weather, the stultifying air and its affect on people.
All in all, an interesting read of a different place and culture with an age-old love triangle.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley for the purpose of review.
In an impoverished city of impossible pollution, religious barriers, poverty and futility, with islands of extreme wealth, Vic's situation seems almost unreal. In fact for a part of the story I really didn't see this relationship happening at all. Vic seemed a force out of another, earlier novel where the white woman/man helps the dark skinned man/woman move beyond their means.
But this is a more modern story and it includes a wry look at modern pitfalls including the use of cell phones. I was left feeling tossed between cultures as Vic likely felt, unsure where I wanted to land but knowing that I needed change.
There is some gorgeous writing here in the descriptions of Vic's first sight of Jakarta from the plane, engulfed in a petrochemical smog, in the pictures of the weather, the stultifying air and its affect on people.
All in all, an interesting read of a different place and culture with an age-old love triangle.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley for the purpose of review.
March 24, 2014
Ramadan Sky by Nichola Hunter
I’ve just read this book that my wife reviewed for netgalley. My wife and daughter are intellectuals. They review books for their literary merits and tend to be analytical in their reviews; whereas I, am an ordinary bloke, who decides whether he likes a book or not by gut reaction. This novella I did not like; it was bitter, racist and contemptuous of the Indonesian society depicted. I’ve never been to Indonesia, and know nothing about it, but suspect that it is probably not dissimilar to India, the country in which my wife and I have worked for the last 15 years. I love this country and respect and accept its culture, poverty, corruption and all. As for the ex-pat community portrayed, I have worked with many ex-pats and found them nice, easygoing people, who do a good job, with enthusiasm. Many have become friends over the years; they are certainly nothing like the ex-pats depicted in this novella. It was well written and literate, so I should give it something, but I so disliked the story, that although I have had to show one star, I give it zero stars.
I’ve just read this book that my wife reviewed for netgalley. My wife and daughter are intellectuals. They review books for their literary merits and tend to be analytical in their reviews; whereas I, am an ordinary bloke, who decides whether he likes a book or not by gut reaction. This novella I did not like; it was bitter, racist and contemptuous of the Indonesian society depicted. I’ve never been to Indonesia, and know nothing about it, but suspect that it is probably not dissimilar to India, the country in which my wife and I have worked for the last 15 years. I love this country and respect and accept its culture, poverty, corruption and all. As for the ex-pat community portrayed, I have worked with many ex-pats and found them nice, easygoing people, who do a good job, with enthusiasm. Many have become friends over the years; they are certainly nothing like the ex-pats depicted in this novella. It was well written and literate, so I should give it something, but I so disliked the story, that although I have had to show one star, I give it zero stars.
Read
April 7, 2023Ramadan Sky tells the story of a brief and inevitably ill-fated cross-cultural love triangle set in Jakarta. Against the city's backdrop of poverty and corruption, the story unfolds over most of a year as Vic, an Australian English teacher, falls for her much younger and hot-tempered ojek driver, Fajar. He has an on-again, off-again engagement to a girl in his neighborhood, Aryanti, the kind of good Muslim girl he can marry, but will never quite love.
The novel makes graceful use of three (or really four) different narrators: each character in the triangle, plus Vic's journal. This is a feat for such a short novel, but the choice gives us useful access to what is most important in this particular story--economic strangulation that narrows young people's futures to a few unattractive options, and the expatriate loneliness behind Vic's financial patronage, which adds an uncomfortable element of dependence to her relationship with Fajar. We get a layered portrait of a Westerner's experience in an economically crippled city, a deceptively simple love story shaded with a dark history of neo-colonialism.
What I love about these kinds of stories (I'm also thinking of Linda Horowitz's While the Sands Whisper, which I edited last year), is that they depict the impossible complexities of a normal human relationship when it gets hung up on the rocks of money, history, culture, and need. We've all fallen for someone we hesitate to bring home to meet the fam, and it's here, through this lens, that we're also given a sidelong but rich glimpse into a different world. I'm a sucker for stories about Islam, and though Ramadan Sky could be told using almost any set of traditions that chafe their younger generation, this was my first encounter with Indonesia in fiction. The setting details are rich, and thanks to Vic's droll sense of humor, the portraits of expats are funny.
I give the book four stars--pretty much my highest rating for everything short of Atwood and Tolkien.
The novel makes graceful use of three (or really four) different narrators: each character in the triangle, plus Vic's journal. This is a feat for such a short novel, but the choice gives us useful access to what is most important in this particular story--economic strangulation that narrows young people's futures to a few unattractive options, and the expatriate loneliness behind Vic's financial patronage, which adds an uncomfortable element of dependence to her relationship with Fajar. We get a layered portrait of a Westerner's experience in an economically crippled city, a deceptively simple love story shaded with a dark history of neo-colonialism.
What I love about these kinds of stories (I'm also thinking of Linda Horowitz's While the Sands Whisper, which I edited last year), is that they depict the impossible complexities of a normal human relationship when it gets hung up on the rocks of money, history, culture, and need. We've all fallen for someone we hesitate to bring home to meet the fam, and it's here, through this lens, that we're also given a sidelong but rich glimpse into a different world. I'm a sucker for stories about Islam, and though Ramadan Sky could be told using almost any set of traditions that chafe their younger generation, this was my first encounter with Indonesia in fiction. The setting details are rich, and thanks to Vic's droll sense of humor, the portraits of expats are funny.
I give the book four stars--pretty much my highest rating for everything short of Atwood and Tolkien.
January 4, 2015
**Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins for providing this in exchange for an honest review**
Hunter has a gift for realistic writing characters. People are never 100% good or bad, and she was true to that. The low rating is because while the writing was wonderful, I didn't care for the story or the characters so much. Just because characters are realistic, doesn't mean they're actually likable. You have a grown woman who taunts a teenage girl. The teenager has stalkerish tendencies. And Fajar is just a fucking dick. I'm not sure if I'd read anything by the author again. I would definitely give her another try, but I wouldn't be able to read a full length book with such unlikable characters.
Hunter has a gift for realistic writing characters. People are never 100% good or bad, and she was true to that. The low rating is because while the writing was wonderful, I didn't care for the story or the characters so much. Just because characters are realistic, doesn't mean they're actually likable. You have a grown woman who taunts a teenage girl. The teenager has stalkerish tendencies. And Fajar is just a fucking dick. I'm not sure if I'd read anything by the author again. I would definitely give her another try, but I wouldn't be able to read a full length book with such unlikable characters.
November 17, 2013
Jakarta, the setting for this novella, is depicted as a bleak but strangely appealing place. As a rose can grow from the side of a brick building, beauty will assert itself. The sights and sounds of Jakarta, the ugly as well as the beautiful, are vividly conveyed, with extraordinary poetic sensibility.
The lives of the three main characters through whose points of view the story is told, are also bleak. Vic is a lonely, going-on-forty Australian woman who arrives in Jakarta to teach, and is depressed by her surroundings and what she sees as a stifling, repressive society.
She meets Fahar, a young Indonesian man, and the two begin what might be described as a relationship of convenience, during which Fahar becomes engaged to a young Indonesian woman, Arianti, while continuing to see Vic.
Early on in this novella the reader realizes that this situation is not going to end up happy for any of them. It seems as though everybody is using their relationship to get something from the other person, and the characters make little pretense about their arrangements.
Their story is told with empathy and a deep understanding. The reader is immediately swept up in the lives of the characters, and wishes for them to dare to dream, and for their dreams to come true. It really is not they who are at fault so much as their surroundings and clashing cultural backgrounds. For the most part they are just making the best of their situation; asserting their humanity, exercising freedom to the limited extent allowed. It seems that true and lasting love cannot flourish in such an environment.
I was fully engaged from beginning to end, and read it in two sittings. A couple of minor criticisms: The font size, as one reviewer has already mentioned, changes depending upon from whose point of view the chapter is being told. The author's command of voice and character is such that these font changes are unnecessary. Also, there are some typographical errors, not so many as to distract the reader from the engrossing story, but perhaps these might be corrected in a future edition.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.
The lives of the three main characters through whose points of view the story is told, are also bleak. Vic is a lonely, going-on-forty Australian woman who arrives in Jakarta to teach, and is depressed by her surroundings and what she sees as a stifling, repressive society.
She meets Fahar, a young Indonesian man, and the two begin what might be described as a relationship of convenience, during which Fahar becomes engaged to a young Indonesian woman, Arianti, while continuing to see Vic.
Early on in this novella the reader realizes that this situation is not going to end up happy for any of them. It seems as though everybody is using their relationship to get something from the other person, and the characters make little pretense about their arrangements.
Their story is told with empathy and a deep understanding. The reader is immediately swept up in the lives of the characters, and wishes for them to dare to dream, and for their dreams to come true. It really is not they who are at fault so much as their surroundings and clashing cultural backgrounds. For the most part they are just making the best of their situation; asserting their humanity, exercising freedom to the limited extent allowed. It seems that true and lasting love cannot flourish in such an environment.
I was fully engaged from beginning to end, and read it in two sittings. A couple of minor criticisms: The font size, as one reviewer has already mentioned, changes depending upon from whose point of view the chapter is being told. The author's command of voice and character is such that these font changes are unnecessary. Also, there are some typographical errors, not so many as to distract the reader from the engrossing story, but perhaps these might be corrected in a future edition.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.
October 13, 2013
This is art.
Yes -this is mesmerizing- and in a wonderful way. Reading the first chapter, I was transported to Jakarta, which is foreign to me - but I was there.
I felt myself b r e a t h e while reading - it felt like sitting i n a mellow river, filled with smells from the landscape around. You have an uncanny talent for descriptions that burst with L I F E .
This is art.
"---they watched me together with 4 eyes and many claws waiting to pounce."
And:
"The beginning of change is a small laneway that opens like magic into a rice-field."
Some of your expressions are so "organic" that they are healing: the perception is so full, so precise, and I can take part of it and allowing myself to be healed by its fullness.
Did I mention that this is art?
leelah Saachi
Yes -this is mesmerizing- and in a wonderful way. Reading the first chapter, I was transported to Jakarta, which is foreign to me - but I was there.
I felt myself b r e a t h e while reading - it felt like sitting i n a mellow river, filled with smells from the landscape around. You have an uncanny talent for descriptions that burst with L I F E .
This is art.
"---they watched me together with 4 eyes and many claws waiting to pounce."
And:
"The beginning of change is a small laneway that opens like magic into a rice-field."
Some of your expressions are so "organic" that they are healing: the perception is so full, so precise, and I can take part of it and allowing myself to be healed by its fullness.
Did I mention that this is art?
leelah Saachi
December 2, 2013
E-galley received through Netgalley for review.
March 24, 2026
In interesting glimpse into Indonesian culture. I couldn't help but sympathize with Vic wanting to present the people with logic at times when all they have ever known are the rules and restrictions of their religion and thats all that will ever make sense to them.
February 24, 2016
I received the e-Arc copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
What could I say about this novella, besides the almost perfect details of all of the familiar things that Nicola Hunter had described about my country (or the capital city, actually)?
It is a sunny day, but nothing shimmers or sparkles.
There is one particular woman I pass every day on the way to my office. She sits on the concrete in the hot, damp weather with faraway expression of cattle. A filthy baby lies on a square of cloth next to her and, next to that, a child scratches at ulcerated leg.
I especially don't understand the casual, uneffected way that the rich people seem to trample all over the poor. You have everything that belongs to everybody else locked up in your own impenetrable vault, and down in the street, where there should be hospitals and schools, there are more of these malls going up.
On Sunday afternoons you see the well-heeled families of Jakarta eating dim sum and ravioli in the vast, expensive eateries sitting at the tables while maid stands up next to them, holding the baby.
Familiar, is it? I would complaint nothing for those descriptions, because for some reasons, it was accurate. It doesn't mean that the whole cities in Indonesia like that, but everything happened in Jakarta (especially the bad things, like fires, demonstrations, etc) always became the national issues. And for the result, people always thought that: THAT was Indonesia looked like.
The main story of this novella is more like a sinetron (Indonesian soap opera), with Fajar, a poor ojek driver, who had a relationship with two (or more) women. Aryanti, is his true girlfriend (means he will married her soon) and Vic, an Australian teacher, to whom Fajar made an affair. The story about their relationship also predictable (how could you can't predict a triangle love story?) but how Nicola Hunter gave her personal opinions about things happened made the story more interesting. The intriques happened during the Ramadan, so that's the novella title came from (also, Fajar and Aryanti were Muslims, but the way they followed the Islam's rules were differents).
It also told with three POV's, so the reader would know what exactly happened in the three main characters lifes, including the morals and the way Indonesian people ruled their days and, also what the foreign citizen things about Indonesian society, especially in Jakarta (and Tangerang, maybe).
I, personally, like this novella. There were few authors, especially not an Indonesian, who brought an idea about a love story which put Jakarta as the location. And with this novella, Nicola Hunter also spoke her minds about people which must struggled with poverty:
When you are young, of course, it is easier, because of the perfect body and the flawless skin ans the belief that the future might bring anything at all. When you get older, it's harder. The dissappointnent starts to show through the cracks, and cheap clothes do not forgive an ageing body. It is only youth that can outshine poverty
And she also brought a religion's issue, that religions through the poor people in this country means nothing, besides made them such as the hypocrite people, or just a cover to avoid other people judgement
There are many naughty girls in Jakarta. They will wear their jilbab every day, and keep their faces very sweet and pure, but once inside a room with a man, it is a different story. We find them on Facebook from internet cafe, and meet them in Jakarta Raya.
Fajar is a conventional Muslim. He will break the rules, but only in the way they are allowed to be broken.
I think this is also an issue in this country. How money could be master of people soul and nothing besides it matter. And so do the ex-pats though about Indonesian employees, which usually got the lower position from them in their own country. Mostly Jakarta's people fight with poverty and made them selves not in the trap of it. Government with their renewed rules also made it getting worse (outsourcings and jobs field policies, and so many others). That's why, those ex-pat, with their different government, different rules and different cultures, won't understand for what happened in this city.
When I asked about it at work, they raised their eyebrows as if to say Oh you new people don't understand anything. And they are right; I don't understand a lot of things about this place
What could I say about this novella, besides the almost perfect details of all of the familiar things that Nicola Hunter had described about my country (or the capital city, actually)?
It is a sunny day, but nothing shimmers or sparkles.
There is one particular woman I pass every day on the way to my office. She sits on the concrete in the hot, damp weather with faraway expression of cattle. A filthy baby lies on a square of cloth next to her and, next to that, a child scratches at ulcerated leg.
I especially don't understand the casual, uneffected way that the rich people seem to trample all over the poor. You have everything that belongs to everybody else locked up in your own impenetrable vault, and down in the street, where there should be hospitals and schools, there are more of these malls going up.
On Sunday afternoons you see the well-heeled families of Jakarta eating dim sum and ravioli in the vast, expensive eateries sitting at the tables while maid stands up next to them, holding the baby.
Familiar, is it? I would complaint nothing for those descriptions, because for some reasons, it was accurate. It doesn't mean that the whole cities in Indonesia like that, but everything happened in Jakarta (especially the bad things, like fires, demonstrations, etc) always became the national issues. And for the result, people always thought that: THAT was Indonesia looked like.
The main story of this novella is more like a sinetron (Indonesian soap opera), with Fajar, a poor ojek driver, who had a relationship with two (or more) women. Aryanti, is his true girlfriend (means he will married her soon) and Vic, an Australian teacher, to whom Fajar made an affair. The story about their relationship also predictable (how could you can't predict a triangle love story?) but how Nicola Hunter gave her personal opinions about things happened made the story more interesting. The intriques happened during the Ramadan, so that's the novella title came from (also, Fajar and Aryanti were Muslims, but the way they followed the Islam's rules were differents).
It also told with three POV's, so the reader would know what exactly happened in the three main characters lifes, including the morals and the way Indonesian people ruled their days and, also what the foreign citizen things about Indonesian society, especially in Jakarta (and Tangerang, maybe).
I, personally, like this novella. There were few authors, especially not an Indonesian, who brought an idea about a love story which put Jakarta as the location. And with this novella, Nicola Hunter also spoke her minds about people which must struggled with poverty:
When you are young, of course, it is easier, because of the perfect body and the flawless skin ans the belief that the future might bring anything at all. When you get older, it's harder. The dissappointnent starts to show through the cracks, and cheap clothes do not forgive an ageing body. It is only youth that can outshine poverty
And she also brought a religion's issue, that religions through the poor people in this country means nothing, besides made them such as the hypocrite people, or just a cover to avoid other people judgement
There are many naughty girls in Jakarta. They will wear their jilbab every day, and keep their faces very sweet and pure, but once inside a room with a man, it is a different story. We find them on Facebook from internet cafe, and meet them in Jakarta Raya.
Fajar is a conventional Muslim. He will break the rules, but only in the way they are allowed to be broken.
I think this is also an issue in this country. How money could be master of people soul and nothing besides it matter. And so do the ex-pats though about Indonesian employees, which usually got the lower position from them in their own country. Mostly Jakarta's people fight with poverty and made them selves not in the trap of it. Government with their renewed rules also made it getting worse (outsourcings and jobs field policies, and so many others). That's why, those ex-pat, with their different government, different rules and different cultures, won't understand for what happened in this city.
When I asked about it at work, they raised their eyebrows as if to say Oh you new people don't understand anything. And they are right; I don't understand a lot of things about this place
August 6, 2016
I have very mixed feelings about Ramadan Sky. Although I adore the realistic (and heartbreaking) portrayal of relationships and society, I found most of the characters intolerable and not a good representation of Indonesia. The themes mentioned were evident in many countries, and are still relevant in modern society. Firstly, the reason I kept going with this novel was the gorgeous writing. Concise sentences, blunt commentary and sometimes gritty perspective of what it’s like to be a “different” person in a new country. A lot of the key themes were explored, and having three narrators (although Vic and Fajar remain the main two) creates a better understanding of each character and the overall theme. What is blatantly obvious and almost doesn’t need stating to one character, is clearly interpreted differently by another. I also loved the descriptions of Indonesia, as in the scenery and physical, tangible features, and found them to be quite accurate. Ramadan Sky has a lot of good points which kept me reading.
However, the reason I have mixed feelings is because of the characters –and the rather demeaning portrayal. Although I understand the main character is Australian, and probably cannot comprehend the vast changes in this new country, I found myself repulsed by her quick judgements and hollow conclusions. I initially loved her character, but it changed throughout the course of the story, and her unfavourable side became more evident through the fear of social expectations, childish tantrums and overall unsympathetic personality. This would be perfectly reasonable, if the other characters weren’t shed in a bad light either. But, unfortunately, they were; and all of them betrayed, abandoned, and occasionally swore at the main character. Any efforts to like and connect with the characters –something I was doing naturally– vanished in the last third of the book, where it was basically lies, deception, and an overall unchanging view of Indonesia.
Overall, I am rating this three stars because I don’t believe it deserves any less for the beautiful writing. However, I found the story had no plot –none of the characters changed throughout the course of the story, and Vic is left with heartbreak and an even larger hatred for the country. Similarly, the other two characters most likely won’t have changed, either (although this is not shown in the book itself).
October 26, 2013
...a unique and fascinating read
A compelling look into one disaffected Australian woman's journey to modern day Jakarta as an ESL teacher.
Surrounded by peoples of different values and culture, and weird expats who seem like runaways from their own culture, which they now would have difficulty returning to, Victoria's story is told in colourful prose with a delicate turn of phrase. One can feel the heat rising from the pavements of Jakarta and smell the heavy mix of spices and motorbike fumes.
Underneath the story lurks questions about behaviour in and acceptance of other cultures, about inter-racial relationships and cultural mores.
Told from the viewpoint of the three main characters, Victoria or Vic the older Australian ESL teacher, Fajar a young Indonesian Muslim man from a poor background, and Aryanti his Muslim girlfriend.
Aryanti tells Fajar she can't marry him after he loses his job.
Vic hires Fajar to be her driver. They have an affair that brings it's own hazards and disapprovals. Vic reflects on Fajar entering into her world in simple ways, like going to restaurants despite the disapproval of his fellow Indonesians, who in a glance can sum up his social status, and how stoically Fajar confronts these moments.
Meanwhile Aryanti resorts to magic to win back Fajar.
Fascinating glimpses of the swings between belief in the magic of Aryanti's village heritage and Muslim faith are brought into play. As is the difference between the culture's behaviour according to gender, the way people in a community borrow money from each other, and how a life of poverty is a very real thing for so many. The difference between the lives of the poor and the very wealthy is exposed.
At one stage Vic comments about Fajar, 'It is only youth that can outshine poverty.'
There is a transient quality to the story reflecting the short moment in time that is represented, a suspension in some way of reality for all involved. Yet a moment that will have marked effects on all three lives long after it's passed.
As Fajar comments, 'The beginning of change is a narrow lane way that opens like magic onto a large field of rice.'
A NetGalley ARC
A compelling look into one disaffected Australian woman's journey to modern day Jakarta as an ESL teacher.
Surrounded by peoples of different values and culture, and weird expats who seem like runaways from their own culture, which they now would have difficulty returning to, Victoria's story is told in colourful prose with a delicate turn of phrase. One can feel the heat rising from the pavements of Jakarta and smell the heavy mix of spices and motorbike fumes.
Underneath the story lurks questions about behaviour in and acceptance of other cultures, about inter-racial relationships and cultural mores.
Told from the viewpoint of the three main characters, Victoria or Vic the older Australian ESL teacher, Fajar a young Indonesian Muslim man from a poor background, and Aryanti his Muslim girlfriend.
Aryanti tells Fajar she can't marry him after he loses his job.
Vic hires Fajar to be her driver. They have an affair that brings it's own hazards and disapprovals. Vic reflects on Fajar entering into her world in simple ways, like going to restaurants despite the disapproval of his fellow Indonesians, who in a glance can sum up his social status, and how stoically Fajar confronts these moments.
Meanwhile Aryanti resorts to magic to win back Fajar.
Fascinating glimpses of the swings between belief in the magic of Aryanti's village heritage and Muslim faith are brought into play. As is the difference between the culture's behaviour according to gender, the way people in a community borrow money from each other, and how a life of poverty is a very real thing for so many. The difference between the lives of the poor and the very wealthy is exposed.
At one stage Vic comments about Fajar, 'It is only youth that can outshine poverty.'
There is a transient quality to the story reflecting the short moment in time that is represented, a suspension in some way of reality for all involved. Yet a moment that will have marked effects on all three lives long after it's passed.
As Fajar comments, 'The beginning of change is a narrow lane way that opens like magic onto a large field of rice.'
A NetGalley ARC
October 21, 2013
It's a while since I read the beginning of Ramadan Sky on the Authonomy site and became immediately captivated by the youngster suffering patiently with an abscess. The book has undergone revisions and now begins with a prologue which tells the end of the story. Normally I find prologue a mistake but not this one. It sums up exactly how the narrator feels, how any of her readers would feel for her at the end of this three-way story. I call it that because there are three main characters but one story. Or you could say there are three stories which are running the same path.
Vic, the no-pushover female narrator, her young lover and his fiancée play our their roles in Jakarta and in so doing, reveal for us in painful and telling detail, the corruption, poverty and interdependence which is that part of Indonesia.
The love triangle is unusual. Vic is a somewhat jaded Australian teacher nudging middle age. She uses a driver, a handsome young married man and they form a passionate sexual relationship. In the background is the wife, with a life-style typifying what is conventional and expected in Jarkata. The troubled triangle unfolds in a totally convincing manner.
The skill of the author lies in her ability to allow our empathy with each of these characters despite the fact that their personal motivations and needs are in competition with each other.
By the end of the novel we can predict exactly what will happen to each of the three in the future. We are not told. We can draw it clearly from the narrative. Super stuff, read at one sitting without even rising for a glass of wine.
Vic, the no-pushover female narrator, her young lover and his fiancée play our their roles in Jakarta and in so doing, reveal for us in painful and telling detail, the corruption, poverty and interdependence which is that part of Indonesia.
The love triangle is unusual. Vic is a somewhat jaded Australian teacher nudging middle age. She uses a driver, a handsome young married man and they form a passionate sexual relationship. In the background is the wife, with a life-style typifying what is conventional and expected in Jarkata. The troubled triangle unfolds in a totally convincing manner.
The skill of the author lies in her ability to allow our empathy with each of these characters despite the fact that their personal motivations and needs are in competition with each other.
By the end of the novel we can predict exactly what will happen to each of the three in the future. We are not told. We can draw it clearly from the narrative. Super stuff, read at one sitting without even rising for a glass of wine.
October 20, 2013
This is an exquisite portrayal of an unusual love triangle, set against the backdrop of impoverished Jakarta where the poor live in an endless relationship of debt with their neighbours, cloying judgement of their adherence to tradition, and futile future. Into this world comes a white, middle-class teacher - somewhat jaded, somewhat lonely - seemingly free and wealthy and yet, in her own way, also tied to the mores and expectations of her peers. When she meets the young Indonesian man hired to drive her to work, an unexpected relationship begins between them - initially based on the selfish need of each and morphing into something each believes is love.
Yet is it? Ramadan Sky is far more than a love story, it's an intricate observation of people, of perception and its relativity, of the complexities of humanity - there is no "good" and "bad", humans are complicated creatures and the face we present to the world can at times be a disguise. Ramadan Sky is a story about roles, rules, traditions, desire, love, lies, desperation, hunger... and the latter of these are not always the preserve of the impoverished.
A beautiful story, perfectly told in novella form. I shall certainly be watching out for more from Nichola Hunter.
Yet is it? Ramadan Sky is far more than a love story, it's an intricate observation of people, of perception and its relativity, of the complexities of humanity - there is no "good" and "bad", humans are complicated creatures and the face we present to the world can at times be a disguise. Ramadan Sky is a story about roles, rules, traditions, desire, love, lies, desperation, hunger... and the latter of these are not always the preserve of the impoverished.
A beautiful story, perfectly told in novella form. I shall certainly be watching out for more from Nichola Hunter.
September 29, 2013
The biggest quality of this book is that it seems so real. The streets and way of life of Indonesia are depicted in a way that you feel that you are there - not romanticised at all, but shown as they are.
The white teacher of nearly forty becomes involved with a young man, Indonesian, Muslim, cocky, happy to accept money. Victoria (Vic) enjoys the sex, and likes to help him get ahead. Fajar makes the most of it.
I took a while to get into this book - I think it was a mistake to start with Fajar's point of view rather than starting with Vic. But once Victoria enters the story, the story comes to life.
A minor flaw - the fault of the publisher (Harper Collins) was that there were changes of font throughout the book. Maybe it was designed to make it easier to differentiate points of view. If so, it was not needed. Fajar, Victoria, and Aryanti, (Fajar's girlfriend) are all very distinct characters, each on of them brought to vivid life in the hands of the author.
This was a good book. I look forward to the next one by this author.
The white teacher of nearly forty becomes involved with a young man, Indonesian, Muslim, cocky, happy to accept money. Victoria (Vic) enjoys the sex, and likes to help him get ahead. Fajar makes the most of it.
I took a while to get into this book - I think it was a mistake to start with Fajar's point of view rather than starting with Vic. But once Victoria enters the story, the story comes to life.
A minor flaw - the fault of the publisher (Harper Collins) was that there were changes of font throughout the book. Maybe it was designed to make it easier to differentiate points of view. If so, it was not needed. Fajar, Victoria, and Aryanti, (Fajar's girlfriend) are all very distinct characters, each on of them brought to vivid life in the hands of the author.
This was a good book. I look forward to the next one by this author.
October 22, 2022
A taste of love in the Big Durian
I lived, and taught English in Jakarta in the late 90's and early 2000's. A complex, multi-layered, bewildering and incongruous city full of contrast and contradiction.
Ramadan Sky is a short novella which captures the Indonesian capital in its many faces. The abject poverty and the privilege of status.
As a story, it is an unconventional tale of love and desire set against the cultural, societal and religious norms of Indonesian society. It is a brave story to write, centering on a love triangle between a near 40 year old Australian woman, newly arrived for a teaching post and her ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver. There is much to appreciate in the novel, the depictions of place and the human interactions that give Jakarta its identity, as well as the emotionally charged relationships between the 3 protagonists (Vic, Fajar and his on/off girlfriend Aryanti).
An enjoyable book. Personally, I would liked it to have been a longer narrative and the story further developed, set in this fascinating and intriguing city.
I lived, and taught English in Jakarta in the late 90's and early 2000's. A complex, multi-layered, bewildering and incongruous city full of contrast and contradiction.
Ramadan Sky is a short novella which captures the Indonesian capital in its many faces. The abject poverty and the privilege of status.
As a story, it is an unconventional tale of love and desire set against the cultural, societal and religious norms of Indonesian society. It is a brave story to write, centering on a love triangle between a near 40 year old Australian woman, newly arrived for a teaching post and her ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver. There is much to appreciate in the novel, the depictions of place and the human interactions that give Jakarta its identity, as well as the emotionally charged relationships between the 3 protagonists (Vic, Fajar and his on/off girlfriend Aryanti).
An enjoyable book. Personally, I would liked it to have been a longer narrative and the story further developed, set in this fascinating and intriguing city.
June 21, 2014
3.5
A different twist on the old tale of a young man performing the duties of gigolo for an older woman for financial gain and, in this case, a feeling of worth. Our older woman, Vic, is only in her 30's, but as a white woman with few possibilities for romance in Indonesia she embraces this affair with gusto and finds herself falling in love.
Fajar, our gigolo, is torn between the way he feels when he is with Vic, and his own deep-rooted beliefs and traditions.
I found myself wanting more from the characters, which in this novella format didn't materialize as I'd hoped. The scene setting was excellent and I could picture the sights, sounds, and smells of Indonesia so easily. It would make a great movie! I'd also love to learn more about Vic, she seems like such an interesting and complex character!
A different twist on the old tale of a young man performing the duties of gigolo for an older woman for financial gain and, in this case, a feeling of worth. Our older woman, Vic, is only in her 30's, but as a white woman with few possibilities for romance in Indonesia she embraces this affair with gusto and finds herself falling in love.
Fajar, our gigolo, is torn between the way he feels when he is with Vic, and his own deep-rooted beliefs and traditions.
I found myself wanting more from the characters, which in this novella format didn't materialize as I'd hoped. The scene setting was excellent and I could picture the sights, sounds, and smells of Indonesia so easily. It would make a great movie! I'd also love to learn more about Vic, she seems like such an interesting and complex character!
September 11, 2015
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC of this novella.
This is the story of a love triangle involving a near 40 year old Australian English teacher, a young 20 year old Indonesian taxi driver, and a young Indonesian woman who is interested in the taxi driver. The love affair takes place at the English teacher's home after she employs the taxi driver to ferry her around. She is wealthy by Indonesian standards and pays to help set up a small business and for holidays. The young Indonesian woman follows the taxi driver around, despite her parents wishing she wanted other young men, and when the love affair between the English teacher and her younger lover is noticed by the young woman she seeks to bring it to an end.
I didn't especially like the characters but thought the setting was interesting and well portrayed, and the novella was well written.
This is the story of a love triangle involving a near 40 year old Australian English teacher, a young 20 year old Indonesian taxi driver, and a young Indonesian woman who is interested in the taxi driver. The love affair takes place at the English teacher's home after she employs the taxi driver to ferry her around. She is wealthy by Indonesian standards and pays to help set up a small business and for holidays. The young Indonesian woman follows the taxi driver around, despite her parents wishing she wanted other young men, and when the love affair between the English teacher and her younger lover is noticed by the young woman she seeks to bring it to an end.
I didn't especially like the characters but thought the setting was interesting and well portrayed, and the novella was well written.
Read
February 2, 2014Ramadan Sky by Nichola Hunter
Harper Collins Australia
The book was potent. An exquisite portrayal of impoverished Jakarta and of an ill-fated cross cultural love triangle. It is a beautiful story, perfectly told in novella form. Vic’s story is heard in colourful prose and told from the view point of the three main characters. I adored the realistic portrayal of the relationship and of society. The writing is beautiful. I loved the portraits of the expats and the sense of humour throughout the book. Underneath this simple tale lie many questions about behavior in other cultures. I shall certainly be watching out for more from Nichola Hunter. I give this book – four stars.
My appreciation to Netgalley for allowing me to review this book.
Read 02.02.2014
Harper Collins Australia
The book was potent. An exquisite portrayal of impoverished Jakarta and of an ill-fated cross cultural love triangle. It is a beautiful story, perfectly told in novella form. Vic’s story is heard in colourful prose and told from the view point of the three main characters. I adored the realistic portrayal of the relationship and of society. The writing is beautiful. I loved the portraits of the expats and the sense of humour throughout the book. Underneath this simple tale lie many questions about behavior in other cultures. I shall certainly be watching out for more from Nichola Hunter. I give this book – four stars.
My appreciation to Netgalley for allowing me to review this book.
Read 02.02.2014
January 21, 2015
An Indonesian soap opera is the best way to describe this novella. Ramadan Sky captures a tumultuous relationship between a white, foreign (and also much older) woman and a native, Islamic (and much younger) man. I've not read many novellas. However, this one fits the "rules" well and Hunter has done a good job of keeping you interested in their lives. The story also brings to light the injustice and disparity of living conditions many individuals in third world countries experience. The setting is a perfect backdrop to this tale of forbidden love. I was drawn to the cover and taken in by the story. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this tale. I received my copy from Netgalley.com and would recommend this to someone looking for a brief story of love and betrayal.
February 22, 2015
Having been an English teacher in Indonesia (though not Jakarta), this was an interesting book to read. I loved how real the Indonesian characters felt, but I actually had trouble relating to the white female English teacher- go figure. She seems like the kind of expat I actually try to avoid which may be intentional by the author since she didn't have any friends. I think the ending could have been a bit stronger, but overall the writing was good. And I'm still not sure what the title has to do with the book.
Want to Read
February 27, 2016Read through netgalley.com
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