Indonesia – to paraphrase Tom Hanks in his Oscar-winning turn as the title character of the beloved 1994 film Forrest Gump – “is like a box of chocolates. You’ll never know what you’re going to get.” That premise rang true for the Indonesian and foreign authors whose books on Indonesia were published in 2022, as they drew different forms of inspiration from Indonesia and its people for their fiction and nonfiction, respectively. 

Fiction

‘Heartbreak Motel’ by Ika Natassa (Gramedia)

For many people, work provides a reprieve from life’s problems and issues, not unlike substances or getting away by traveling or getting together with others. Writer Ika Natassa explored this escapism with Heartbreak Hotel, published in April. Told in the first-person narrative of method actress Ava Alessandra, the novel explores the problems that ensue when those issues hit a place one regards as a comfort zone.

A bestselling writer whose works included A Very Yuppy Wedding (2007), Antologi Rasa (2011) and Critical Eleven (2015), Ika’s use of a method actress who goes in and out of character and gains fame and fortune by doing so is telling, as the character asks the question that dogs us all through life, namely who are we? Regardless of whether this point hits home or not, what is certain is that the themes and plot twists of Heartbreak Motel make food for thought and the soul.

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