Map of the Invisible World: A Novel (utgåvan 2009)

"Because to be ignorant of one's true history is to live in a void. It's as if you're floating aimlessly in the sea, being dragged every which way by currents and waves. You get pulled underwater: there's nothing there. No people, no trees, no air to breathe. It's another world, a place your body occupies but where you don't really exist. So what's the problem? You ask. You're here, aren't you? As long as you're not dead, it's OK. Well, look around you, look at those babies sitting by the road, staring into space. Life has just begun for them, and already it is empty. Is that really better than death? Do you think they're poor but happy?"

This book is set mainly in the tumultuous independence period of the 1960s for Indonesia and we are given glimpses of Malaysia as well. We follow the trajectory of the orphan Adam who is adopted by a Dutchman Karl, who is captured by soldiers when the country is attempting to rid itself of any vestiges of its violent colonial past. Adam is a boy who marooned with little knowledge of who he really is, not just due to being an orphan with little knowledge of his biological parents, but also because his memories in the orphanage have been lost due to trauma. One particular person he struggles to remember is his beloved brother Johan, who had been adopted into a family in Malaysia.

The book deals in part with Konfrantasi, when there was a call for Malaysia to be "returned" to Indonesia in a kind of nationalistic fervour. What's interesting to me is to actually look to the characters of Adam and Johan as representations of these two countries. Adam is facing an identity crisis, is being sought after to do the violent work of revolutionaries who want to bomb buildings, who is trying to convince him of their own ideologies through shame & guilt, & Johan himself is riddled with guilt for leaving his brother alone & even as he is surrounded by wealth, does not feel at peace.

Ce livre mêle deux histoire en alternance et pratiquement en parallèle. Adam cherche à la fois son frère et son père mais sa recherche se fait de manière totalement parallèle et surtout très différemment.

Pour son père, Adam a une attitude active ou pseudo-active. Il va trouver Margaret à Jakarta, lui demande de l’aide. Elle met tout en branle pour retrouver son ancien amant, en exploitant notamment des relations proches du pouvoir. Cette histoire est très intéressante à mon avis car elle explique tout le contexte politique de l’époque, les enjeux … Tash Aw exploite différents points de vue, des blancs aux pauvres, aux orphelins, aux communistes en passant par les riches indonésiens. On apprend énormément de choses. De plus, dans cette partie, l’auteur cherche à comprendre qu’est-ce qu’appartenir à un pays. Il livre une réflexion loin des stéréotypes sur le sentiment d’appartenance, de rejet, de nationalités. Il y a aussi une réflexion intéressante sur le post-colonialisme. Cette histoire du livre, liant à la fois réflexion intérieure et réflexion historique, m’aurait amplement suffit.

Cependant, Tash Aw a choisit de mêler à tout cela la recherche du frère. Cela m’a ennuyé. Adam a une attitude passive et la recherche de son frère se fait surtout dans le passé et donc dans les souvenirs. Le problème c’est que ses souvenirs sont très peu nombreux et qu’il les ressasse beaucoup je trouve. Là dessus, Tash Aw alterne avec le mal-être du frère, Johan, qui a été adopté et emmené en Malaisie. Tout cela n’apporte rien ou plutôt l’auteur n’apporte rien. Il n’en fait rien. Je n’ai ressenti aucun sentiment, aucune empathie pour les deux garçons et l’auteur n’en tire aucune conclusion sur l’adoption, la séparation de deux frères … Je crois qu’au contraire de la première histoire du livre, celle-ci aurait du s’inscrire dans la durée et ne correspondait pas forcément au cadre temporel du livre. La quête familiale, des origines, est à mon avis, quelque chose qui demande plus d’un ou deux mois. Surtout qu’Adam ne l’avait pas commencé au début de l’histoire. J’ai donc été un peu déçue.

Sur l’écriture, j’ai été assez déroutée. Elle est souvent assez froide mais il y a aussi des moments de pure beauté, de pure poésie. Ces moments correspondent souvent aux moments où on n’arrive à comprendre les personnages et où on s’approche plus de l’histoire. Ce qui m’a déroutée, c’est le fait que parfois apparaisse des passages sans aucun rapport avec ce qui précède. Il y a une absence de liaisons assez flagrante.

En conclusion, une lecture intéressante, je dirais. ( )

Adam and Johan are two Indonesian orphaned brothers, who have become separated as children. Johan grows up in a well to do family in Kuala Lumpur, Adam is raised by a Dutchman who has remained in Indonesia after the independence. The story focusses mainly on Johan and his quest to find his foster father who has been taken away from home by the military. His quest leads him to Margaret, an American professor at the University of Jakarta and old friend of Johan's foster father. And to the turmoil of Jakarta in the 1960's.

I was looking forward to reading this book as I was travelling in Indonesia and Malaysia and was really interested in local literature. However, I didn't really like this novel. Some of the characters were just a little too hysterical (Johan, Margaret, Din) whereas others were completely naive (Adam, Zubaidah). They seemed unreal to me, and so did the plot, that happens to contain too many happy coincidences. So. Very unlike me, I left this novel behind in a hostel. Hope that someone else enjoys it more than me! ( )

Rambling tale of two Indonesian brothers separated as orphans, now searching for meaning as teens. Expatriate Dutch and American lovers from long ago seek each other. Revolution, unrest and anti-American sentiments. Found these multiple narrative threads a tad choppy when cobbled together. Of interest only to those wanting some insight into living through the 1960s Sukarno period in Indonesia. ( )