Book Recommendations
The Year of Living Dangerously
By Christopher Koch
Fiction, Historical, General, Political, War & Military, Psychological, Thrillers, Suspense | 336 pages
1 recommendation
Jakarta, 1965. Waiting for explosions, the city smells of frangipani, kretek cigarettes, and fear. It is THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY.
the charismatic god-king Sukarno has brought Indonesia to the edge of chaos - to an abortive revolution that will leave half a million dead. For the Western correspondents here, this gathering apocalypse is their story and their drug, while the sufferings of the Indonesian people are scarcely real: a shadow play. Working at the eye of the storm are television correspondent Guy Hamilton and his eccentric dwarf cameraman Billy Kwan. In Kwan's secret fantasy life, both Sukarno and Hamilton are heroes. But his heroes betray him, and Billy is driven to desperate action. As the Indonesian shadow play erupts into terrible reality, a complex personal tragedy of love, obsession and betrayal comes to its climax. 'A profound and beautiful book' - Les Murray, the Sydney Morning Herald 'A richly and fully realised work of fiction, well conceived and beautifully executed.' - Larry McMurtry 'Intelligent, compassionate, flavoursome, convincing ... In Billy Kwan, Mr Koch has created one of the most memorable characters of recent fiction. this book is to be prized.' - the times Literary Supplement
the charismatic god-king Sukarno has brought Indonesia to the edge of chaos - to an abortive revolution that will leave half a million dead. For the Western correspondents here, this gathering apocalypse is their story and their drug, while the sufferings of the Indonesian people are scarcely real: a shadow play. Working at the eye of the storm are television correspondent Guy Hamilton and his eccentric dwarf cameraman Billy Kwan. In Kwan's secret fantasy life, both Sukarno and Hamilton are heroes. But his heroes betray him, and Billy is driven to desperate action. As the Indonesian shadow play erupts into terrible reality, a complex personal tragedy of love, obsession and betrayal comes to its climax. 'A profound and beautiful book' - Les Murray, the Sydney Morning Herald 'A richly and fully realised work of fiction, well conceived and beautifully executed.' - Larry McMurtry 'Intelligent, compassionate, flavoursome, convincing ... In Billy Kwan, Mr Koch has created one of the most memorable characters of recent fiction. this book is to be prized.' - the times Literary Supplement
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Patricia Taylor
"This is a novel set in Jakarta in 1965. It is based on true events, leading to an attempted coup by the Communist Party of Indonesia. An Australian journalist is assigned to Jakarta, and the novel focuses on his relationships with a Chinese -Australian photojournalist with dwarfism and a British diplomat. The plot is full of twists and turns, but also includes elements of Indonesian culture. It mentions lots of real locations in Indonesia, including the Hotel Indonesia in Jakarta, where the foreign journalists stay. It was made into a film in 1982, starring Mel Gibson. It was actually banned in Indonesia when I travelled there in 1995, but I understand that the ban was lifted a few years later. It is a great introduction to Indonesia's recent history and certainly inspired me to visit several of the locations mentioned in the book."
