Review Saman

Saman

by Ayu Utami

Fragmen dari novel Laila Tak Mampir di New York.

Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia 2005

Saya: Jika orang masih sangsi apakah kisah seperti ini benar2 terjadi... menurut sepengetahuan saya, di Sumatra sana, di kampung2 pinggir hutan, yang tanahnya masing luas2, sampai hari ini masih terjadi perebutan lahan, teror sosial politik, yang tentu saja melibatkan warga miskin pemilik tanah dan orang2 kaya, pengusaha, aparat, dan tukang2 pukul atau kita sebut preman...

**aktivif, mati satu tumbuh seribu... kita lawan mereka. kita lawan borjuasi yg lalim

Nielam: Miris baca kisahnya si Wis, alias Saman.
Tapi lebih suka sejarah2 dan sedikit mistis yang ada di bilangan Fu...yang ini terlalu sosial politik. Not my cup of tea.

Rini: The feeling of excited and "gaib" can be transfered nicely to us. A breakthrough in indonesia's literature. I like when knew that saman has invisible brothers or sisters..cool and made me shivering.

Pera: This book is about an activist story. the end of the story make me feel shivvering.I wonder if this story is real, because so many actvist at ORBA era has dissapeared. This book wants to say that : If you want to be an activist, you must be dare to loose everything

buku ini tentang kehidupan aktivis masa orba. endingnya membuatku bergidik...apakah kisah ini juga memang benar-benar ada?.Membuatku terbayang dengan sekian banyak aktivis yang hilang. buku ini seolah berkata: jika jadi aktivis, bersiaplah untuk kehilangan segalanya.

Ira: 1st book that has Led me to a wilder imagination :) -www.iralennon.blogspot.com

Floe: Jd binun,kpn nge add novel ini ya ? perasaan baru beli deh.... hehehe.......Gara2 bis minum panadol nih... 'Sudah lupa tuh' yg pasti jd beli,gara2 rekomndasi dr qui,jd penasaran pengen baca... Sek yo.... tak baca dulu....

Mina: Tentang Saman, dan persinggungannya dengan 4 sahabat Laila, Cok, Yasmin, dan Shakuntala. Well, tepatnya dengan Yasmin sih. Dengan latar belakang masa Orde Baru lengkap dengan penculikan dan penangkapan para aktivis. Yang berkesan padaku justru kisah cinta Laila dan Sihar yang menyebalkan. Padahal aku gak suka kisah cinta.

Desni: suka bgt sm gaya ceritax yg blak2an...menarik mengikuti kisah 4 cewe bersahabat tp ternyata punya sisi kehidupan yg tersembunyi salut sm saman (mantan romo) yg mw berjuang tuk rakyat kecil...n cintax buat upik...

John: The story of an Indonesian activist told by a young female Javanese expat living in NYC and working for a human rights NGO. The writing is evocative, even sensual at times, and despite some rough edges it manages to paint a very convincing and fairly tragic picture of poor rural Indonesian communities being exploited and killed under the nose of a numb, corrupt state.

Against this setting, Saman, a former priest, stands up for a small community being violently pressured to sign over their lands to a new palm oil plantation. He is then captured, imprisioned and tortured, and manages to escpae. Saman's moral, political and philosophical digressions make for engaging reading, as does his sexual "awakening" later on. Sex, actually, playes a larger role in this novel than I would have suspected, putting in pretty stark relief the intense sexual repression in Indonesian society, particularly the smaller and more rural ones

Lasse: The first book by an indonesian writer I have ever read. I have to admit that I'm still a bit puzzled about the meaning and the symbols in it, but as I kept thinking about it and read more about the reactions this book provoced, I realized that it's a very brave book. Sexuality, religious conflicts, the effects the Transmigrasi policy in the 70s, friendship, love, everything is brought up here. It is both, the story of the main characters of the book and their moving fates and a reflection about Indonesia. I'll definately read it again later in my life because it still captivates me somehow, even though I can't exactly say why. One thing is for sure: It is an interesting story and the discussions this book unleashed make it worth reading