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Beauty Is a Wound
Beauty Is a Wound
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Across generations, the beautiful Indo prostitute Dewi Ayu, her daughters, and her grandchildren are beset by incest, murder, bestiality, rape, and the often fiercely vengeful undead.
Kurniawan mixes tender lyricism and gleefully grotesque hyperbole to offer entertainment of a rare order as well as a scathing critique of his young nation’s troubled past: the rapacious offhand greed of colonialism; the chaotic struggle for independence; the 1965 mass murders of perhaps a million “communists,” followed by three decades of Suharto’s despotic rule.
Drawing on local sources—folk tales and the all-night shadow-puppet plays, with their bawdy wit and epic scope—and inspired by Melville and Gogol, Kurniawan’s distinctive West Javanese voice brings something luscious yet astringent to literature today. Beauty Is a Wound is a prime example of the bravura resilience of art in Indonesia, blossoming after the fall of Suharto.
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A note on book covers: while we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.
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One Line Summary
Atmospheric Indonesian epic blending folklore and history.
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Who is this book for?
If you're looking for a book that combines lyrical storytelling with a powerful critique of history, this novel might just sweep you away. It’s a daring tapestry of family saga, supernatural elements, and social commentary that captures Indonesia's complex past with both tenderness and vivid grotesqueness. Fans of culturally rich narratives that challenge and entertain will find this a compelling read.