Mini Review: Critical Eleven by Ika Natassa

Critical Eleven by Ika Natassa
Rating:/5

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Read it in a day. Might be a record for me, but it's only because I was curious whether their relationship would end up on the dark side or not. The ending turned out to be okay, though I have to admit that I felt like punching someone on the face reading how the FC behaves throughout their problem. I'm still not okay with the way she treats the issue between them. It's like watching five years old getting scolded for the first time in her life. I did try to understand her circumstance; imagining what it feels like to be on her shoes, but even a clearly immature girl like me knows that in love, there's nothing worse than shutting yourself down to your partner when the bumps coming on the way. The MC is super patient; he really deserves a medallion for putting up with a wom- girl like that.

Talking about the writing, I appreciate the effort the author put to write the story in alternating POV. The voice of Ale and Anya could be differentiated clearly. What I did not like is, first, how the author seems to love changing timeline during narration. One second we read about Anya describing her surroundings on the plane, next paragraph we could find a dialogue between her and Ale, only to find out that Anya is actually alone on the plane with Ale is memories away from her. There's no clear slates that differ each scene, whether it's a memory or present events. The transition was done roughly and it's so confusing all the time (it was like that in ALMOST every narration). Second, I have a big issue with the language the author used in this book. I read this book in Bahasa and as much as I love reading books in English, it always annoys me when an author keeps slipping English sentences in between the scenes. I understand that sometimes an author needs to highlight some parts to deepen the message being relayed there by using foreign language. But when it's overdone to the point when even describing the crowd in a restaurant is written in foreign language, it became more annoying than poetic. If it's not for my sister who kept nagging at me to finish the book (because she loved it, that she even cried), I doubted I'd continue reading the book with this second issue I have with the writing.

Despite it all, I liked the dynamic of the romance between Ale and Anya here. How two strangers who met by coincidence would later create such strong romance (though it was a bit spoiled by Anya's unbelievable personality). Also, Ale's tight relationship with his siblings is really something to envy. And oh, the little trivia about Critical Eleven term makes a great point to start a story. It's just so unfortunate that it's not being elaborated further except on the beginning scene of Ale and Anya's first encounter. I was hoping that since it's the title and it's also being highlighted on the blurb, that it'd somehow become an analogy to the whole story. But it's not.

In the end, I have to settle down with three stars for this one. It's all for Ale, though.

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: A Simple Life by Desi Anwar

A Simple Life by Desi Anwar

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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My sister sent this book to me last week. She insisted that I read this book right away with the other self-help reads and I wondered if she saw me as a person who’s in need of urgent help. Seriously, it’s not that I don’t like to read self-help or what. But whenever I go to a bookshop, it’s surely not a self-help shelves that I go straight too. Or when I browse for a new book on Amazon, surely it’s not a self-help related book that I put into my cart. But I don’t mind reading one as an assignment from school. So when my sister out of sudden ‘shoved’ this book to my reading list, I was a bit surprised but agreed to read it anyway.

I heard about Desi Anwar a lot before. In my eyes, she was a really successful journalist. I watched her Face 2 Face program every week attentively because she always managed to awe me with the great leaders she’d got to interview. So, I was excited to read her thoughts in a form of book.

Source: Me
(I never really wore glasses to read but this time I do. Oh you know, to get the 'feels'..)

Like the title, Desi wrote about how to lead a simple life in a world full of complex issues. I half expected it would be a cliché self-help read at first. What I did not expect was to find a really enjoyable inspiring read with lots of funny anecdotes. She picked up several simple things from our daily activities to be the topic for every chapter such as gardening, taking a walk, pets, and so on. The way she related every topic to her own experiences and in the end concluded it in a simple but meaningful life lesson was interesting. It helped that she had a funny way to deliver it into words. How when she wrote about her experience as this elementary school kid, she described it vividly along with how she felt that day. It was as if we were brought to the moment and seeing this little girl sulking over a chocolate bar. Years later this little girl, all grown-up, realized the exact meaning behind the memory and presented it here with her mature opinion to make a great closing statement for readers to think about.

Almost every chapter is my favorite but I love ‘Moving On’ best. There’s a line that I highlighted and etched in my mind. It might be a cliché saying for some people, but I found it slipping on my sleeves and slowly crept its way to my brain.

‘If, she said, after you did your best but still can’t get the result you want, then by all means, just change your mind about it. Who says you have to have it just because you want it? There are many other things that you can do as long as you open yourself up to other possibilities.’
(Moving On, p. 95-98; A Simple Life)

I just failed to accomplish something last year and until now it’s still hard for me to push the memory away from my head. Reading this, I could literally hear a voice in my head yelling the underlined sentence above over and over again. I found myself nodding my head and my heart practically made it my new mantra to move on.

This book contained a lot of trivia and useful advices. Little things that we often ignored in life, Desi brought it up and made us see them from different angle and perspective. Thus, letting us to consider rethinking our way of seeing things before making a statement about them. Oh, and I liked what she said about reading. I often read the definition of reading by lots of famous people or authors yet I found hers perfectly suit my thought!

‘The act of reading is at once solitary and yet far from lonely. A simple act that opens our mind up to complexities and unlimited possibilities; a stillness and takes us on journeys beyond our imagination.’
(The Joys of Reading, p. 92; A Simple Life)

Reading this would make you realize that life is simple, as long as you know how to exactly lead it that way. Changing your perspectives, learning from the past experiences, paying attention to little things, these very simple thing are small examples of how to do it. I read this book on my weekend, after-rain, and I found it really comforting and relaxing to read it that way. Sitting in the living room with window open overlooked the small terrace outside, the trees still dripping waters from the rain, and the breeze caressed my face slowly but steadily. This book in my lap and I felt real grateful for such a small gesture.

Read this, people, so you can share the relief I felt after reading this. It’s amazing, really.

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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When Every Season Have Their Own Story

I read some novel lately.
For the truth, I never really love novel written by Indonesian author. Idk why.
Then my sister brought all these novels to me. 4 novels. Written by Indonesian author, Ilana Tan.
1st time I found my self impressed by the cover of all these novels. Especially, Summer in Seoul. All these books have story that connected each other. I mean, its not like to-be-continued story but tends to like there are always such a red thread that leads you to the next book. Well, something like that.
There are four titles, Summer in Seoul, Autumn in Paris, Winter in Tokyo, and Spring in London.
I have finished reading it all. Are they good? Yes. Definitely. I'm not trying to promote Ilana Tan's novels. But just so you know, she wrote all these stories with her heart. Because when you read it, youll find yourself involved in, literally. You gonna feel the sadness, the togetherness, lost, happiness, feeling of falling in love so deep, well, everything from these books. Ilana knows exactly how to make you curious, hurt, giggle, blushing, suffering on the same time.Thats a great writer. I guess what Ernest Hemingway said perfectly fits Ilana.

“All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.”

I cant tell you how the story are. You have to read it by yourself. Cause I'm not a good storyteller, I just gonna make the story sounds terrible for yall. :)

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