I found this book in my family bookshelf ages ago, and the cover was so pretty (it was white, the title written in script and there’s some silver birds on it) so I decided to read it. I was still in secondary school back then, an Indonesian historical fiction slash romance book and my emo phase couldn’t get along, so I only read this for, like, ten pages, and that was it. Years later, I picked it up again, and I was glad I did!

Burung-Burung Manyar, or The Weavebirds, is a historical fiction, set during the colonial period in Indonesia until years after Indonesia’s independence. Written by Y. B. Mangunwijaya, this is my second Indonesian book that I read this year after Laut Bercerita, and I could say I haven’t read Indonesian books for a while (read: several years), and I think both Laut Bercerita and Burung-Burung Manyar are good choices.

Narrated through our main protagonist, Teto, Burung-Burung Manyar tells us about Teto’s struggling life; his parents’ death, the way he chooses the opposite side rather than siding with his home country, and eventually, the separation from the love of his life. He joined the Netherland’s army to avenge his parents’ death, only to feel disappointed and empty afterwards. In the end though, he is reunited with Atik, his first (and last) love, yet not without a twist.

Before and During the Reading

Even though I already read the first ten pages of this book in secondary school, I have no recollection of the story whatsoever, so I could say I begin the book with zero knowledge of it. Also, since historical fiction is not really my cup of tea, I expect myself to be all confused and struggling to keep up with the plot and characters.

My almost-none recollection of Indonesian history is not a problem, apparently. (In my defense, I did study hard in history class back then when I was in secondary and high school, but I did not try to remember them facts, haha.) The book focuses more about Teto’s life and internal struggle rather than the important events in our history, and if something does happen, the author is kind enough to give us some explanation. There are also footnotes offering explanations about some Javanese words that the author used, and several important dates/events that were important to keep in mind. There aren’t many, but it’s nice.

The book is written with first person POV, a very useful tool to limit the reader’s sight too, haha. Mostly it’s from Teto’s POV, but there are some chapters that are told from Atik’s POV too. Since it’s a first person POV, it’s natural for the narration to be the character’s internal monologue, and—boy, what a ride we have here. The paragraphs are long—they are long enough to fill an entire page with only two of them.

Yet, in my opinion, they are quite easy to read. I don’t know if this is because it’s written in my first language, but with all the commas and semicolons, the long narration feels like a verbal conversation, and I can easily imagine how the character would say those lines verbally. The appositives aren’t too hard to pick up, and, well. It’s just light. I think it has something to do with Romo Mangun’s style of writing.

I read this book for a very long period of time, mostly because I had a reading slump in the middle of it. It was on me entirely, lol. If we ignore my reading slump period, I actually read this pretty quickly. It was either because of the lightness and the easy and playful style of writing, or it was just that this book is a page turner, really.

After Reading

Do I have to spoil the ending here? I probably won’t spill too much, but if you can’t stand even a smallest hint of spoiler, you might as well skip this part.

I like the ending very much! Despite it being kinda anticlimactic, I think it’s a good ending for us and for Teto as well. I think it’s a realistic move, and a very mature one; a result of a good character development. Not that anyone should write a realistic ending (because it’s fiction! Anything can happen in fiction!) but this one feels just right.

Honestly, the ending reminds me of Snape and Harry’s relationship. Teto has every right to pull out a Snape because she doesn’t get together with him, but he doesn’t! He accepted that it was his fault that he pushed Atik away, and he even made peace with Atik’s husband and children. Unlike some people (read: Snape), even after Atik was gone, he continued to look after her children and even adopt them, and care for them properly.

After typing that paragraph, I just remembered that Lily doesn’t love Severus back like that, while Atik does love Teto back romantically. Oh, well.

What I Like

Other than Romo Mangun’s style of writing, I like how the characters here are very honest to themselves. I respect that Teto has done bad shits only for him to openly accept that, yes, he has done wrong things, and he doesn’t condone himself doing that. I don’t read a lot of Indonesian literature, and moreover, post-colonial literature, so I don’t know much, but the way Teto does that is a fresh breath of air.

Also, what can I say, this novel really captures Indonesian people really well, lmao. It is kind of funny how our (our?) way of thinking doesn’t really change after all this time. I’m talking about no matter how passionate and how intense they (read: the government, and the activists, and people up there) feel about independence—they don’t matter to those people who already have a bunch of problems to deal with in everyday life. I’m not saying that their struggle doesn’t help the country to become better; it’s just a matter of priority.

And there’s always two sides to every coin—it’s interesting  to read that, for once, the villain is not the Netherlands. It’s very understandable of Teto to think and act like what he did in the novel. It’s fascinating that the novel sees a lot of different perspectives resulting in various actions and decisions, of which backed up with totally valid reasons! The world is rather gray than black and white, and the novel captures this nicely.

What I don’t (quite) Like

I’m thinking very hard for this section specifically, and the first thing that comes to mind is the usage of first person POV lol. I have been reading web novels and fanfictions these days, and mostly they are written from the third person POV. Since Laut Bercerita, I really need to familiarize myself with this.

And, even though I said earlier that I like the ending so much, I still think that it’s a bit rushed. The mention of Atik’s passing is only a sentence—a very tiny detail drowned out by the exhausting dump of other information in a single paragraph, and here I thought Atik meant more to Teto than that.

To continue from that point, other than being in each other’s mind, the romantic interaction between Teto and Atik isn’t enough for a romance novel, I think? It peaked on the last part of the book—where they finally meet and actually interact—but leading to that point? It wasn’t enough.

Actually I found it funny that Atik mentions Teto a lot in her family, especially to her husband, to the point that her husband looks up to Teto so much he thought of him as an older brother. If only I haven’t read so many fanfictions using this trope, I’d say this is very sus. I mean, your wife cannot stop talking about an unknown man in her past, which is currently missing in action, and suddenly appears one day out of the blue, to which your wife immediately hugs and proceeds to be happier and livelier since. Very sus.

(On second thought, reading Atik’s husband narration and his action towards Teto, they could have ended up as a poly couple and would I refuse that alternate ending? Not at all.)

Overall,

Burung-Burung Manyar is a nice read! It is quite a light read, both from style-of-writing wise and plot-wise. If you like Javanese-kind of dry humour, you will like this. If you like smart characters, you will like this, too. Honestly, Teto’s mentioned as a very intelligent scholar is quite surprising haha, because it has always been Atik who is described as the smart and brilliant child. Or perhaps the information about Teto’s smartness is there, I just missed it (in that case, it’s on me entirely.)

Would I reread this again? Probably; if I don’t have an endless list of tbr behind this book. My mother has Romo Mangun’s other book, though, so if I am ever in the mood to read something similar like this, I can always read them any time.