Reviews

Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan

jamz02's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Being completely honested I was really excited about the whole tiger aspect of the novel for it to have maybe 3-4 pages in the book, but such a short novel I think a really interesting and complex stoey was told!

mewpre's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

4.0

grimamethyst's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging medium-paced

3.0

kski83's review

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Maybe it is due to the translation, but I couldn’t get into it.

toolittletime's review against another edition

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challenging emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The writing bounced all over, leading me into the lives of several people from this small village. Little by little their connections were unveiled, giving (some) reason to the murder that acts as the opening to this book. I learned several things about Indonesian art and music, simply because I would stop to google something mentioned and went down that path for a while before returning to the book. Wonderful.

repobi's review against another edition

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4.0

Novel ini penuh adegan kekerasan yang brutal. Adegan pembukanya saja seseorang yang membunuh dengan cara menggigit leher korbannya sampai putus urat lehernya. di buku ini akan dijelaskan kenapa kejadian itu sampai terjadi. banyak sekali amarah yang terpendam dan rentetan kekerasan--terutama KDRT dan sedikit daddy issues sebagai bonus. Buku ini memuaskan, membuat pembaca bisa mehamami kenapa seorang larakter menjadi seperti itu. kemudian penulisan Eka kurniawan yang detail dan kaya jug amembuat buku ini memang layak masuk nominasi Man Booker Prize

higanbanaya's review against another edition

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The writing is too brutal for me

quizlitbooks's review

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4.0

The story opens with the murder of Anwar Sadat, a well-known womanizer in a small Indonesian hamlet. An irate teenage boar hunter named Margio initially admits to the murder, and one of Anwar's daughters, Maesa Dewi, was there at the time. However, Major Sadrah, the town's sole military commander, is unable to identify a motive. When Sadrah confronts Margio at the police station, he discloses that he is not the murderer; rather, Margio believes the crime was perpetrated by a ghostly ancestral tiger who lives inside his body.
This English translation was published in 2015 and along with Beauty is a Wound was his first work to be translated. Beauty is a Wound was Longlisted for the 2016 Booker International Prize
Eka Kurniawan writes beautifully, and his prose sparkles and has an easy flow to it. Comparisons to Gabriel Garcia Marquez would not be off the mark, and Man Tiger is both caustic and beautiful, with dark stories of Margio's unhappy family and its abusive father grounding the book's magical components.

I included this great little book of my list of Best SE Asian Novels to read..
https://quizlit.org/se-asia-best-books

vivicody's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

knod78's review

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5.0

4.5 stars. What an ending. I was almost dead set on 4 stars, because the timeline kind of seemed all over the place and it was hard to follow sometimes, especially the last chapter. But I was intrigued with this book the whole time and had no idea where it would lead me. And it lead me to that ending. This is a crazy story. It's sad. Lots of abuse, rape, and horrible treatment of women in the village, but I couldn't stop. I'm so glad I read this book, and very cool to read a book by an Indonesian author. I loved his introduction, which talked about his hardships. Now, I want to learn more about the history of Indonesia, because I have been fascinated with this country. I've only been there once to a little place no one has heard of (well, maybe now they have). I don't remember the name. My dad worked there and the island was only for machine companies. No one really lived there. We lived in Singapore and he took a boat over for work. Anyways. This book may trigger you. It may frustrate you. But I think it was worth the read.