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A review by emilyberrios
Beauty Is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan
challenging
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I don't regret reading this book, but it was certainly a challenge, and I do not plan on ever re-reading it.
In simplest terms: If toxic masculinity were a book, it would be this one. If you thought this book was about the agency of strong beautiful women... you are very wrong (as I was).
A more complex perspective: This book could also be interpreted as a metaphor. The female characters have no agency, no control over their futures or their bodies. Their beauty is to be brutalized and fetishized. These beautiful women could be a metaphor for Indonesia as a country and the various powers or men who colonized it, waged war against it, loved it, hated it, abused it. While the story telling is not linear (and sometimes very difficult to follow) generally speaking, this is a historical fiction in a magical realism setting which follows generations of women who originate from a girl taken into servitude as the concubine of a Dutch man, a plantation owner. This initiates the overarching plot of revenge, but all the subplots as well. The colonial identity of a country is generally mired in trauma and abuse, and this book reflects that.
In simplest terms: If toxic masculinity were a book, it would be this one. If you thought this book was about the agency of strong beautiful women... you are very wrong (as I was).
A more complex perspective: This book could also be interpreted as a metaphor. The female characters have no agency, no control over their futures or their bodies. Their beauty is to be brutalized and fetishized. These beautiful women could be a metaphor for Indonesia as a country and the various powers or men who colonized it, waged war against it, loved it, hated it, abused it. While the story telling is not linear (and sometimes very difficult to follow) generally speaking, this is a historical fiction in a magical realism setting which follows generations of women who originate from a girl taken into servitude as the concubine of a Dutch man, a plantation owner. This initiates the overarching plot of revenge, but all the subplots as well. The colonial identity of a country is generally mired in trauma and abuse, and this book reflects that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Murder, and War