Andrea Hirata

Have you ever been swept away by series of words written together making number of paragraphs which then turned into chapters that made up a book. Well, I have. And it is very recent. These past two weeks have seen me making faces out of emotions I have gained by reading the master pieces by Andrea Hirata. A sudden phenomenon from Indonesia who has rocked the world of literature in his homeland and beyond. Not one but three of his books have made me captivated and kept me awake throughout my journey to work and back. All at once and right there, that very ride in that very train is an event I can’t wait when woke up in the morning and when rushing out of the office in the afternoon. If you were paying attention to me, (well, it might happen that there is one or two person actually been checking me out), you can actually saw a smile, a smirk, holding back tears, touched and many more emotions written all over my face, and it was due to the magical work of Andrea Hirata. Okay, coming from me who seldom read Malaysian’s authors work in Bahasa Melayu, and if I ever read them, I tend to browse through very fast only to know what’s the ending right there and then, no thrill whatsoever, I may exaggerate the work of Andrea, but he did and boy! did he take me in his shoes, look at things from his perspective, and dream the same dream he has. He certainly inspired me to be in love again with what I always have such passion in; writing (at least at my own level of literalism), art, people, culture and dream, dream away…


Laskar Pelangi
Although I am glad to that God give me an average urban life from childhood till now, reading Laskar Pelangi assured me that I will appreciate everything any kampung life gave me. People living near paddy field will laugh at how outsiders be amazed by such view, but if I happened to be those people living in that very vicinity, among the mountain, or by the sea, I would want to be like Laskar Pelangi who appreciates the beautiful life of their own village, their own native soil. With the opportunity given, I would surely hope I strive the hardest and be that very one from the kampung to enroll in Oxford pursuing one knowledge to another. It was so inspiring.


Sang Pemimpi
Like The Alchemist, in this book, Ikal gave me hope that anything can happen if we were determined to ensure dreams do come true, and as cheesy as it sounds, it does come true to them in the most sweetest memories one can ever experienced. And with the Dad Ikal has? I will kill to have one just like Pak Seman. The friendship and devotion showed by Arai made me craved for one soul I can always depend on for anything and everything. Though the love towards someone is portrayed beyond leniency and full of compassion, it is indeed and I won’t mind to have it in my world one day. I will always and never want to stop dreaming.


Edensor
The world of Europe and its surroundings never sound closer like Andrea presented in this book, he made it more beautiful, made it more desirable to travel. He reminded me the sweetness of the first love, of highest ecstacy in reaching the dreams and in the end, closing it with such gratifications towards faith and pure satisfaction one will ever savored. Oh and I hope one day I will, travel around the world.

Those two books were the best buy I got from Jakarta (one being already bought earlier), now I can't wait for Maryamah Karpov. And yes, Andrea Hirata will be that other person in my list of people I want to meet. Among Oprah and Sarah Jessica Parker. Hehe.. ahh.. mabuk kepayang aku...