Book Roundup #2
Negeri Para Bedebah, Crime and Punishment.
Continuing the trend
In this second edition of Book Roundup, I want to talk about 2 books that I read in the past 8 months (yes, it took that long for me to finish 2 books 😅). The first one is Negeri Para Bedebah by Tere Liye. This is my first ever book that I read which is written by an Indonesian writer. I did this because the last 3 books that I read are all from outside my country, so for the 4th book I decided to read an Indonesian book (Indonesia is my home country). The second book that I read is Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It is known as a classic and it’s everywhere in book recommendations videos or blog posts. And also it is a quite hefty book. So I decided to take on the challenge to read and finish the book (and thank god I successfully able to do it). So here goes my opinions about those two books 🤓.
Negeri Para Bedebah
by Tere Liye
Negeri Para Bedebah or in English it translates to “Bastard’s Country” (correct me if I’m wrong) tells a story about a guy with economic experts and knowledge background named Thomas who at the same time try to manage a fictional economic problem occurred in the world and solving a family company problem. Family aspects play an important role in this story.
I think this book has a great potential, but not able to fulfill it. The background, the characters and the motivations are there, but the execution is lacking. Along the way of the story line, every problems shows up and Thomas needs to face them. But somehow and someway, Thomas is able to handle those problems easily and without struggle. And all those problems that occurred doesn’t have a long last impact either on Thomas or the main story. The conversations between characters sometimes feels too artificial for me, and sometimes the writer will just slip an economic theory or knowledge in one of the conversations and thus making the conversation feels really, really forced.
Overall, I enjoyed some of the parts (especially the setting for the final act of the book) but I think this book is not really for me. It tells a pretty straight forward story and if I am allowed to be harsh, I would say that this book is pretty shallow.
Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Oh boy, oh boy. This is one hefty book. It took 7 months for me to finish it, from April to October. I would say that this is the most challenging book that I have read (considering I have only read 5 books so far 😅). This book tells the story of Raskolnikov, an ex-student who murders two women and then struggle to cope with his emotional and spiritual state because of his actions.
This book really shines in describing the characters’ state of mind. The characters’ state of mind can be confused, delirious, calm, anxious and other type of emotions and all of those are conveyed masterfully into words. This book shows how everybody is different and unique. Everybody has a different purpose, values, meaning and actions and this book is successful conveying that idea.
The character study of Raskolnikov is also very intriguing. The fact that Raskolnikov can be a douche bag of a person and then become a very kind person just shows that external factors can change people’s actions and personality. Sometimes, Raskolnikov will struggle in dealing with all the situations regarding his family or his friend and sometimes Raskolnikov will regain his calmness to assess the situations. I thoroughly enjoy all the conversations and drama through out this book.
“To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.”
— Razumihin in Crime and Punishment.
If there is one weakness about the book, I would say that there are some subplots that I feel are dragged to long. In my opinion, those subplots can be shortened and it will make the experience of reading the book better. The main story of Crime and Punishment is the part that feels really, really good. The conversations, the progression of characters and settings feels well-developed and as a reader it is a very enjoyable ride.
I highly recommend this book if you haven’t read it and want to explore an interesting story about human nature. A reminder though, in the middle of reading this book you will feel overwhelmed because all of the information and plot, but just keep at it because it will pay off eventually.
Final saying
I love doing this thing, reading books and then sharing my opinion about them on the internet. I already have books that I planned to read and I surely will continue doing this Book Roundup. Reading is fun y’all!
