![]() ![]() At worst, it’s jarring enough to pull me away from the page. At its best, it slips beneath the surface, nuanced enough to go unnoticed. Even the dialogue between characters is tense, often trading subtext for text. I kept re-reading descriptions, trying to understand the blocking. Goenawan is not shy about dropping what doesn’t contribute, but the result feels less like cutting the fat so much as letting the plot drive. Instead, the novel’s construction feels like an inflated form of the outline, rather than the most elegant communication of the story. While each section intermixed the character’s memories and current thoughts, I longed for the skill shown weaving Ryusei and Miwako’s voices in the opening. So it’s a shame to see that dropped as the novel moves into the different sections. ![]() Goenawan moves fast, building suspense and laying the foundation for intrigue while adeptly intermixing different voices. ![]() struggles with awkward writing, unflattering structure, and strange tonal decisions, that even the more interesting characters from the cast can’t bring to a more coherent whole. ![]()
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