Jalan Jalan: A Novel of Indonesia

 Jalan Jalan: A Novel of Indonesia

Reviewed By  Ian Banks       February 22, 2016

 

Author  Mike Stoner

Distributor:      Simon And Schuster
ISBN:                 9780804846295
Publisher:         Tuttle Publishing
Release Date:   January 2016  

Website:    http://www.simonandschuster.com.au 

Harper Gregory Wells otherwise referred to as ‘Newbie’ takes a job as an English teacher in Indonesia without really knowing, or understanding anything about it all. He is running away from life, grief, and desperately trying to make a fresh start in a land where he thinks anything goes.

But as he learns more about love, life and grieving he begins to realise there is more to Indonesia than sex, drugs and rock and roll!

Raw, confrontational and aimed directly at anyone who has decided to take a hike from life, hide out for a while and reinvent who you are in another culture, it lays bare the vulnerability of the human psyche.

As Newbie begins to come to terms about where his rash move has left him, he moves into the all too common lifestyle of the young and new to the Indonesian sub-culture; booze, drugs, sex and party! But as time passes he begins to rebuild his life. His coming to accept that his girl-friend Laura is dead and this was the catalyst that has forced him to take a serious look at his life, is an interesting journey into what lies inside each of us, as we struggle to deal with the unthinkable, which so often happens in real life.

The rawness of grief, the disbelief, the longing, the regret is all laid out for inspection. The rush into the drugs, the reflection of where this is leading and the reality of acceptance and restructure make an interesting if uncomfortable read.

Not for the fainthearted, this will take you on a journey which will be hard to forget, will hit deep and will, providing you enjoy this hard hitting style of writing, keep you entertained to the last page as you struggle, with Newbie, to discover just what life is really all about.

As they say ‘Jalan-Jalan’, just taking a walk – through life!

Fiction