T

he article, “The continuing literary adventures’’ in relation to Andrea Hirata, the author of Indonesia’s best seller Laskar Pelangi (The Rainbow Troops) published in The Jakarta Post on March 17, instantly takes the reader into the blissful world of Belitung Island where the air is filled with love, care, determination and sacrifice.

Andrea Hirata is no longer only a local name. He has got his share of well-deserved limelight across the world. I can proudly say that I have read his debut novel, The Rainbow Troops, which shattered national sales records, making him the bestselling author in Indonesia.

The love for learning and unimaginable passion for teaching shown in the novel can be a source of great inspiration for today’s education system.

Andrea Hirata beautifully shows the daily fight between the hardships and determination of the poor children of Belitung Island who are bent upon defeating every obstacle that comes their way to acquire an education.

The 10 heroes of Laskar Pelangi teach all of us one lesson-when life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile.

They teach us the true essence of life and living where they enjoy gifts of nature and sacrifice everything for the happiness of friends and family.

There is no doubt that when Andrea Hirata started writing Laskar Pelangi his brain must have shifted from head to heart, that is how we got a novel with true, raw emotions and magical natural beauty.

Andrea’s amazing childhood story touched everyone to the core of their being and it resulted in an increase in tourists visiting his island home, Belitung, by at least 1,500 percent.

It is a proud moment for Indonesia that Laskar Pelangi is currently “Book of the Month” at Random House in Australia and New Zealand. Andrea Hirata has not only given a beautiful literary work to the world but he has also given the world a glimpse of incredible Indonesia through his novel.

The success story of Andrea Hirata will always be incomplete without special mention of Kathleen Anderson, who he says discovered him.

Tom Keneally, one of the foremost authors of Australia and upon whose book Steven Speilberg’s film Schindler’s List was based stole the words from my mouth when he said that he was fascinated by Andrea’s capacity to write such a work and he said Andrea came from an unspoiled background of Indonesia.

If Laskar Pelangi was a cake then the recipe of this cake was kept very simple by the author so that it can be understood by young and old, the flavor he chose is universally loved — childhood, that is the reason the novel is selling like hot cakes.

In the end I would like to share the great words of wisdom which came direct from the horse’s mouth when he encouraged budding writers to be simple in writing and not to dazzle people with style and vocabulary, a great formula for success indeed.

Indu Nandal
Purwakarta, West java