Empangan

This was one of my textbooks when I was in Form 6. This is also one of the very few Malay literatures I’ve managed to read, and love.

It’s about a soul-searching J, missing the place where he came from and wondering whether or not he should go back in being the person he was, or he thought he was.

A PhD Student from Harvard, this Rembau born gentleman has been home bound for nearly 10 years, pursuing academics. The 10 years studying overseas provided him more than 2 academic degrees-it has turned him into a ‘manusia sepi’, which the definition is being stated rather attractively in a paragraph in this novel.

His final thesis for the final semester, he decided, was to be about Malay philosophy, and where better to study it than at home, Rembau. The trip home was for him to find who he was before and what made him; also with hopes to foster his new found love for God.

Back home, in his constant search of what’s right and what he thinks is right, he almost always finds himself in situations where his stand was challenged, his believes questioned and his comeback unwelcomed.

The book has characters with interesting names, such as Endot Bondorang, Daun Nadim and Nira Hitam, as well as Dave Moron, which suit their personality.

A lovely read, I fell in love with J reading this book. (Of course, J only comes second after Atticus Finch in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ in my list of ‘Irresistible Men in Novels’:D )

I’m reading it again now, that’s how connected I am to the book.