A review by natyourusual_
Beauty is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan

challenging dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book had so much potential. It started as a 4-5 star prediction given how beautifully it started the exploration of Dewi Ayu's character and the harrowing descriptions of the conflicts in Indonesia from the colonial period through WW2. I knew going in that the book was filled with heavy and triggering content and was doing okay with it (
this is even after the brutal bestiality of chapter 2 and constand sexual assault by Japanese soldiers in chapter 4
). Here's the problem: the treatment of sexual violence throughout the novel feels off from the beginning. I tried to rationalize it by thinking "it's allegorical" or "the detached tone has to do with the dissociation these women are experiencing during these acts," but it got to the point that I just couldn't ignore the male gaze afflicting this novel anymore. At some point, maybe 30-40% of the way into the book, the women cease to be the focus of the novel and we mostly get the backstories and perspectives of men in the lives of the central women. Even Dewi Ayu becomes more of an object and less of a whole human person (and that's not even starting on her daughters). I found myself getting more and more angry at the sexual violence not because it's an upsetting topic but because it was handled extremely poorly and distastefully (ex.
the implication that Alamanda put "love" into her encounter with Sodancho that finally resulted in a child after the horrific and violent ways in which he raped her constantly,
the way they linger on women's and girls' bodies right before they're assaulted, descriptions of women's bodies by a third person narrator that sexualize young girls and innocence as in "[...] the curves of her beautiful breasts, the kind that only belong to sixteen-year-old girls,"
the grooming of Alamanda by Kliwon and Beauty by Krisan being treated as epic heartbreaking love stories
etc.). I also started to realize the women were only notable in relation to the men they slept with or who their fathers were. We lose much of the nuance from the earlier explorations of Dewi Ayu and suddenly all of the girls are 2D sex objects. I wish that these issues didn't nag at me while reading as much or that I could somehow overlook them since the writing style and much of the other commentary (ex. when discussing colonialism, generational trauma, othering within society, etc.) was phenomenal, but that just isn't possible for me. The glaring issues with the portrayal of women in the novel and the shift in focus to elevate the men (often to the detriment of these women characters) really brought down my enjoyment while reading. 
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