Crossroads discussion

I loved the first sentences of Beauty Is a Wound :
One afternoon on a weekend in March, Dewi Ayu rose from her grave after being dead for twenty-one years. A shepherd boy, awakened from his nap under a fangipani tree, peed in his shorts and screamed and his four sheep ran off haphazardly in between stones and wooden grave markers as if a tiger had been thrown into their midst.

It hooked me, letting me know I was in for some great writing and a smidgen of magical realism. This is where some people may either say tell me more or I'm not interested, goodbye. This book introduced me to the Indonesian author, Eka Kurniawan and I will be excited to read more from him. It is a family chronicle and a historical fiction which highlights Indonesian history from shortly before World War II to the present.

The writing is somewhat reminiscent of Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez in One Hundred Years of Solitude, meandering around the story, peaking one's interested and then drifting off to another character. And there are so many interesting characters. It differs from Marquez's style in that the sentences are a reasonable length, but the book is filled with elements of surprise. We have ghosts, obsessions, communism, war and love all wrapped together in an interesting package.

I think this book is a real find and I hope I can convince others to read it, but know it certainly isn't for everyone.

Booknblues wrote: "I loved the first sentences of Beauty Is a Wound :
One afternoon on a weekend in March, Dewi Ayu rose from her grave after being dead for twenty-one years. A shepherd boy, awakened..."

Great beginning -hope to get to it sooner rather than later.

Denizen wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "I loved the first sentences of Beauty Is a Wound :
One afternoon on a weekend in March, Dewi Ayu rose from her grave after being dead for twenty-one years. A she..."

Certainly hooked me. Have spent many years, off and on, in Indo. On order.