Book Review: ‘Jendela-jendela’

By Wombat | September 8th, 2006 | 1 Comment »

Fira Basuki, a noted contemporary woman writer in Indonesia, raises our self-confidence through her novel Jendela-jendela, which has gone through 10 reprints since its initial publication in July 2001.

Now, it has been released in an English-language version, The Windows, translated by Norman Ince, an English literature teacher at Jakarta International School.

Jendela-jendela is the first novel of Fira’s trilogy; followed by Pintu (The Door) and Atap (The Roof). Creating titles based on the structures of a house is brilliant and original, while the narrative has a catchy voice and simple tone.

The novel flows easily, with a range of themes drawn from life — politics, Javanese history, adultery and religion, as well as the recent monetary crisis and Soeharto’s fall in 1998 — particularly those that concern young women. Nostalgic, yet with a touch of humor, Fira even includes cooking recipes in her novel.

The novel focuses on the life of June Tshering, a married woman living in Singapore with her Tibetan husband, Jigme. Since Jendela-jendela is written in the first person, readers can easily empathize with June — even on those occasions when she does not think before she acts.

Fira’s light rhythm and plot makes the novel easy to follow and for readers to connect with June through such typical experiences as dealing with an annoying co-worker, having a friend who’s handsome but also a jerk, and being jobless.

June reflects an ordinary, standard life; Jendela-jendela explores life as imperfect.

It seems that June is a reflection of the writer herself; or at the very least, June appears to be based on Fira’s own life journey: Fira and June both studied in Pittsburg, Kansas; they both transferred to Wichita State University; and worked as a radio show presenter in Singapore.

As June, the writer tells the story of life through a woman’s perspective, sharing some of her personal experiences, and it is clear that she knows the magic of simplicity — or perhaps leading a simple life.

The end of Jendela-jendela is not an ending; it is just the beginning of June’s story spanning across the three volumes. Overall, the novel flows smoothly, but at times Fira confuses readers by giving too much information on real facts and issues, and by jumping around too quickly between topics. Additionally, while the focus is only on the main character, June, she introduces a line-up of secondary characters toward the end, again confusing the readers.

Seemingly unfinished because it is one in a series, Jendela-jendela will be unsatisfying unless readers continue on to the next volume, Pintu. The good thing is that the hanging ending makes the focus shift back to the main character from the middle of the book, where it wanders through other issues, like Indonesia’s politics and economics. However, while the surprisingly weird and incomplete ending captures the readers’ attention, it is also slightly anticlimactic.

Fira Basuki is one of the few Indonesian writers to have her novel translated into English.

The English-language version of the novel, The Windows is very precise and clear in its translation, in keeping with the original version. The translation maintains the significance and purpose of the novel, as well as the plot, characterizations and point of view.

However, in English, it becomes plain, and Jendela-jendela has lost its touch as The Windows — a gap that appears when a novel is read in a language other than the original.

Although Fira’s writing can be considered direct when compared to other Indonesian novels, any writing in Bahasa Indonesia tends to be lengthy and descriptive because the language is more indirect, or passive, than English. Thus, nuances and other literary details can be “lost in translation” in the direct, active English language.

In addition, humor is expressed very differently in the two languages; what is funny in Indonesian may not be as funny in English, and vice-versa. While writing humorously is not easy, translating it is even harder, yet Ince has been able to retain the development of humor in The Windows.

The same can be said for romance, and reading the two versions makes it apparent that what is romantic in Bahasa Indonesia can be cheesy in English, and what is passionate in English might seem tasteless to Indonesian readers.
In some places, the translation does not match contextually. For example, “bloody well please” or “telephoned” are not common expressions in American English.

And in a few rare cases, the translation is inaccurate. A hospital named Kandang Kerbau has become Buffalo Garden instead of Buffalo Cage, and the allegory of the hospital — that June feels trapped there — is lost.
Although it goes without saying that Jendela-jendela is better in its original language, The Windows is a solid translation through which those who cannot read Bahasa Indonesia can learn much about Indonesian culture.
Fira Basuki’s blog: firabas.multiply.com/journal

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