Title: The Book of Imaginary Beliefs
Author: Lala Bohang
Text and illustrations; Lala Bohang
Book Design: Yan Mursid, Eneng
Editing: Siska Yuanita
Publisher: PT. Gramedia Pustaka Utama
Print: third, 2019
Genre: Fiction
Language: English
ISBN: 978 602 06 2312 2
Earth is a battle ground where all species constantly face an invisible war. And we’re the main actor of growth, destruction, and peace. Someone’s precious is someone else’s garbage. Someone’s interest is someone else’s boredom. Someone’s principle is someone else’s violation. Someone’s contentment is someone else’s pressure. Someone’s recipe for immunity is someone else’s cause of death. Either you’re the “someone” or the “someone else”, it doesn’t matter because confusion will always bounce back to you. It’s about facing an empty page each day, it’s about waking up in the morning deciding to be alive. It’s about crafting a self that’s truly your own, it’s about faking a smile to cure the pain of others. It’s about looking at the blue sky and having small talks with it, it’s about everything that feels small and unworthy. It’s about counting your breath. _ Blurb
The Book of Imaginary Belief is the third or final book in Lala Bohang's The Book Of Siblings series. His two previous books are The Book of Forbidden Feelings which was published in 2016, and The Book of Invisible Questions which was published in 2017. Just like the second book before him, The Book of Imaginary Beliefs is also a collection of lyrical poems. which includes abstract illustrations of the author's work.
In Indonesia, illustration books are in high demand. But, what makes a book by Lala Bohang never empty of reading enthusiasts?
The Book of Siblings is a collection of lyrical prose inspired by life events. Lyrical prose is an essay that is not bound by rhythm and rhyme. Lyrical prose belongs to a new kind of case.
Before I knew about the author Lala Bohang, I really thought that The Book of Imaginary Beliefs was not a work of fiction. After she answered in her interview at the launch of the book, she replied that the Books of Imaginary Beliefs is poetry and its content is fiction.
However, Lala Bohang is really very good at concocting the prose in The Book of Imaginary Beliefs into something real and very close to the reader's life. Many of Lala Bohang's lyrical prose in The Book of Imaginary Beliefs relate to the lives of readers.
Reading the blurb I wrote above, makes people agree with what Lala Bohang wrote. Life is always about a point of view and how we react to it. Lala Bohang also invites us to think about reality and be grateful. As readers, sometimes we are "someone", sometimes we are "someone else".
The girl with the striped shirt is a consistent form of Lala Bohang in the depiction of the character. Lala Bohang is also a girl with short hair and likes t-shirts with stripes. The impression of living characters in Lala Bohang's abstract illustrations in The Book of Imaginary Beliefs and other members of the book of siblings makes her works strong and alive in the hearts of readers.
"People who cry alone in a packed restaurant are the bravest people"
in the middle of page 61-62
LOL. This happened to me.
I suddenly asked, am I really bravest? It happened at the 2015 New Year celebration. I purposely brought a small cake and a small candle. I went up to the BloK M Square food court in South Jakarta. Next to the Food Court and the cinema with a very long queue, I wanted to spend the day watching a movie at the cinema, but, after looking at the list of films that were going to be screened, I didn't think there were any good ones, so I chose to sit alone in a chair at one of the restaurants. I just ordered a drink. Lemonade. I opened the cake I had brought but didn't light the candles. My intention, today is not to celebrate the new year, but to celebrate releasing someone I've waited for nine years. This is enough, I thought. He's doesn't see me nor does he return my love for him. So, I decided to take it off.
That happened?
I cry like a dumped woman!
Alone. At the restaurant. I was embarrassed because people sitting around me started to see me sitting alone and crying. Rather than thinking I'm strong, of course I feel really stupid.
Until I met Lala Bohang's book.
Am I the strongest woman?
When we repeat something over and over again, it strangely becomes a part of ourselves even when we understand anything about it
In the Psychological Struggle section the reader will find a piece of that sentence in the middle of an abstract illustration with the words enough scattered randomly over a hundred. This article is clarified with skill to learn: how to not become a fanatic.
Yes! Enough!
As an Architecture graduate from Parahyangan University, Bandung, it's only natural that Lala Bohang's illustrations never disappoint. This writer from Makassar has also participated in many painting exhibitions.
The Book of Imaginary Beliefs is a good read to spend in one sitting. Light and meaningful.
All pictures were taken with Oppo Reno 5F
Hi, I am the child of the universe, I like to read books with various genres. I was born in the city of batik but can't draw batik yet. I want to be a novelist, but my works are only short poems that are included in anthology books.
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