Book Review: Amba by Laksmi Pamuntjak

Halo book worm...

I received this book on loan from Titis. She does have a diverse reading experience, and thank you for influencing me to find meaningful reading material. At the time, I was exploring a new genre, so I wanted to borrow any book by a veteran author whose work was best-selling and had historical significance. So that's why this red-covered book ended up in my hands. However, I didn't read it right away. I needed a fairly long break to be able to read it. If I'm not mistaken, it wasn't until the year had changed, and then another, that I finished this novel.

The interest in reading this book is because recently I have been re-watching the Mahabharata series which I used to be very fond of. There is an episode that I have not finished, which is about Bharatayudha. So that's why I finally became more interested in reading this book. Amba is one of the important female characters in the Mahabharata story, so I was curious about how Laksmi Pamuntjak wrote another version of Amba because in the Mahabharata story itself, Amba is not one of the main characters but her role is quite important.

The book "Amba" begins with a 60-year-old woman searching for a man on Buru Island, an island in eastern Indonesia. At a grave, Amba is found covered in blood with another woman named Muka Burung. From there, Amba and her attacker are rushed to the hospital, where she meets Samuel—a young man who will help her find her lover, Bhisma.

Amba and Muka Burung were eventually interrogated by local police. There, Amba recounted her search for Bhisma, a doctor who was also a political prisoner on Buru Island 30 years ago. Someone had informed Amba via email that Bhisma had passed away, prompting Amba to search for him, even if only to find a grave.

Finally, Samuel tells Amba how she and Bhisma became lovers, why she was named Amba, her relationship with Salwa—the young man chosen by her parents—and how she ended up marrying neither of them. Amba's life is vividly captured in Laksmi Pamuntjak's more than 750-page work.

Amba is set in an era where people's freedom fighters were imprisoned. In this story, Amba is not one of them, but she witnesses and hears stories of the regime during that era through Bhisma. This book shares a theme with the novels "Laut Becerita" and "Pulang" by Leila S. Chudori. It's interesting to find another author with a similar writing style. However, the story of political prisoners is only found in Bhisma's letters to Amba.

Amba has also won a literary competition, so I'm even more excited to delve into this story.

I rated this book with 4,5 star from 5 star.

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