Title: The Year of Living-in-Fantasy?
Review: I have to say that I cannot agree with my fellow reviewers;this novel, while mechanically well-written, follows the same basic plot line that has become standard in any North American/European story about the 'Third World': heroic journalist-rebel/cultural outsider who becomes, with the aid of a loyal local sidekick, the reader's lens onto a supposedly unknowable and incomprehensible Third World of corruption, chaos, and crisis. 'Indonesia' in this story serves as little more than colorful background for the Western hero to do his thing. The story is predictable precisely because it has been told so often before (and continues to be told; witness the identical plotline in films being made about Bosnia). The film version in this case has done justice to the book's plot; both are heavy-handed stereotypes .....
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