Product Description

It is 1965 and Jakarta lies inert, the hot brown twilights and stormy nights smelling of petrol and frangipani. A group of Western journalists carry on with their lives as they wait for the abortive revolution that will leave half a million dead.A novel which became a film starring Mel Gibson.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #466432 in Books
• Published on: 1995-05-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 295 pages

From the Back Cover
Jakarta: 1965. Smelling of petrol, frangipani, kretek cigarettes, hatred and fear, the city waits as racial tension mounts. It is The Year of Living Dangerously.
As each day passes, East and West alike wait for the explosions to begin in Jakarta - and for the bloody, abortive revolution that will leave half a million dead. For a group of ambitious Western journalists, this imminent internal apocalypse is their drug. Hooked on snatching the next story, the sufferings of the Indonesian people scarcely seem real.
But slowly all become subject to Jakarta's insane uncertainties. And as the desperation of a society in torment comes to inform their own increasingly erratic actions, the simmering violence at the edge of their world becomes unbearably real...
'A strong sense of timeless Javanese atmosphere' Guardian
'Koch writes brilliantly' Far Eastern Economic Review
'Intelligent, compassionate, flavoursome, convincing ... this book is to be prized' Anthony Burgess

About the Author
Christopher Koch is of Irish, English and German ancestry. For a good deal of his life he was a broadcasting producer, working for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Sydney. He has lived and worked in London and elsewhere overseas. He has been a full-time writer since 1972, winning international praise and a number of awards for his five previous novels - many of which are translated in a number of European countries. In 1995, Koch was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his contribution to Australian literature.

Customer Reviews

A good holiday read
'The Year Of Living Dangerously' by Christopher J. Koch

1960's Indonesia; a time of political insecurity, shattered illusions and unfulfilled promises. Idealistic Australian/Chinese Photojournalist Billy Kwan is committed to social change in a country where the government tells it's starving people to eat rats while newly erected monuments and government buildings tower over the shantytowns of Jakarta. However, as the country descends into turmoil under President Sukarno's regime, Billy becomes disillusioned as he learns that he is no puppet master and that individuals have a desire to create their own destiny.

Synopsis: The novel opens with the arrival of Guy Hamilton, an Anglo/Australian journalist on his first foreign posting. Billy is immediately drawn to the ambitious Hamilton and begins to manipulate him into reporting the 'real' Indonesia. While other journalists live isolated and ignorant in Jakarta's luxurious 'Westernised' hotel, reporting on official society functions, Kwan is Hamilton's 'eyes' to the poverty and politics of a country on the verge of economic and political collapse. The pair become an influential journalistic force: Billy introduces Hamilton to key political players while Hamilton files reports on the poverty stricken Jakarta Billy wants to expose. However, loyalties are tested when Billy introduces Hamilton to his 'girlfriend' Jill Bryant, a secretary at the British Embassy. Mistrust, fears of commitment and ambition have disastrous consequences for the 'perfect team.'

Why read it?

Koch creates a superb ensemble of characters that rise and fall in the reader's affection through out the novel. At points, fellow journalists Wally O'Sullivan and Pete Curtis are repulsive, at others, highly sympathetic. Jill Bryant appears independent and strong-minded but is constantly overpowered by moments of insecurity.

It is Billy Kwan though who becomes the novel's most fascinating character. Initially the reader feels nothing but trust and compassion for him as he attempts to expose Jakarta's impoverished population to a world that is unwilling to listen. As Kwan remains successfully aloof from the other raucous foreign journalists, who often appear crass and leave a bad taste in your mouth, he gains credibility. When he guides his protégé Hamilton through the first few months of his posting he appears determined and loyal. But as Kwan's complex and obsessive nature begins to emerge and the dossiers he keeps on people appear more intrusive, we are forced to re-evaluate our feelings towards him, just as Hamilton is required to. Kwan is alienated from society physically and emotionally; he is an 'achondroplastic dwarf' looking for an 'unmet friend' in a country where his personal and political idealism is steadily shattered. The reader wants to be his 'unmet friend' for a time, but feels a disturbing sense of relief when it emerges they are not.

Koch expertly navigates you through the politics of the time and an in depth knowledge of Sukarno's Indonesia is not necessary. The disintegration of Sukarno's power and the threat of a military coup are combined with character development to sustain the reader's interest, making it accessible to all. For anyone who is familiar with this part in history, this novel adds a wonderful 'human interest' angle and some thought provoking ideas about Sukarno's decisions.

Koch is able to create a lasting impression of a country full of disparities. Hamilton's initiation into a Jakarta outside the security of the hotel complex contains some of the most vivid and effective descriptions of the novel. Koch contrasts the luxurious façade of the wealthy and their 'black limousines' with the squalor and 'crumbling walls' in the shantytowns with honest compassion.

Overall: A good read! It has elements fitting most genres and can be read with a focus on various themes: politics, romance, trust and betrayal. Characterisations are realistic and the setting geographically and historically is gripping. I think I'll go and read it again!

The best novel about Indonesia..
This is the best novel about Indonesia that I've ever read(and I was born there.) Capturing not only the sights, sounds, smells, history but the very soul of Java, this magnificent novel stands up to re-reading after re-reading. It is infinitely better, richer, more textured, than the quite good film which was made of it. Very highly recommended.

Third world primer
Keeping the politics of this book aside; I can really recommend it for anyone who wants to feel what it's like to live through a coup and martial law. No other book I've read can really make that smell of fear and random violence as alive as Mr. Koch.

The movie is best avoided. The nearest parallel movie to rival the atmosphere of this book would be "Power Play" with Peter O'Toole.

Funny thing, I'm yet to meet an Indonesian who's ever even heard of "The Year of Living Dangerously".