misspalah's review
3.0
“Matanya terbuka luas menyaksikan langit malam yang kelam tanpa bintang. Menara Heinrich Hertz di depan muka kelihatan bengkang bengkok di balik cermin, mengikut air hujan yang mengalir. Sekali-sekala kedengaran enjin kereta dan bas yang lalu, menderu enjinnya memanaskan jalan yang basah, berselang-seli dengan suara-suara manusia yang menjerit atau bergaduh, mungkin gelandangan, sedang mencari tempat untuk berteduh”.
- Seloka Anak Rantau by Shaz Johar
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I bought this book simply because i believe my ability to read ‘Jawi’ has become rusty. It’s been ages of not writing and reading ‘Jawi’ especially after leaving secondary school, i felt i no longer need it. For those who are not familiar of what ‘Jawi’ is, this writing is based on Arabic script. Just like how most Malaysian muslims knew how to read Quran but don’t really understand the language (except those who are well versed in Arabic), i believe Arabs can read ‘Jawi’ but they will not be able to understand it unless they knew Malay. Anyway, the story is simple and brief. There are some part that were not elabrated well. It’s about close friendship between Jeslina and Amal. Its about secrecy they both have and did not want to disclose it to each other. Its about past sins that happened in Malaysia and it kept chasing them. Its about struggle living abroad and trying to make it in German. I mean most of us do at some point aspire to go oversea, studying and working there and wanting to be successful. Jeslina and Amal is living that dream only to be aware that all that glitters is not gold. Is Jeslina truly a daughter of successul entrepreneur in Malaysia? Why Amal is so hesitate in seeking her employment elsewhere and decided to still work with Gunter family despite being underpaid? The story has potential, but lot of details were being left out alot. Maybe another 50 pages more could actually solidify the plot, in my honest opinion. Overall, its a great initiative by FIXI. Since the book was written in jawi and rumi, i actually put the paper in between so that i only read the jawi one. I solely want to focus on jawi itself. I am struggling to read english and german words being written in Jawi. Shaz Johar did not really write in Proper Malay, so lots of mixture/rojak in a conversation and some words that i cannot read usually turn out to be the name of places in german. Other than that, i still be able to finish this in one sitting given that the plot and character building is not complicated. I would say you may want to get the book if you wanted to see whether you can still read jawi (fast and fluently).
- Seloka Anak Rantau by Shaz Johar
.
.
I bought this book simply because i believe my ability to read ‘Jawi’ has become rusty. It’s been ages of not writing and reading ‘Jawi’ especially after leaving secondary school, i felt i no longer need it. For those who are not familiar of what ‘Jawi’ is, this writing is based on Arabic script. Just like how most Malaysian muslims knew how to read Quran but don’t really understand the language (except those who are well versed in Arabic), i believe Arabs can read ‘Jawi’ but they will not be able to understand it unless they knew Malay. Anyway, the story is simple and brief. There are some part that were not elabrated well. It’s about close friendship between Jeslina and Amal. Its about secrecy they both have and did not want to disclose it to each other. Its about past sins that happened in Malaysia and it kept chasing them. Its about struggle living abroad and trying to make it in German. I mean most of us do at some point aspire to go oversea, studying and working there and wanting to be successful. Jeslina and Amal is living that dream only to be aware that all that glitters is not gold. Is Jeslina truly a daughter of successul entrepreneur in Malaysia? Why Amal is so hesitate in seeking her employment elsewhere and decided to still work with Gunter family despite being underpaid? The story has potential, but lot of details were being left out alot. Maybe another 50 pages more could actually solidify the plot, in my honest opinion. Overall, its a great initiative by FIXI. Since the book was written in jawi and rumi, i actually put the paper in between so that i only read the jawi one. I solely want to focus on jawi itself. I am struggling to read english and german words being written in Jawi. Shaz Johar did not really write in Proper Malay, so lots of mixture/rojak in a conversation and some words that i cannot read usually turn out to be the name of places in german. Other than that, i still be able to finish this in one sitting given that the plot and character building is not complicated. I would say you may want to get the book if you wanted to see whether you can still read jawi (fast and fluently).
mobyskine's review
4.0
Tema utamanya bagus-- persahabatan, keluarga dan kerjaya. Tentang dua sahabat yang menetap di Jerman dengan masalah masing-masing, ia tentang rahsia masa lalu yang mahu dilupa, tentang realiti yang diharap dapat mengubah hidup namun masih juga samar. Penceritaannya ringan dan santai walaupun konfliknya agak serius. Aku suka cara penulis kembangkan dua watak utama, alur ceritanya juga bagi tarikan supaya aku terus baca dan mahu ambil tahu. Subplot kisah cinta dan perhubungan berselang dengan masalah perasaan dan harian yang relatable (terutama tentang hal kerjaya yang aku rasa sebahagian daripada kita punya masalah yang sama). Aku suka ending-nya. Selesai baca in one sitting saja, rating sebenar 3.5 bintang.
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