What do you think?
Rate this book
Journeys in Java
186 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
3 people want to read
About the author
Marie Gray
5 books3 followersMarie Gray was born of Irish stock in New Zealand. After nursing training she married a doctor. They lived in Indonesia for twelve years prior to their return to New Zealand.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 27, 2017
I had enjoyed reading the author's first (?) book "Tamu" where she shared memories of living in Bandung in the early 1960s, working at a local missionary hospital.
This book "Journeys in Java" was supposed to be an account of a nostalgic, sentimental journey to Bandung in 2001, with all the disappointments the author had upon seeing the progress of a developing country, losing its charm from a somewhat over-romanticized foreigner's point of view. I could not help being reminded of those pieces written by the Dutch returning to post-independent Indonesia reminiscing the good old (colonial) days.
I particularly liked the description of certain characters like Epon, Abah, and all the wonderful friends the author had in Bandung, but describing with dismay about the traffic, crowded housing area, disappearing rice fields, new apartment buildings, the rising middle class, engagement with new technology... just made me want to say: okay, here's another foreigner who hates big cities (especially Jakarta) and wants to see "the real Indonesia", whatever that means. Just like some of the expat colleagues I had in some of my previous work places.
Yes, the author did travel to Indonesia on "not such a good time" politically and economically (2001), but I would have expected her to do more research on what really happened, and not just base it on hearsay from the people she met. Gus Dur, for example, was portrayed as a Muslim cleric, causing fear to the nation, when in fact Indonesians now recognize him as the only Indonesian president able to embrace religious tolerance more than the others. Megawati may have been seen as a promise at that time by some Indonesians (or was it because the author was a woman, that the author put high hopes on her?), but what happened after she became president? Megawati was no Kartini at all Nor did she really care about the "little people" often mentioned rhetorically in her speeches. I wonder what Epon, Abah and the rest would say about Megawati now in 2016?
Anyway, I do share the author's disillusions about Bandung, which is no longer the cool and chic city which I used to know during my childhood/teenage vacation trips in the 60s-70s. And yes. there is truth in the rise of religious conservatism in Indonesia (including religions other than Islam, which the author did not explore), but I don't think it was necessary to add an appendix on the Bali bombing which had nothing to do with the book. (She could in fact put an appendix on Gus Dur and how the fears mentioned in her book did not happen).
I would recommend reading this book, only with a light heart. It doesn't enlighten you more about Indonesia, or Bandung. To get a deeper understanding of living the expat life in Indonesia in the 1960s, read Tamu, and leave it there.
This book "Journeys in Java" was supposed to be an account of a nostalgic, sentimental journey to Bandung in 2001, with all the disappointments the author had upon seeing the progress of a developing country, losing its charm from a somewhat over-romanticized foreigner's point of view. I could not help being reminded of those pieces written by the Dutch returning to post-independent Indonesia reminiscing the good old (colonial) days.
I particularly liked the description of certain characters like Epon, Abah, and all the wonderful friends the author had in Bandung, but describing with dismay about the traffic, crowded housing area, disappearing rice fields, new apartment buildings, the rising middle class, engagement with new technology... just made me want to say: okay, here's another foreigner who hates big cities (especially Jakarta) and wants to see "the real Indonesia", whatever that means. Just like some of the expat colleagues I had in some of my previous work places.
Yes, the author did travel to Indonesia on "not such a good time" politically and economically (2001), but I would have expected her to do more research on what really happened, and not just base it on hearsay from the people she met. Gus Dur, for example, was portrayed as a Muslim cleric, causing fear to the nation, when in fact Indonesians now recognize him as the only Indonesian president able to embrace religious tolerance more than the others. Megawati may have been seen as a promise at that time by some Indonesians (or was it because the author was a woman, that the author put high hopes on her?), but what happened after she became president? Megawati was no Kartini at all Nor did she really care about the "little people" often mentioned rhetorically in her speeches. I wonder what Epon, Abah and the rest would say about Megawati now in 2016?
Anyway, I do share the author's disillusions about Bandung, which is no longer the cool and chic city which I used to know during my childhood/teenage vacation trips in the 60s-70s. And yes. there is truth in the rise of religious conservatism in Indonesia (including religions other than Islam, which the author did not explore), but I don't think it was necessary to add an appendix on the Bali bombing which had nothing to do with the book. (She could in fact put an appendix on Gus Dur and how the fears mentioned in her book did not happen).
I would recommend reading this book, only with a light heart. It doesn't enlighten you more about Indonesia, or Bandung. To get a deeper understanding of living the expat life in Indonesia in the 1960s, read Tamu, and leave it there.
Displaying 1 of 1 review