Friday, August 9, 2013

Beginning ~ with Adam hiding

Map of the Invisible World ~ by Tash Aw, 2010, fiction (Indonesia)
"When it finally happened, there was no violence, hardly any drama.  It was over very quickly, and then Adam found himself alone once more.  Hiding in the deep shade of the bushes, this is what he saw."
Those opening lines make me wonder what it was that he saw.  The next paragraph tells me he saw soldiers, but they were "just kids, Adam thought, just like me, only with guns."  So Adam was hiding, children are soldiers (but not playing), and Adam was hiding.  Why?  What's going on?  When I got this book from the library, I gave this summary:
This novel evokes an exotic yet turbulent place and time — 1960s Indonesia during President Sukarno’s drive to purge the country of its colonial past.  The story follows the journeys of two brothers and an American woman who are indelibly marked by the past — and swept up in the tides of history.


Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays. Click here for today's Mister Linky.

1 comment:

Helen's Book Blog said...

This one sounds good and like it has intrigue from the very start! I like that it's set outside the US as well, as you know, that is a big draw for me. Alas, this summer my reading has gone very slowly.