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Sunbirds
1941, West Java. Love and revolution are in the air. And war is on its way.
Shortly before the Japanese invade, the van Hoorn family throws their famous Sinterklaas party at their tea plantation. One of their guests, Mattijs, a Dutch pilot, hopes to forge a future in the Dutch East Indies, possibly with the family's daughter, Anna, but she is torn between her dreams of Holland and her desire to belong.
Meanwhile the housekeeper, Diah, keenly observes the goings-on around the plantation, wondering how much to tell her freedom-fighter brother. When the Japanese forces finally arrive on Java's doorstep, they all have to make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives, especially those who must evacuate to Australia.
Sunbirds depicts the intricate web of identities and loyalties created by war and imperialism, and the heartbreaking compromises that so often ensue.
Shortly before the Japanese invade, the van Hoorn family throws their famous Sinterklaas party at their tea plantation. One of their guests, Mattijs, a Dutch pilot, hopes to forge a future in the Dutch East Indies, possibly with the family's daughter, Anna, but she is torn between her dreams of Holland and her desire to belong.
Meanwhile the housekeeper, Diah, keenly observes the goings-on around the plantation, wondering how much to tell her freedom-fighter brother. When the Japanese forces finally arrive on Java's doorstep, they all have to make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives, especially those who must evacuate to Australia.
Sunbirds depicts the intricate web of identities and loyalties created by war and imperialism, and the heartbreaking compromises that so often ensue.
320 pages, Paperback
Published August 29, 2023
16 people are currently reading
324 people want to read
About the author
Mirandi Riwoe
8 books49 followersMirandi Riwoe is a Brisbane-based writer. She has been shortlisted for Overland's Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize, the Josephine Ulrick Short Story Prize and the Luke Bitmead Bursary. She has also been longlisted for the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize and CWA (UK) dagger awards. Her work has appeared in Review of Australian Fiction, Rex, Peril and Shibboleth and Other Stories. Her first novel, She be Damned, will be released by Legend Press (UK) in 2017. Mirandi has a PhD in Creative Writing and Literary Studies (QUT).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
October 10, 2023
Hard on the heels of The Idealist, Nicholas José's new novel set in 1990s East Timor, (2023, see my review) comes another historical novel set in our region... Like The Idealist Mirandi Riwoe's Sunbirds is set in the turbulent period shortly before decolonisation, but her novel is set during WW2 on the Indonesian island of Java which had been a Dutch colony for 300+ years.
The novel begins with Riwoe's central character Anna van Hoorn on board an evacuation flight to an uncertain future in Australia. The flight is for the wives of the Dutch colonialists in Sundanese West Java, and her entitlement to be on that flight is ambiguous because (a) she's not yet married to Mattjis Huuisman, a Dutch pilot, and (b) because she's Indo (Eurasian, see note below). Although her father Theodor is a Dutch tea planter, her mother Hermine is upper-caste Indo with an aristocratic Dutch ancestor. Those of us who know the history of Australia's infamous White Australia policy know that the first steps towards abolishing it didn't happen until 1966 under Harold Holt, and it was not finally abolished until 1973 under Gough Whitlam. So (although there is a tie-up-the-ends epilogue set 50 years later) I wouldn't be surprised if a sequel to Sunbirds about the intervening years began with an unfriendly refugee experience in Australia for Anna.
I'm open to correction on this, but from reading Pramoedya's Buru Quartet, it's my recollection that the legal status of inter-racial (i.e. Dutch/Eurasian) marriages was cloudy under Dutch law. In Footsteps (1985), Annalies, Minke's first Indo (Eurasian) wife, loses her citizenship after ‘repatriation to the Netherlands, in order to prevent her inheriting Javanese assets from her Dutch father. So the letter from Mattjis that Anna is clutching may be worthless as far as immigration authorities are concerned.
OTOH in a rare show of an independent foreign policy, Australia supported postwar Indonesian independence, against the Dutch, and Indonesian soldiers and administrations officials who had come to Australia with the Dutch government-in-exile, were supported by Australians when they rebelled and became freedom-fighters for independence. But that was after the war, not in 1942 when Anna takes that flight reserved for Dutch women.
But that's not the only complication that arises from this intriguing novel...
It's not just that other members of Anna's family are still in the path of the rapidly advancing Japanese, there are other interesting characters whose fate merits a sequel covering the intervening 50 years in Indonesia. Anna's family has had, for a long time, a faithful family servant called Diah, an attractive woman whose presence enrages Anna's mother Hermine (who has mental health issues). Diah has a handsome brother called Sigit who is involved in the emerging independence movement, a movement which took the opportunity to sabotage Dutch interests in anticipation of a Japanese Occupation which they thought would be supportive of independence ambitions. (It didn't take long for them to become disillusioned about that. The Japanese did not have a sense of brotherhood with other Asian people, and they brutalised the locals in all the places they occupied.)
Anna, still not twenty-one, is being married off by her father because he wants to ensure social acceptance for her with a Dutch husband. His concern about her acceptance into society is also the reason why he won't let her get involved in what amounts to 'war work' (e.g. nursing) with other Dutch women: their social acceptance is their entitlement and that status automatically means that their work is 'charity work'. But a Eurasian woman doing the same thing looks like work that a servant might do, and Anna's parents are united in their insistence that she must not be perceived as a kampung Indo. Anna is under constant parental scrutiny to make sure that she doesn't compromise her chances.
But although they are engaged, both Anna and Mattjis have #noSpoilers developed other interests which arise when they are parted...
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/10/10/s...
The novel begins with Riwoe's central character Anna van Hoorn on board an evacuation flight to an uncertain future in Australia. The flight is for the wives of the Dutch colonialists in Sundanese West Java, and her entitlement to be on that flight is ambiguous because (a) she's not yet married to Mattjis Huuisman, a Dutch pilot, and (b) because she's Indo (Eurasian, see note below). Although her father Theodor is a Dutch tea planter, her mother Hermine is upper-caste Indo with an aristocratic Dutch ancestor. Those of us who know the history of Australia's infamous White Australia policy know that the first steps towards abolishing it didn't happen until 1966 under Harold Holt, and it was not finally abolished until 1973 under Gough Whitlam. So (although there is a tie-up-the-ends epilogue set 50 years later) I wouldn't be surprised if a sequel to Sunbirds about the intervening years began with an unfriendly refugee experience in Australia for Anna.
I'm open to correction on this, but from reading Pramoedya's Buru Quartet, it's my recollection that the legal status of inter-racial (i.e. Dutch/Eurasian) marriages was cloudy under Dutch law. In Footsteps (1985), Annalies, Minke's first Indo (Eurasian) wife, loses her citizenship after ‘repatriation to the Netherlands, in order to prevent her inheriting Javanese assets from her Dutch father. So the letter from Mattjis that Anna is clutching may be worthless as far as immigration authorities are concerned.
OTOH in a rare show of an independent foreign policy, Australia supported postwar Indonesian independence, against the Dutch, and Indonesian soldiers and administrations officials who had come to Australia with the Dutch government-in-exile, were supported by Australians when they rebelled and became freedom-fighters for independence. But that was after the war, not in 1942 when Anna takes that flight reserved for Dutch women.
But that's not the only complication that arises from this intriguing novel...
It's not just that other members of Anna's family are still in the path of the rapidly advancing Japanese, there are other interesting characters whose fate merits a sequel covering the intervening 50 years in Indonesia. Anna's family has had, for a long time, a faithful family servant called Diah, an attractive woman whose presence enrages Anna's mother Hermine (who has mental health issues). Diah has a handsome brother called Sigit who is involved in the emerging independence movement, a movement which took the opportunity to sabotage Dutch interests in anticipation of a Japanese Occupation which they thought would be supportive of independence ambitions. (It didn't take long for them to become disillusioned about that. The Japanese did not have a sense of brotherhood with other Asian people, and they brutalised the locals in all the places they occupied.)
Anna, still not twenty-one, is being married off by her father because he wants to ensure social acceptance for her with a Dutch husband. His concern about her acceptance into society is also the reason why he won't let her get involved in what amounts to 'war work' (e.g. nursing) with other Dutch women: their social acceptance is their entitlement and that status automatically means that their work is 'charity work'. But a Eurasian woman doing the same thing looks like work that a servant might do, and Anna's parents are united in their insistence that she must not be perceived as a kampung Indo. Anna is under constant parental scrutiny to make sure that she doesn't compromise her chances.
But although they are engaged, both Anna and Mattjis have #noSpoilers developed other interests which arise when they are parted...
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/10/10/s...
March 4, 2024
Perhaps I’ve become too much of a snob after 2 months in Bandung but I couldn’t get into this 2🦜
Although references to Sunda culture are technically correct - it feels forced and unnatural (like someone has visited West Java for a week and then googled a bunch of stuff).
Contrastingly my reading experience (in Aus) of Beauty is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan (set in Indo, same time period but written by an Indo) was much better and immersive!
Also the audiobook narration made 0 sense: why get a British woman who cannot pronounce any of the Indo or Sunda words to narrate this story? (Plus it’s an Aussie book!) 0 stars for the audiobook.
I really don’t know who this book is for: as someone who understands the language and culture I found the writing inauthentic, stilted and without soul but those who aren’t familiar with the language/culture will find the writing alienating and difficult to follow as there are countless cultural references and terms.
Maaf Mirandi 🤷♀️
Although references to Sunda culture are technically correct - it feels forced and unnatural (like someone has visited West Java for a week and then googled a bunch of stuff).
Contrastingly my reading experience (in Aus) of Beauty is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan (set in Indo, same time period but written by an Indo) was much better and immersive!
Also the audiobook narration made 0 sense: why get a British woman who cannot pronounce any of the Indo or Sunda words to narrate this story? (Plus it’s an Aussie book!) 0 stars for the audiobook.
I really don’t know who this book is for: as someone who understands the language and culture I found the writing inauthentic, stilted and without soul but those who aren’t familiar with the language/culture will find the writing alienating and difficult to follow as there are countless cultural references and terms.
Maaf Mirandi 🤷♀️
September 6, 2023
4.5 STARS.
Set on a Dutch East Indies sugar plantation in West Java in the time leading up to WW2 Japanese invasion.
A story where the character's lives are about to be thrown into chaos and their way of life, alliances, love and friendships challenged. Where nothing will ever be the same again.
The author's lovely writing style gradually increases the tension and sense of foreboding throughout the story - and not just of the impending invasion.
It left me pondering the effects of colonialism and the cruel nature of war long after I'd finished reading the book.
The characters are believable and I like the way we learn a little of life on the island and it's history through different points of view.
I particularly love Diah, the housekeeper, who notices all, but remains caring and doing the best she can for the plantation's family and others around her.
The only negative for me was being pulled out of the story numerous times to Google a word or expression I didn't know - my rating would've been 5 stars if not for this.
A glossary of Dutch and Indonesian words, expressions, foods etc would have been helpful as a quick reference point - too late now, but it could have sat on the opposite page to the map.
However, I loved this book and thoroughly recommend it.
A great read.
Thank you to Better Reading and UQP for an ARC for review
Set on a Dutch East Indies sugar plantation in West Java in the time leading up to WW2 Japanese invasion.
A story where the character's lives are about to be thrown into chaos and their way of life, alliances, love and friendships challenged. Where nothing will ever be the same again.
The author's lovely writing style gradually increases the tension and sense of foreboding throughout the story - and not just of the impending invasion.
It left me pondering the effects of colonialism and the cruel nature of war long after I'd finished reading the book.
The characters are believable and I like the way we learn a little of life on the island and it's history through different points of view.
I particularly love Diah, the housekeeper, who notices all, but remains caring and doing the best she can for the plantation's family and others around her.
The only negative for me was being pulled out of the story numerous times to Google a word or expression I didn't know - my rating would've been 5 stars if not for this.
A glossary of Dutch and Indonesian words, expressions, foods etc would have been helpful as a quick reference point - too late now, but it could have sat on the opposite page to the map.
However, I loved this book and thoroughly recommend it.
A great read.
Thank you to Better Reading and UQP for an ARC for review
November 5, 2023
I had to ponder on how many stars for this one, 2 seems harsh but I can’t give it 3, so maybe a 2.5. There were some parts of the book that were good and interesting. I didn’t really know much about this subject but by the end of the book I felt like the author didn’t really know much about it either. I think she should have just written a dramatic romance and not sold this book as a historical fiction. It had an interesting story line but feel flat for me.
March 18, 2025
rtc but I liked it!
February 17, 2025
I struggled a bit through this book as it was big slabs of text with not much character development or story progression. It felt like a bit of a political statement of the Dutch ownership of the Dutch Indies. I just saw it on the shelf at the library and borrowed it because it sounded good but I was glad to return it.
February 27, 2024
This book is set in Indonesia while it is under Dutch rule during WWII with the Japanese on their way.
The story is mainly set on a tea plantation with a Dutch owner married to a mixed race wife and with children. Workers come from a nearby village. The story woven is very very interesting.
The story is mainly set on a tea plantation with a Dutch owner married to a mixed race wife and with children. Workers come from a nearby village. The story woven is very very interesting.
November 12, 2023
"They hope the Japanese will free us, but..."
"But what?"
"But Sigit thinks we should free ourselves "
"But what?"
"But Sigit thinks we should free ourselves "
May 14, 2024
Excellent book about the beginning of WWII and the impact on a Dutch expat family in Dutch Indonesia. Very different perspective than the usual WWII novel.
November 12, 2023
Riverbend Book Club Nov-23. Not my cup of tea. So much time describing the sense of place, very little plot. The ending had no regard for the reader. Anna character was so appalling - were we supposed to like her?
October 12, 2023
Beautiful prose but plot was a big nothingness.
January 22, 2024
The setting and general story were quite interesting, but I found the text was often rather Mills & Boon-ish.
October 5, 2023
As with all of Mirandi Riwoe’s writing, her latest novel Sunbirds (UQP 2023) immerses the reader in a sensory, cultural experience full of the tastes, sights, sounds and emotions of historical Indonesian / Chinese life. Sunbirds includes Dutch heritage and again examines the colonial experience and attitudes of the time.
Set during World War Two, the novel follows the life of the van Hoorn family, shortly before the Japanese invasion of Java. Anna van Hoorn is of marriageable age and attracted to Mattijs, a Dutch pilot. She hopes to make a good marriage and continue living an affluent lifestyle. Her brother Willem also serves as a pilot, and along with their father and other locals, the Dutch become more and more disquieted by events on the front.
The family’s longtime servant, Diah, has dreams of her own – to one day own and operate a small pension or accommodation / restaurant. The van Hoorne family has always treated her well, but her brother Sigit is less enamoured of their generosity and more inclined to the freedom fighters who demand the Dutch release the chains they hold over the Javanese and return the land to the original owners.
Set amongst a country of beauty and contrasts, and amidst a time of great turmoil, Sunbirds follows the fortunes of the leading families and the struggles of the locals. Romance is in the air but the fate of those involved is not always clear.
The opening prologue is an intense rendering of some of the Dutch escaping the island in planes, only to be shot down by Japanese fighters. Just who is escaping, and why, is unclear. The book’s final scene is a poignant and moving portrait of a time many years later, when the fate of some of the major characters is surprisingly revealed.
Riwoe has a unique talent for reimagining colonial pasts from the perspectives of the original inhabitants who are often or inevitably the ‘losers’, rather than the ‘winners’ who usually end up proscribing events and deciding what is the truth of history. Her ability to shift perspective and see historical events through the eyes of those without a voice is an unprecedented and magical touch that allows the reader to explore familiar tales in wholly unexpected and unfamiliar ways.
Her research is meticulous yet sits lightly on the page. The reader never feels lectured or inundated with information; rather the cultural details and ways of life are threaded imperceptibly and naturally throughout the story.
The loyalties and choices demanded by war, the betrayals, unfaithfulness and deceit prompted by war’s challenges, make for intriguing and beguiling reading. Riwoe’s writing is lyrical, descriptive, beautiful and immersive. Her stories are eye-opening, thought-provoking and always challenge the dominant narrative. Her use of native language and her depictions of the fruits, food, dances, music, smells, food and cultural recreation transport the reader very vividly to the scenes described. Moving, heart-breaking, truthful, imaginative, devastating and brilliantly observed, Sunbirds will stay with you long after the last page.
Set during World War Two, the novel follows the life of the van Hoorn family, shortly before the Japanese invasion of Java. Anna van Hoorn is of marriageable age and attracted to Mattijs, a Dutch pilot. She hopes to make a good marriage and continue living an affluent lifestyle. Her brother Willem also serves as a pilot, and along with their father and other locals, the Dutch become more and more disquieted by events on the front.
The family’s longtime servant, Diah, has dreams of her own – to one day own and operate a small pension or accommodation / restaurant. The van Hoorne family has always treated her well, but her brother Sigit is less enamoured of their generosity and more inclined to the freedom fighters who demand the Dutch release the chains they hold over the Javanese and return the land to the original owners.
Set amongst a country of beauty and contrasts, and amidst a time of great turmoil, Sunbirds follows the fortunes of the leading families and the struggles of the locals. Romance is in the air but the fate of those involved is not always clear.
The opening prologue is an intense rendering of some of the Dutch escaping the island in planes, only to be shot down by Japanese fighters. Just who is escaping, and why, is unclear. The book’s final scene is a poignant and moving portrait of a time many years later, when the fate of some of the major characters is surprisingly revealed.
Riwoe has a unique talent for reimagining colonial pasts from the perspectives of the original inhabitants who are often or inevitably the ‘losers’, rather than the ‘winners’ who usually end up proscribing events and deciding what is the truth of history. Her ability to shift perspective and see historical events through the eyes of those without a voice is an unprecedented and magical touch that allows the reader to explore familiar tales in wholly unexpected and unfamiliar ways.
Her research is meticulous yet sits lightly on the page. The reader never feels lectured or inundated with information; rather the cultural details and ways of life are threaded imperceptibly and naturally throughout the story.
The loyalties and choices demanded by war, the betrayals, unfaithfulness and deceit prompted by war’s challenges, make for intriguing and beguiling reading. Riwoe’s writing is lyrical, descriptive, beautiful and immersive. Her stories are eye-opening, thought-provoking and always challenge the dominant narrative. Her use of native language and her depictions of the fruits, food, dances, music, smells, food and cultural recreation transport the reader very vividly to the scenes described. Moving, heart-breaking, truthful, imaginative, devastating and brilliantly observed, Sunbirds will stay with you long after the last page.
Read
February 1, 2024It’s 1941: West Java faces Japanese invasion. At the van Hoorns’ cash-crop estate, a pilot, Mattijs, hopes to join the war effort in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia). He has eyes for the family’s daughter, Anna, who is herself enamoured of Sigit, a young freedom fighter. Sigit is a product of colonisation, educated in Holland and thus, like so many schooled in the metropole, a strong critic of its imperialism.
Love and revolution have never been easy to keep apart, and many of Sunbird’s observations about colonisation play upon the kind of Freud/Lacan sexual-social dynamics that have occupied thinkers from Aimé Césaire to Frantz Fanon. When a local woman, Fientje, is allegedly murdered by a Dutchman – Riwoe drawing from the real-life case of Fientje de Feniks – Anna registers a strange affinity towards the case.
The lawyer for the defence argues against heeding the testimony of Fientje’s coworkers, these being “women of [...] promiscuity of body and mind”. Such promiscuity of body and mind is dangerous yet also key to cultural and ethnic survival. (In another scene, Diah, the van Hoorns’ housekeeper, finds – and gleefully destroys – a potboiler discovered in the family library that meditates upon “the impossibility of companionship between the Dutch and those of native blood”; its protagonist, attracted to a Javanese servant, is described as “swept from his moral moorings”.)
In colonial Java, Riwoe suggests, morality depends on hypocrisy, injustice, and Nietzschean ressentiments. Even Sigit accuses Anna of treating him as a “pelacur pria”, or male prostitute. Every document of civilisation is a document of barbarity, one that refuses to look at itself in the mirror, requiring always that someone, somewhere, be treated not in their own right but as an object or trinket.
No surprise, then, that Sunbirds is full of doubles: Sigit, whose Dutch at one point surprises Anna (“He’s spent time in Holland even when she has not”), and who almost invokes the lyrics of the Rodgers and Hart tune Glad to Be Unhappy when he tells Anna, “There wasn’t that much difference between you [and Fientje] ... Except she was from the kampung. No money, no Papa”.
Or what about Anna’s mother discouraging her from wearing kebayas and sarungs (the more fair-skinned Dutch women, she contends, are not liable to “be confused with kampung Indos”). Anna is separated by class from locals such as the household servants, even as she comprehends the Sundanese dialect they use in private.
Read on: https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/...
Love and revolution have never been easy to keep apart, and many of Sunbird’s observations about colonisation play upon the kind of Freud/Lacan sexual-social dynamics that have occupied thinkers from Aimé Césaire to Frantz Fanon. When a local woman, Fientje, is allegedly murdered by a Dutchman – Riwoe drawing from the real-life case of Fientje de Feniks – Anna registers a strange affinity towards the case.
The lawyer for the defence argues against heeding the testimony of Fientje’s coworkers, these being “women of [...] promiscuity of body and mind”. Such promiscuity of body and mind is dangerous yet also key to cultural and ethnic survival. (In another scene, Diah, the van Hoorns’ housekeeper, finds – and gleefully destroys – a potboiler discovered in the family library that meditates upon “the impossibility of companionship between the Dutch and those of native blood”; its protagonist, attracted to a Javanese servant, is described as “swept from his moral moorings”.)
In colonial Java, Riwoe suggests, morality depends on hypocrisy, injustice, and Nietzschean ressentiments. Even Sigit accuses Anna of treating him as a “pelacur pria”, or male prostitute. Every document of civilisation is a document of barbarity, one that refuses to look at itself in the mirror, requiring always that someone, somewhere, be treated not in their own right but as an object or trinket.
No surprise, then, that Sunbirds is full of doubles: Sigit, whose Dutch at one point surprises Anna (“He’s spent time in Holland even when she has not”), and who almost invokes the lyrics of the Rodgers and Hart tune Glad to Be Unhappy when he tells Anna, “There wasn’t that much difference between you [and Fientje] ... Except she was from the kampung. No money, no Papa”.
Or what about Anna’s mother discouraging her from wearing kebayas and sarungs (the more fair-skinned Dutch women, she contends, are not liable to “be confused with kampung Indos”). Anna is separated by class from locals such as the household servants, even as she comprehends the Sundanese dialect they use in private.
Read on: https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/...
December 1, 2023
Our Review...
In her most recent novel, Sunbirds, award winning Meanjin writer Mirandi Riwoe, immerses the reader in the landscape and fracturing society of Java, 1941. Singapore has fallen to the Japanese and it’s only a matter of time until they reach Java. Meanwhile, the Dutch of the hinterland cling to the last vestiges of colonialism, their sprawling tea plantations and mansions reliant on the labour of their Indonesian employees, who are treated barely better than servants.
Riwoe expertly portrays the growing tensions brought on not just by the threat of the Japanese, but by the burgeoning nationalism of the Javanese as they openly question the Dutch colonialist regime. The story centres on the Van Hoon family’s plantation and the relationships between their daughter Anna, their long-time housekeeper Diah, and Diah’s rebellious brother Sigit. As their stories intertwine, class and ethnic boundaries are crossed with life-changing consequences.
Riwoe’s previous novel, Stone Sky Gold Mountain, won numerous awards, as did her short story collection, The Burnished Sun. Her writing in Sunbirds is equally as engaging, unfurling a narrative that manages to explore the personal and political without judgement.
Highly recommended.
Review by Mark @ Great Escape Books
In her most recent novel, Sunbirds, award winning Meanjin writer Mirandi Riwoe, immerses the reader in the landscape and fracturing society of Java, 1941. Singapore has fallen to the Japanese and it’s only a matter of time until they reach Java. Meanwhile, the Dutch of the hinterland cling to the last vestiges of colonialism, their sprawling tea plantations and mansions reliant on the labour of their Indonesian employees, who are treated barely better than servants.
Riwoe expertly portrays the growing tensions brought on not just by the threat of the Japanese, but by the burgeoning nationalism of the Javanese as they openly question the Dutch colonialist regime. The story centres on the Van Hoon family’s plantation and the relationships between their daughter Anna, their long-time housekeeper Diah, and Diah’s rebellious brother Sigit. As their stories intertwine, class and ethnic boundaries are crossed with life-changing consequences.
Riwoe’s previous novel, Stone Sky Gold Mountain, won numerous awards, as did her short story collection, The Burnished Sun. Her writing in Sunbirds is equally as engaging, unfurling a narrative that manages to explore the personal and political without judgement.
Highly recommended.
Review by Mark @ Great Escape Books
March 10, 2024
This sumptuously detailed cookbook will provide you with all the recipes, information, colour, and background you will need to prepare that mid-Century Dutch-Colonial era Indonesian feast you've always dreamed of hostessing!
Resplendent with mouth-watering recipes, cook along not only such traditional Indonesian fare as Krupuk, Rendang, and Gado-Gado, but also have all it takes to put together a table-busting full on Dutch Sinterklaas celebration!
In this unusual approach to presenting a cookbook, you'll find recipes and serving suggestions ingeniously intermixed with fictional scenes from the destruction of an entire way of life. You'll soon find yourself munching on deep fried snacks from the period as you learn in passing something of the tensions between the Dutch, the Dutch-Indonesians, and the Indonesians, as you follow the recipes for these fun and easy-to-prepare dishes.
So, wrap on your batik Kebaya, slip some Gamelan on Spotify, and settle in to celebrate the lead up to the Japanese massacres that liberated Indonesia and led - after an insane/corrupt leader and military dictatorship or two - to the successful modern Republic that we know today!
Bonus pull-out true crime mini-novella included!
Resplendent with mouth-watering recipes, cook along not only such traditional Indonesian fare as Krupuk, Rendang, and Gado-Gado, but also have all it takes to put together a table-busting full on Dutch Sinterklaas celebration!
In this unusual approach to presenting a cookbook, you'll find recipes and serving suggestions ingeniously intermixed with fictional scenes from the destruction of an entire way of life. You'll soon find yourself munching on deep fried snacks from the period as you learn in passing something of the tensions between the Dutch, the Dutch-Indonesians, and the Indonesians, as you follow the recipes for these fun and easy-to-prepare dishes.
So, wrap on your batik Kebaya, slip some Gamelan on Spotify, and settle in to celebrate the lead up to the Japanese massacres that liberated Indonesia and led - after an insane/corrupt leader and military dictatorship or two - to the successful modern Republic that we know today!
Bonus pull-out true crime mini-novella included!
May 26, 2024
I’ve spent many years around Javanese family and lived in Bali so I found the use of language, scenery and descriptions to be very authentic. I liked how Miranda included ‘Indonesian’ language and through her narrative allowed the reader to use their intelligence to determine meaning.
Although the characters come to realise war and invasion from Japanese soldiers is imminent, the story doesn’t revolve around wartime events. The central characters respond to their changing world and relationships. Imperialist rule is on the way out and war although unwelcome also heralds the opportunity for Indonesians to finally remove Dutch colonialists.
When young lives are threatened by war (life and death staring one in the face) a restless, sharp desire to live and love authentically surfaces. How will each character fare and will they choose a brave new life or follow the old norms and ways, despite a world collapsing around them.
Riwoe wants us to live in the heart and mind of people of mixed race as they move forward taking their place in life and all that involves. Likewise what happens to a class that no longer has a hold on people because of their position, race and wealth. Thought provoking reading
Although the characters come to realise war and invasion from Japanese soldiers is imminent, the story doesn’t revolve around wartime events. The central characters respond to their changing world and relationships. Imperialist rule is on the way out and war although unwelcome also heralds the opportunity for Indonesians to finally remove Dutch colonialists.
When young lives are threatened by war (life and death staring one in the face) a restless, sharp desire to live and love authentically surfaces. How will each character fare and will they choose a brave new life or follow the old norms and ways, despite a world collapsing around them.
Riwoe wants us to live in the heart and mind of people of mixed race as they move forward taking their place in life and all that involves. Likewise what happens to a class that no longer has a hold on people because of their position, race and wealth. Thought provoking reading
September 9, 2023
The language in this novel evokes the rich culture of Java suspended before the impending Japanese attack during World War Two – the calm before the storm. Life of the privileged Dutch plantation family is contrasted with life of their workers who are village locals. The simmering undertones of discontent with the Dutch colonial hierarchy are always close to the surface. Anna, the protagonist, struggles with her cultural identity but also her identity as a woman coming of age at a tumultuous time. She is torn between the values and expectations of a country that she has never visited and the reality of life in Java for Indonesians and Indonesian-Chinese or those such as herself of mixed heritage.
Loyalties and assumptions change as the story of each character is exposed to the reader, the connection between the characters evolve, and as the story lines are woven more tightly together until the conclusion. The book skilfully invites the reader to consider the themes of colonisation, role of women, belonging and displacement within a story of romance and secrets, evocatively placed within historical and cultural context.
Loyalties and assumptions change as the story of each character is exposed to the reader, the connection between the characters evolve, and as the story lines are woven more tightly together until the conclusion. The book skilfully invites the reader to consider the themes of colonisation, role of women, belonging and displacement within a story of romance and secrets, evocatively placed within historical and cultural context.
May 12, 2024
"Sunbirds" by Mirandi Riwoe is a poignant portrayal of love, revolution, and the impending war in 1941 West Java. Set against the backdrop of the van Hoorn family's tea plantation, the novel navigates the complexities of identity and loyalty amidst the turbulence of Japanese invasion. Riwoe masterfully weaves together the lives of characters like Dutch pilot Mattijs, torn between his aspirations and love for Anna, and Diah, the observant housekeeper grappling with familial ties to freedom fighters. As war approaches, each character must confront decisions that will shape their futures, particularly as they face evacuation to Australia. Through rich prose and compelling narratives, "Sunbirds" offers a nuanced exploration of the human experience during times of conflict and imperialism, revealing the heartbreaking compromises that ensue. While a commendable read, its execution earns it a modest three-star rating, reflecting its engaging storytelling yet leaving room for deeper character development and thematic exploration.
February 1, 2025
A beautiful book full of the sights, sounds and scents of Dutch colonial Indonesia/West Java. Riwoe puts her own cultural heritage to great use in reaching into the fine detail of life for 'mixed race' people (aren't we all just one race, the human race?). She tells a love story, or two or three, set amongst the horrors of war and colonialism. The struggle for national freedom sits alongside internal struggles for personal autonomy. The device of a 'novelette' within the structure of the novel works well to pull the reader up for a broader view, to explore the racism and sexism in a specific society at a given time. It encourages the reader to question how much has changed since then. Has our 21st-century culture advanced much since then? Characterisation is strongly built through the eyes of the relationships that develop in the narrative, with enough twists and turns in the plot to keep things moving at a good pace. I loved reading this book and I'm now hunting out other fiction by Riwoe.
September 22, 2023
Java, Dutch East Indies, 1942: A sweepingly beautiful portrait of a deeply romantic time – life on a Dutch family’s tea plantation in the final decadent days before the Japanese invasion. It’s a fascinating, intricately imagined portrait of the complex and increasingly desperate social politics playing out in upper-class dining and sitting rooms, as European customs wilt and rot in the tropical heat. Meanwhile, in the bustling, colourful villages and in the servants’ quarters, anticipation, resentment, and frustration simmer. This is a truthful but non-judgemental commentary on the devastation caused by colonisation, and a probing account of class and race. Every sentence shimmers vibrantly: it feels like you’re standing beneath the frangipani and palm trees, cocooned in the oppressive damp heat, hearing the calls of the peddlers and inhaling the fragrance of coconut oil burning in the garden lamps. An exquisite treat of a book.
February 29, 2024
This is a thoroughly absorbing read, set in wartime West Java, Riwoe expertly balances all her elements - the tension from impending invasion, the subtle class, gender and colonial positioning of her characters, various romantic shenanigans, and some outstanding intriguing foreshadowing. She also effectively uses an interspersed story of the death of a local woman to highlight and contrast the positioning of her main cast. And yet, despite all this going on, the book never feels anything but whole. There is some serious skill here, and the book is both thought-provoking and a great deal of fun to read. It was perhaps, more commercial or straightforward than I expected from a Riwoe book, and I missed the slightly unearthly, delicate prose I associate with her a little bit (although it appears in the interspersed sections). But the characters will linger on the page, as will the worlds she creates and the choices, and lack of them, her characters face.
June 5, 2025
This novel has this simmering tension and threat behind it. Not of looming terror - which of course it is, war is on the horizon and the prologue makes it abundantly clear the characters will be caught up in it. Instead, it feels like the drop in atmospheric pressure right before a thunderstorm, which feels completely apt for a setting such as this.
It's almost languidly paced even with this tension, which makes the pressure-cooker ending even stronger. There's so many decisions - both of the heart and of morality - that are made as the Japanese invade, and Riwoe plays them out so well, without melodrama or cliche. The epilogue wasn't sentimental, but quite thoughtful in how it explores facing our past.
I think I will ask nicely for another novel that just focuses on Hermine, her marriage and her treatment in the hospital. I was really fascinated by her circumstances.
This novel made me want to book a flight to Bali and stuff my face with food forever.
It's almost languidly paced even with this tension, which makes the pressure-cooker ending even stronger. There's so many decisions - both of the heart and of morality - that are made as the Japanese invade, and Riwoe plays them out so well, without melodrama or cliche. The epilogue wasn't sentimental, but quite thoughtful in how it explores facing our past.
I think I will ask nicely for another novel that just focuses on Hermine, her marriage and her treatment in the hospital. I was really fascinated by her circumstances.
This novel made me want to book a flight to Bali and stuff my face with food forever.
August 31, 2023
Sunbirds is a story of a little known area of history yet is so close to Australia. Mirandi Riwoe's novel of the Dutch East Indies is set on the Van Hoorn family's sugar plantation in Java leading up to the invasion in 1942 by Japanese forces. It is a story of love and anguish between people of different backgrounds - colonial imperialism and the local people who work for them. Their world is about to be turned "head over heels" and will never be the same again and they must come to terms with what is likely to happen. The description of the land and the people caught up in this piece of history are sympathetic and believable. A great read. Really enjoyable.
Thanks to Better Reading for the opportunity to preview this book. #BRPreview @betterreading.au
Thanks to Better Reading for the opportunity to preview this book. #BRPreview @betterreading.au
September 29, 2024
This was a really complex story, based on life in Java 1942 , awaiting invasion by the Japanese army. Two threads develop, neither straightforward. One involves an ‘Indo’ ie a person born of Dutch and Javanese heritage. Anna has a privileged life as the daughter of a tea plantation owner. The other thread follows her Javanese servant, Diah. There are all sorts of family expectations for both young women. Love between mixed races is a strong theme, as is the upcoming fight for independence from Dutch rule. Cultural ways of being add huge pressure to their lives.
It’s atmospheric, full of descriptions of places, people, sounds, vegetation. I liked the natural and constant interspersing of Indonesian language in the telling of this heartfelt tale.
It’s atmospheric, full of descriptions of places, people, sounds, vegetation. I liked the natural and constant interspersing of Indonesian language in the telling of this heartfelt tale.
October 10, 2024
A war-time story following the mixed daughter of a Dutch plantation owner and their evacuation to Australia.
This book covers themes of transnational identities as well as the feelings of belonging among the children of colonisers.
This is another book that is really well written and discusses many complex issues, however I am not the target audience. This would be perfect for readers who enjoy literary fiction. It’s incredibly well researched and about interesting historical topics as well as topics personal to the author. Seeing her discuss her novel, writing practices, and research practices in a lecture to my university class makes me confident in the accuracy of this book and confident in recommending it to people more suited to the genre.
This book covers themes of transnational identities as well as the feelings of belonging among the children of colonisers.
This is another book that is really well written and discusses many complex issues, however I am not the target audience. This would be perfect for readers who enjoy literary fiction. It’s incredibly well researched and about interesting historical topics as well as topics personal to the author. Seeing her discuss her novel, writing practices, and research practices in a lecture to my university class makes me confident in the accuracy of this book and confident in recommending it to people more suited to the genre.
September 5, 2023
This is a wonderful historical novel. It takes place on the island of Java, considered the geographic and economic centre of Indonesia. The time is the early days of World War II. The Japanese are beginning their invasion of Java, Indonesia and Malaysia. The novel is multi-layered. It touches upon the colonisation of Indonesia by the Dutch, the beginning of the nationalist movement by Indonesians and it is a love story. The novel is engaging and left me, as the reader, wanting to know more. At the end of the novel, it touches upon evacuating the Dutch to Australia. It would be interesting to know more of that immigration.
September 11, 2023
Set in West Java, 1941.
The Van Hoorn Family own and operate a Tea Plantation and import the Tea to Holland where they are originally from.
Thay have servants that tend to their every need and employ locals to run and work at the Tea Plantation.
A young Dutch Pilot Mattijs is a guest and soon forges a relationship with Anna. It's not till later he realizes he is in love with the servant Diah.
The Japanese arrive and many flee, and Anna goes to Australia and forms a new life. One vastly different to what she had planned.
I found this to be a story of people finding where they belong, their loyalties and compromises they had to make.
The Van Hoorn Family own and operate a Tea Plantation and import the Tea to Holland where they are originally from.
Thay have servants that tend to their every need and employ locals to run and work at the Tea Plantation.
A young Dutch Pilot Mattijs is a guest and soon forges a relationship with Anna. It's not till later he realizes he is in love with the servant Diah.
The Japanese arrive and many flee, and Anna goes to Australia and forms a new life. One vastly different to what she had planned.
I found this to be a story of people finding where they belong, their loyalties and compromises they had to make.
January 27, 2024
Not really my preferred genre. Romance to create a story was not necessary and did not read well. The history of the beginnings of Muslim independence in Bandung in Java was enough to carry any story ( just ask Hemingway) but the author seems to be a fan of women’s weekly romances, crafted to fit her story. I did enjoy it. Overblown and cloying descriptions of the landscape and predictable Dutch colonial behaviour. It could have been so much more. The period it was set in is fascinating but it took a back seat in this one.
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October 23, 2023There were sentences in this book that were so beautiful they took my breath away. I found myself immersed in 1940's Java to such an extent, I could taste the scent of local flowers on the breeze, I could smell the food, I could hear the night. And such full rounded characterisations - I particularly loved the writing around Anna's mixed heritage mother, and the novella that was peppered throughout the text. Highly recommend.
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