Mataram: A novel of love, faith and power in early Java

by Tony Reid

Seventeenth-century Java is in turmoil between its Hindu-Buddhist past and its Muslim future, while pepper draws Europe's quarrelling spice-hungry traders to its shores. Thomas Hodges of the East India Company seizes a chance at glory by being the first to venture ashore at the pepper port of Banten in 1608. Will he unlock the mysterious riches of Java for the English, or die forgotten with a Javanese kris or Portuguese poignard between his ribs? He falls under the spell of a captivating interpreter, Sri, but can only retain both her and his Englishness by inventing a mission from King James to the mysterious great ruler of the interior - Mataram. In Mataram he finds a kingdom poised to decide its destiny - between a rich past of gods and spirits, a sterner Islam and pushy Europeans offering both science and God. For Hodges and Sri, survival alone will be a challenge; reconciling survival and desire with conscience in this baffling spiritual landscape appears impossible.

336 pages, Paperback

Published August 2, 2019

Reviews

[Z · Rating 2 out of 5]

+1 star because Anthony Reid does know about Javanese history. Other than that, this book was not good. Very white male gaze-y and nothing else in terms of characterization or plot to fall back on.

[mahatmanto · Rating 3 out of 5]

baiklah,
ada yang diharap dari seorang sejarawan ketika menulis novel, yakni kisah dari masa lalu itu lebih hidup, lebih kaya, lebih mendekati kenyataan manusiawi. novel ini ditulis dengan alur narasi yang -bagi saya- wagu: tersendat-sendat, dan tiap hal ingin dikomentari, sehingga para karakter tidak hidup. tindakan, keputsan, dan segala aktivitas dalam kisah mereka ini jadi boneka dari penceritanya saja.
saya mengenal tulisan-tulisan pak reids dari sejarah asia tenggara dan seluk-beluk mataram kartasura dan awal surakarta. tapi tidak dalam bentuk novel.
gimana yah...
banyak informasi baru yang saya dapat dari novel ini, tapi kita jadi bingung mau memperlakukan informasi itu: ini beneran sebagai fakta sejarah atau bagian dari imajinasi untuk memperlancar kisah?
mungkin juga karena saya udah males duluan shg belum menyelesaikan membacanya.
hehe...

[Ardian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Setelah saya baca, novel ini mempunyai aspek narasi yang buruk, faktor psikologis, dan drama nya kurang sehingga akan terasa datar jika di baca sampai akhir. Akan tetapi saya menyadari memang category buku ini bukan roman tetapi historical fiction. Yang sejatinya penulis ingin menggambarkan kondisi jawa saat itu, dengan menambahkan bumbu2 fiksi dalam novel ini.
Saya tidak menyarankan membaca buku ini untuk di baca sebagai selingan, tapi perlu menyediakan space untuk berpikir, karena buku ini di tujukan untuk bacaan serius

[Wisnu Yuwandono · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's nice to read a novel which tells about history of my hometown. However, imho the way the author writes the story can't stirr my emotion since it's written plainly. I could barely find a climax moment. The good thing is by reading this book I was actually taught to be open minded and wiser to respond the disputes or even quarrels among religions which have taken place since centuries ago.
Not a bad book, though I can't say it's a great one.

[Omar Beretta · Rating 2 out of 5]

The historical background is there, but the plot is bland. Trying to be supportive of the Javanese, it ends up oversimplifying the culture and patronizing. We need to get over the fetishization of Asian women as seen through the lens of the white colonial male.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

You got the feeling that it's more history than novel, plot is tepid, and there's too much religion. But it's excellent as a survey of life in ancient Java.

[Robert Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fine novel by an expert in South-East Asian history deserves to be widely read. It is set in seventeenth-century Indonesia and traces the gradual growth towards a more complex view of that country of an initially determinedly practical, literal-minded and quintessentially English Protestant sailor, Thomas Hodge. The chief agents of change are the independent-minded Indonesian woman, Sri, with whom he becomes romantically involved and a Catholic priest, Romo, whose imaginative intelligence and long stay in the country have alerted him to the continuities as well as the differences between his adopted country and various religious beliefs, divisions and practices prevalent in his home country. But divisions which might seem to be merely ‘historical’ are implicitly explored as continuous with the kinds of religious divisions present in our own contemporary world so that the novel represents, in many ways, a timely plea for tolerance and for a deeper understanding of the kinds of human needs which religion both expresses and serves. But this is not, as that description might suggest, a drily historical novel of explicit ‘ideas’. It operates, as any good novel should, through the convincing creation of character and setting and a story which always keeps the reader wanting to find out what happens next and moves inevitably towards a deeply resonant conclusion. In other words, this novel fulfils the demands which Joseph Conrad made of his own novels: ‘to make you hear, to make you feel…before all, to make you see’.

[Jean Gelman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book about Java at a time when this Indonesian island was becoming a crossroads for Asian, Muslim and European adventurers and traders. The local population were confronted with new consumer goods, new ideas, and new friends and enemies. The story is set in the 17th century, but the arguments among the many characters about religions, tolerance and fundamentalism, about preserving indigenous identity, and about marriage across cultural boundaries are going on inside Java and many other parts of the world today. A thought-provoking romance by a major historian of Indonesia.

[Fathi Rayyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the seventeenth-century of Java, the historical fiction illustrates how the island was becoming a crossroads for asian and european adventurers and traders with various religious beliefs.

Written by the distinguished historian Anthony Reid, it is an impressive attempt in expressing history in creative fiction “to reach a wider readership”.

It explores contrasts and tensions between and within civilizations, with reflections on what is in Java and what it ought to be.

[Yoga Aditama · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is my personal favorite. The book review was read about 3 years ago back in pandemic covid-19 struck. I read book this month because i get a loan from internet library. overal, this book give a glimpse about living in Mataram when a crossroad of West and East was met. we could see how the interaction happen as the commerce and colonialization taking control. the book hasn't described the location detail but it describes the culture and the interaction vivid.

[Ray Tang · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a great book if you want to know more about theology, ancient Javanese politics and culture but these knowledge was illustrated at the expense of story telling. As a person who loves the aforementioned themes, I do enjoy this book. It is truly a historical fiction.

[Fiqy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well enough, its a jurney.

[Jayne]

Lots of great history, if only there was more plot.

[Aditya Agus s · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have high expectation when took it from the bookshelf. Unfortunately, the book didn’t meet the expectation.

[Wiwit Astari · Rating 4 out of 5]

aku dibuat terkagum-kagum dengan karakter yang ada di buku ini. Secara garis besar buku yang merupakan novel ini bercerita tentang kisah cinta Thomas dari kebangsaan Inggris yang terdampar di Banten dan Sri seorang gadis Indonesia yang berperan sebagai penerjemah Thomas. Hubungan yang tercipta pun menjadi perpaduan budaya yang kaya antara Inggris dan Jawa, belum lagi teman Thomas merupakan keturunan Tionghoa.

Hubungan mereka terhalang oleh budaya juga agama,. Dari sini, aku belajar bagaimana dulu Islam masuk ke Indonesia pada abad 17, bagaimana adat juga politik Jawa pada jaman itu. Pokoknya walau mungkin kisah cinta antara Sri dan Thomas yang paling tersorot, namun budaya, sejarah juga printilan lainnya begitu unik.

[Edith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good history, boy’s own plot

Why does there have to be so much bodice ripping in this novel? I enjoyed the visualisation of early 17th century Java, and the mix of characters, but the love story sounds all too much like the white knight brown princess trope that informs so many western male fantasies about Asia, and really gets in the way.