The Bibliophilism

[Friday Finds]: July 4

FRIDAY FINDS is a weekly meme originally hosted by Should Be Reading. It showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased).

So, come on — share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

My Finds:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Scouting for the Reaper by Jacob M. Appel

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

She by H. Rider Haggard

[Ulasan Buku]: The Girls of Riyadh oleh Rajaa Al Sanea

This post is in Indonesian. If you would like to read it in English, please click here.

Judul Buku: The Girls of Riyadh

Penulis: Rajaa Al Sanea

Penerbit: Ufuk Publishing House

Sumber: Pribadi

Kategori: Fiksi

Tahun: 2005

Penerjemah: Syahid Widi Nugroho

Tebal: 406 halaman

ISBN: 9791238564

Cek buku ini di Goodreads.

Rating pribadi: 3.0 dari 5.0

Deskripsi dari Sampul Buku:

Versi asli buku ini diluncurkan dalam bahasa Arab pada 2005, dan secepatnya dilarang beredar di Saudi Arabia karena isinya yang menghebohkan. Keberanian buku ini berlanjut bak nyala api di seantero pasar gelap Saudi dan menggemparkan hingga ke belahan Timur-Tengah lainnya. Hingga kini, hak terjemahan atas buku ini telah terjual ke lebih dari dua puluh lima negara.

Setiap minggu-setelah salat Jumat-seseorang tak dikenal mengirimkan email bersambung kepada para wanita yang melakukan chatting di sebuah grup online di Saudi Arabia. Terdapat lima puluh email dalam setahun. Isinya menghebohkan, kisah nyata kehidupan empat gadis Riyadh: Qamrah, Michelle, Shedim, dan Lumeis. Terlalu banyak hal yang mengejutkan hingga Anda harus membaca isi buku ini untuk mengetahuinya...

Almarhum Ghazi Al Gosaibi, mantan Menteri Tenaga Kerja Arab Saudi, mengisi prolog untuk buku ini. Beliau menggambarkan bagaimana kisah-kisah yang dibawakan oleh penulis memberi dampak pada berbagai kalangan di negara tersebut. Dalam sekejap, gelombang revolusi pemikiran menyebar, mengundang perdebatan dan spekulasi lebih lanjut terhadap topik sensitif yang diangkat Rajaa Al Sanea ke permukaan masyarakat yang pada saat itu dikenal dengan pemikiran tradisionalnya.

Buku ini ditulis dalam format kumpulan surat elektronik yang dikirim oleh sang penulis ke alamat-alamat e-mail dalam domain Saudi Arabia yang bisa ia temukan. Kisah percintaan empat tokoh utama menjadi pokok bahasan yang disajikan. Mulai dari Qamrah, yang menjadi pertama menuju pelaminan diantara empat sahabat tersebut. Qamrah menikah dengan Rasyid, lelaki yang dijodohkan dengannya oleh kedua orangtua mereka, dengan hanya beberapa kali pertemuan sebelum peresmian ikatan tersebut. Pada awalnya, Qamrah berpikir pernikahan mereka akan baik-baik saja, setelah Rasyid memutuskan untuk memboyongnya pindah ke Amerika Serikat untuk menyelesaikan pendidikan pemuda tersebut. Semuanya berubah setelah mereka menetap di negara tersebut.

Shedim menerima lamaran dari Walid, putra seorang saudagar sukses di Saudi, dan ia jatuh hati kepada pemuda tersebut dalam sekejap. Hubungan mereka berjalan lancar dan tanggal pernikahan pun telah ditentukan. Ini membuat mereka memutuskan untuk membawa hubungan mereka ke tahap yang lebih intim. Tetapi pada suatu hari, Walid memutuskan segala kontak dengan Shedim, mengubah dunianya yang tadinya gemerlap menjadi gelap gulita.

Hidup dalam keluarga multikultur, dimana ayahnya berasal dari Saudi dan ibunya dari Amerika, Michelle terbiasa dengan pemikiran liberalis barat dan seringkali tidak mengerti akan tradisi di Saudi yang ia pandang terlalu mengekang. Ia kemudian bertemu dengan seorang pemuda bernama Faishal dan hubungan mereka pun berlanjut. Faishal yang sangat jatuh hati kepada Michelle pun meminta izin kepada orangtuanya untuk mengajukan lamaran terhadap gadis tersebut. Tetapi kisah cinta mereka menemukan halangan ketika orangtua Faishal tidak menyetujui silsilah keluarga Michelle.

Sementara Lumeis berkenalan dengan Ali, saudara kandung salah satu sahabatnya, Fatimah, dan kakak kelasnya di jurusan kedokteran. Pemuda tersebut membimbing Lumeis dengan bahan-bahan perkuliahan dalam beberapa kesempatan. Hubungan keduanya berlanjut dengan bantuan Fatimah. Saat Lumeis dan Ali berkencan disalah satu kedai, sekelompok polisi syariat mendatangi dan menuduh mereka telah melakukan 'pelanggaran berpacaran'.

Saya membeli buku ini enam tahun lalu dan baru membacanya baru-baru ini. Ini adalah salah satu kebiasaan jelek saya; membeli, menimbun buku dan baru membacanya bertahun-tahun kemudian xD

Saya tertarik dengan tema feminisme yang diangkat saat membaca deskripsi dari sampul buku ini, secara saya mengambil konsentrasi ilmu hubungan internasional di bangku kuliah. Pengungkapan bahwa buku ini sempat menggemparkan negara-negara di kawasan Timur Tengah juga membuat saya penasaran untuk membaca lebih lanjut.

Dari segi tema cerita, saya sangat menyukai buku ini, karena penulis berani mempertaruhkan keamanannya sendiri demi memaparkan apa yang terjadi dan mencoba mencetuskan revolusi pemikiran baru di negara tersebut. Mulai dari pandangan pada saat itu bahwa seorang perempuan harus menikah sebelum berumur dua puluh tahun. Hal ini yang menurut saya berkontribusi kepada keputusan singkat untuk menikah yang dibuat Qamrah dan ia sesali dikemudian hari, dan pandangan bahwa masyarakat harus ikut campur dalam setiap hubungan yang dibina para pasangan.

Meskipun tema yang diangkat sangat menarik, tetapi menurut saya cerita ini tidak bisa disebut sebagai sebuah novel, jika dilihat dari format yang dibuat penulis. Seperti yang telah disebutkan diatas, buku ini adalah kumpulan surat-surat elektronik yang dikirim penulis ke berbagai alamat email. Hal ini mengakibatkan gaya penyampaian cerita menjadi sedikit aneh.

Banyak terdapat diksi yang digunakan secara tidak tepat oleh penerjemah, yang membuat saya kadang-kadang mengerutkan kening selama membaca. Karena ini adalah buku terjemahan dari bahasa Arab, penerjemah berusaha menyesuaikan istilah-istilah yang ada ke dalam bahasa Indonesia. Tetapi menurut saya, tidak segala hal harus disesuaikan, seperti misalnya nama-nama karakter. Dalam versi orisinil, nama asli keempat karakter adalah Gamrah, Michelle, Sadeem dan Lamees. Lebih baik jika dituliskan sebagaimana adanya. Coba bayangkan jika penerjemah Harry Potter menyesuaikan nama sang penyihir muda menjadi "Heri Potter"? Saya tidak bisa membayangkannya o_o

Ada satu hal yang membuat saya kecewa kepada penerbit Ufuk Publishing House. Beberapa halaman dalam buku hilang (dari halaman 49 sampai halaman 64), sehingga ada beberapa cerita yang saya tidak mengerti. Padahal menurut saya, halaman-halaman yang hilang tersebut sangat esensial dalam membantu saya mengerti cerita secara kesuluruhan. Penerbit memang mencantumkan dibagian belakang buku bagi para pembaca untuk menghubungi mereka jika ada halaman hilang dan akan menggantinya dengan yang baru. Tetapi saya telah menghubungi mereka beberapa kali dan tidak ada jawaban. Website resmi yang tertulis dibuku pun telah tidak aktif. Jadi saya sarankan jika Anda ingin membeli buku ini, minta pihak toko buku untuk membuka segel dan mengecek kelengkapan halaman buku agar proses membaca Anda nanti tidak terganggu :)

Oh ya, satu lagi, judul asli dari buku ini sebenarnya adalah Girls of Riyadh, tanpa ada 'The' didepannya. Jika penerjemah tidak ingin menyesuaikan judul ke dalam bahasa Indonesia, ia seharusnya tidak menambahi determiner tersebut. Secara keseluruhan, buku ini layak untuk dibaca bagi mereka yang tertarik dengan budaya di Arab Saudi.

Tentang penulis:

Rajaa Al Sanea lahir dan besar di Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Kini usianya 33 tahun. Dia lulus dari King Saud University dan menyandang gelar Dokter Gigi. Ketertarikannya pada dunia membaca dan menulis mendorongnya untuk membukukan pengalaman nyata teman-teman perempuannya di Riyadh. The Girls of Riyadh adalah karya perdananya dan langsung membuat namanya menjadi buah bibir diberbagai forum internet di dunia.

[WWW Wednesdays]: July 2

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme originally hosted by Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

My answers:

What are you currently reading?

I'm reading The Alchemyst (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel) and I'm still stuck on page 42, since I spend a lot of time in front of the computer, designing this blog. Therefore I can't give any recommendation about this book yet. I need to push myself more then and get back to books!

What did you recently finish reading?
I finished The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern last Friday! Isn't the cover pretty? ;) Will be reviewing on this book as soon as I can.

What do you think you’ll read next?
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens! I especially awarded myself by this book for finishing last semester smoothly. Can't wait to read it even though I know the vocabulary will give me a hard time lol

[Book Review]: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

Image Source: Goodreads

Book Title: The Cuckoo's Calling

Author: Robert Galbraith

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Available Format: Hardcover Book, Electronic Book, Trade Paperback, Audiobook

Source: Purchased

Genre: Crime Fiction

Year: 2013

Page Count: 455

ISBN: 9780316206846

Find it at: Hachette Book Group / Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Price: USD26.00 / IDR99,000 (Indonesian version)

Warning: Contains some vulgarity and some sensual scenes.

Add to your Goodreads shelf.

My rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

Goodreads' Blurb:

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

Why were you born when the snow was falling?
You should have come to the cuckoo’s calling,
Or when grapes are green in the cluster,
Or, at least, when lithe swallows muster
For their far off flying
From summer dying.

Why did you die when the lambs were cropping?
You should have died at the apples’ dropping,
When the grasshopper comes to trouble,
And the wheat-fields are sodden stubble,
And all winds go sighing
For sweet things dying.

The novel is opened with an epigraph from Christina Rossetti's poem, "A Dirge". With a desperate request from John Bristow, Strike begins his investigation on Lula Landry's death. There are several people whom Strike holds interviews; starts from those who were at the same apartment building on the day Lula died, her friends and families. Strike gets help from his temporary secretary, Robin Ellacott, who proves her capability throughout the investigation.

Almost the whole story is described through from Strike's perspective, with occasionally Ellacott's shows up. The novel is split into seven parts (including prologue and epilogue). Very little is known about Strike's past, even though there are some inside story of his previous romantic relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Charlotte.

Galbraith brings the readers to Strike's enigmatic journey to find the truth that despite the sparkling and posh life of a supermodel, there is always a price to pay. The Bristow family's dark riddle, a long lost step-brother, the Bestiguis' hidden secret, and others are the key for Strike to reveal the enigma.

I have to admit that I read this book merely because of J.K. Rowling (after I found out that Robert Galbraith is her pseudonym). I have been a die-hard fan of Harry Potter and I also have read her other novel, The Casual Vacancy before. If it weren't for her, I doubt I would buy it, since crime fiction is not my favorite genre. Due to some vulgarity and some sensual scenes in the book, I recommend it only for young adult and adult readers.

The first edition cover.

Click the picture to visit the original source.

I bought this book via Indonesian book online shop and apparently they ran out of the first-edition cover. Since I was desperately wanting to get the book, I had to satisfy with the other cover, where it shows a woman facing whole lot of paps, which is not too attractive.

What I love the most about the novel is the use of common diction for the entirety of the content. At first, I thought that the author would choose more complicated words that it would give me a headache, but it was proven wrong. The author also makes the distinction for every character's dialect and peculiar articulation of sentences whenever it's needed.

I need to give applause too for Ms. Rowling for ensuring me that she has taken down any writing similarity with Harry Potter. The plot flows lightly, matching the logic of the story, which enables me to get it into my imagination and keep guessing about everything too. Strike's effort in investigating the whole case is enough to support the revelation at the ending.

The most interesting character for me is Rochelle Onifade. Many of the characters, even Strike, wonder why such Goddess like Landry befriended a hobo like Onifade. But I think, Landry found a lot of similarity between Onifade and her biological mother, and it made her want to help Onifade.

I personally believe that the four stars I have given, is appropriate for this novel. Ms. Rowling is not too disappointing on her first attempt in this kind of genre. Even though the story is a bit boring for the most part of the novel, but it goes more thrilling nearing the end.

Image Source: Goodreads

Wikipedia revealed that this book received a lot of positive reviews from the medias. The second installment for the Cormoran Strike's series, The Silkworm, has already been released on 19 June and you can read a two-chapters extract here. I already ordered it online and can't wait for the book to come :)

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Unhappy is he whose fame makes his misfortunes famous.”

“The dead could only speak through the mouths of those left behind, and through the signs they left scattered behind them.”

“When you are young, and beautiful, you can be very cruel.”

Some trivias about the book:

When the novel was released to the public, Little Brown had described the author as a former plainclothes Royal Military Police investigator who had left in 2003 to work in the civilian security industry.
Sunday Times novelist and columnist, India Knight, notified Richard Brooks, her colleague to begin his own investigation about the newly author, Robert Galbraith. After discovering that Rowling and Galbraith had the same agent and editor, Brooks sent the books for linguistic analysis which found similarities, and subsequently contacted Rowling's agent who confirmed it was Rowling's pseudonym. Within days of Rowling being revealed as the author, sales of the book rose by 4000%.

[Teaser Tuesdays]: July 1

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:

click the picture to visit the original source

"When Hekate had finished speaking with Flamel, she had turned and disappeared into the woods without saying a word to them, and it had been left to Flamel to bring them to the goddess's home. Instructing them to leave the car, he led them down a narrow winding pathway that cut through the overgrown woods."

~p. 124, "The Alchemyst (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)" by Michael Scott.

[Musing Mondays]: June 30

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme originally hosted by Should Be Reading, where one is asked to muse about one of the following each week:

• Describe one of your reading habits.

• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).

• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!

• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!

• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

Since I just set up this blog, this will be my very first meme. I decide to do it sequentially per week starting from the first one: the reading habits challenge.

When I can't concentrate well on reading (it can be caused by rackety surrounding), I usually move my lips or mumble through the texts.