Review Left To Tell

Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust

Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee’s family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans.

Saya: Membaca kisah nyata ini, saya merasa ngeri: "bahkan di dunia yang isinya semua berkulit gitam dan berambut keriting pun, masih ada rasisme yang begitu akut."

Saya percaya, rasisme yang terjadi di dunia manapun, adalah pekerjaan iblis...ketika kita rasis, kita menjadi budak iblis...saya takut

"Immaculee masuk universitas. Dia tidak menyangka bisa lolos karena jatah untuk suku Tutsi sangat sedikit. Dia bertemu dan jatuh cinta pada seorang lelaki dari suku Hutu bernama John. Masalahnya sekarang, John Protestan sedangkan Imma Katolik."

"Tuhan menunjukkan jalan pada Immaculee dengan cara belajar bahasa Inggris. Agar nanti bisa dia ceritaka ttg pembantaian Tutsi pd org2 PBB"

Bonnie: Wow! This book is so good. What an amazing woman. The things she endured and the attitude and faith she was able to keep are unbelievable. Definitely a lesson in faith, miracles, God's love, determination, forgiveness and many more. My sister kept telling me to read it, and finally just sent it over to me. I'm so glad she did. Thanks, Deb!

Rachel: Really an excellent read. She is able to describe her experience dealing with the Rwandan holocaust in a physical, spiritual , and emotional way. Despite the serious subject, this book is uplifting. But I don't want to move to Rwanda.

Mandy: How is it that I was a teenager when the Rwandan Holocaust was taking place, and I can't remember it? It was less than 20 years ago! My eyes were opened to the harsh realities of this terrible event. I cried a few times while reading this book. Even though the genocide was terrible and horrifying, this book is more about forgiveness than hate. Immaculee did a wonderful job telling her story of survival and how she came to know God and find peace amidst the Rwandan storm.

Review Novel Stamboel Selebritas

Stamboel Selebritas

by Veven Sp. Wardhana

Stamboel Selebritas tidak hanya memaparkan kehidupan artis, penyanyi, model dan bintang iklan seperti yang ditelanjangi media massa, tapi juga memarodikan dan mengajak kita bercermin. Membaca novel ini, Anda akan makin yakin bahwa hidup ini seringkali lebih edan daripada lakon sandiwara.

Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia 2006

Saya: Pas baca ini buku pd lembaran2 awal, kesanx langsung merasa "sinetron bgt" soalx plesetan2 nama di dalam novel ini "klise" jg...tp cara penulisannya memang unik...

"mengisahkan kemiripan trio DIY: yanthie, omi, dan anne...(mudah sekali menulis buku tanpa digugat org?)"

"artis jual seks bwt dapat peran? yg betul ja ini buku.jd males bacax...ga orisinil.."

Desni: mank seperti membaca sinetron...memandang kehidupan selebriti dari sisi gelapx...

Indah: Seperti lagi baca tabloid gosip, tapi wajar menilik pengalaman veven sp di berbagai tabloid dari Citra, Bintang, dan Monitor.

Tapi lebih seru lagi plesetan nama-nama artis yang lumayan untuk game tebak nama yang diplesetin, like:

Kiki Fatimma Jumila - Kiki Fatmala
Samara Georgine - Tamara Geraldine
Paramasitha Roosyani - Paramitha Rusadi
Rijazuli Mertokavanie - Rizal Mantovani
dan masih banyak lagi, termasuk : Keken Sp Kardhana (hehehe...)

Uci: Awalnya semangat...tapi lama-lama aku bosaaaaan.
Kok jadi kayak baca Jakarta Undercover (yang juga cuma aku liat-liat sekilas tanpa tertarik membaca dengan runut), tapi dengan bahasa yang jauh lebih baik, tentunya.

Review Graphic Novel Age of Bronze 2

Age Of Bronze Volume 2: Sacrifice

by Eric Shanower (Goodreads Author)

While Trojan prince Paris returns to Troy with Helen, the Achaean fleet mistakenly attacks Mysia, then is scattered by a storm. High King Agamemnon gathers the army again, but for the fleet to sail, the gods require the life of Agamemnon's eldest daughter, Iphigenia.

Rr: Eric Shanower is writing and drawing a multi-volume graphic novel epic of the Trojan War. I read the first volume (A Thousand Ships) two years ago, and it's taken me this long to read the second (Sacrifice). I doubt that I'll pick up the third. Shanower has steeped himself in all the variants of all the ancient stories that relate to the Trojan War, and his account has an encyclopedic feel to it. But by choosing to pack so much in, Shanower departs from the spirit of ancient myth and ancient epic, both of which are fairly selective about what they include and highlight in particular instances and what they don't. Such selectivity is, I think, an important part of any artistic rendition of a myth: an author chooses X over Y because X helps him to highlight something in a way that contributes to his portrait of the universe. Of course, Shanower isn't obligated to harmonize with the feel or purpose of ancient myth and epic, but his account packs in so many Xs and Ys and has such an ambitious scope that it's hard to feel that there is a focus, that there's something he's trying to show or demonstrate beyond the events of the narrative. In Shanower's epic, we lose something significant from the ancient literature about the Trojan War, and I'm not sure that we get something substantial in its place.

On a visual level, there are occasionally interesting moments. But I can't tell his characters apart much of the time, and somehow in making his heroes look like "real" men, he makes them less real for me.

Ryan: Continuing the story of the Trojan War. This volume continues to look at the build-up to the war itself; there are some initial skirmishes and conflicts, and we see how close the war comes to not happening, as the fragile alliance between the different groups of Acheans tries to keep itself together.

What's really interesting here is how Showalter depicts the Greek belief in fate. We're dealing with kings and legendary heroes here - the types of people that you would assume would be strong, commanding people - and they're unable to move, or to come to a consensus, without a sign from the fates that their course of action is right, and without confirmation that the gods will be on their side. Often people writing historical stories write them as a reflection of their own society, but Showalter doesn't do that - he's telling the story from a very classical Greek sensibility, which helps to show how well-thought out and researched this story is.

Paul: In this second of seven projected volumes, Shanower continues his top-notch epic of the Trojan War. Considering that the Greeks never even reach Troy at the end of this book, this book could have been slow and plodding. Instead it is utterly absorbing. Put simply, I cannot think of any possible way this comic could be better. Some of the best comics of the past ten years.

George: What can I say? Brilliant! I adore this series which is one of the best things in the world of comics. The writing is superb. The art is consistently good, is sometimes a little scratchy. And the tale is gripping. I have written to Eric Shanower to beg him to keep going for the full course.