ddnreads's reviews
391 reviews

This book revolved around a family and their detailed lifestyle, adventures, and misfortunes. At first, we met the girl Chunhui, known as the queen of red brick. However, this book will take us back to people who live long before Chunhui, and the history of Chunhui mother herself, geumbok.

This book remind me a lot with Beauty is Wound by Eka Kurniawan. 

For me, the storytelling and pace is not my favourite. I'm just not patient enough and I found myself struggled to finish this book. It stretches going back and forth from the past to present.

Character wise, I have this love hate relationship with geumbok. For a woman in that time to be able to do what she did is an applause. However, there were questionable decisions of her that made me go 🤧.
The accountability for the characters' action is concerning. It threw so effortlessly rape and SA. I found it uncomfortable and disturbing. It might be common for the setting based on the time and place the book is in, but it doesn't make it bearable to read. 

If you love speculative fiction, magical realism combined with historical trivias, this book is perfect for you.

It's been so long since I read middle grade fiction full of adventure, mystery, and solving criminal case. It gave me secret seven vibes. The characters were all stand out and easily distinguishable by their traits. The book started with a road bike camping that made them stumbled into unexpected adventure.

I love the camaraderie and the illustration. This is super enjoyable on how the children try to find a way to escape or solve the mystery. 

It was nice but nothing sort of very fantastical.

If you're into adventure and found family solving mystery, give this book a go. You don't have to read the other two books. Feel fry to try💕

Buku Iksana Banu pertama yang aku baca. Kumpulan cerpen ini menyajikan beragam sudut pandang orang pertama (which I love) berkebangsaan Belanda. Para orang Belanda ini diambil dari berbagai profesi. Tukang kue, asisten, orang militer, atau simply polisi daerah.

Rentang penyajian cerita dimulai dari pada saat penjajahan dimulai sampai dengan akhir masa penjajahan. Dari segi keberagaman, cerpen2 ini mampu mencakup seluruh daerah, dari mulai barat, tengah, dan timur Indonesia.

For the record, I love it when the author spat on the colonizers. Karena sejatinya tidak ada bentuk penjajahan yang baik. And this book served. Banyak sindiran2 menggelitik ttg bagaimana Belanda memandang Bumiputera Indonesia dan betapa perbuatan tersebut harus dikecam. Buku ini berhasil menyajikan sudut pandang "tidak biasa" warga Belanda tanpa meromantisasi penjajahan itu sendiri.

However, some stories are just not quite well executed. Ada yang berasa nggantung atau tidak kena feel-nya. At least for me. Some of them are kinda plain tbh.

My personal favourite goes to BELENGGU EMAS.
It was inspiring and I NEED TO KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT? I NEED THE STORY TO CONTINUE 😭😭😭😭

And I love the ending. It left a bittersweet taste to conclude the book.

If you're into peeking through unusual historical fiction (short stories compilation) set during the colonization era of Netherlands-Indonesia, gave this book a go. It revolved around discrimination, social gap, and segregation. 

I lost count the name of the characters or were some of them related in between stories? 😂

OH, and the "historical facts" intended were spotted on!!!

Overall, recommended 👌 a light enjoyable historical fiction.

A SEROTONIN BOOSTER

I love this so much I've been missing Juliette Roma and Benmars AND SO HAPPY TO FINALLY GLIMPSED THEIR LIFE AFTER THE MADNESS.
Roma Juliette as married couple is EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED. So much love and fluff and I love them so much 😭😭😭

The case and action shown is not that life threatening and they're still in good shape for the record.

You can actually finished these short stories in one sitting.

This book brought me so much happiness I didn't know I need:"

The Benmars short story is set AFTER the RomaJuliette one.

Read TVD, OVE, and FLF to avoid spoilers 🫶🏽 bcs we get the closure on the ending of OVE, the case is closely related to FLF.

Thanks to this book I can go around USA without having to go there. This artfully illustrated nonfiction book showcased National Monuments throughout the states of USA. It was completed by brief essential historical background, its significance, and the recognition for Black and indigenous people. It also showed the map where we can find these monuments. 

The layouts were neat and the monument's title was easy to spot on. I love colour or tone they chose for the art and illustration. And THE FONT. It's very eye pleasing. 

If you're into travelling, nature, historical buildings, and picture book, this is perfect for you. Although it was meant for children nonfiction book, the information and language was suitable for all age. 

I enjoy reading this a lot.

Can't wait to see the places in person 🤩

Thanks Netgalley for providing the ARC

Me in 2021: for heaven's sake I won't re-read this series.

Me in 2023: oke let's see who knows the ending would be different. I'm reading the different language so yeah


Me finishing the book: 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡why would I even bother to re-read for real

I LOVE THIS!!!!

The storytelling is amazing. I love how this book made me feel like I was there (using the 2nd POV), and combining 5 senses to describe the place is just clever 👌

This book gave just enough information about the extreme places without sugarcoating the beauty. It makes children brave, yet aware of the dangerous in that situation.

The art is jawdropping 😍😍😍😍 I love the style, color combination, layout and everything it presents.

Children will love this!!!

It started as something heart wrenching and I can't say that she had it easy in the beginning. However, as the goes by I found myself inspired, relieve and soooo happy with what she had became. The reconciliation with the family, the bravery of become visible and bold. The community she's helping to grow, the protection. It gave lots of insight revolving childhood trauma. How even after years, those things could haunt us and we need to remind ourselves to breath and sorted it out. A precious self discovery journey 💖

This is a loooong way due. I enjoy the story more than I expected it to be 😆 it started with a promising trope of an office romance. I didn't prepare for a magical village at all 😭 thought it would be great as a Christmas movie adaptation. As the story goes by, I found it heartwarming, and I love the couple's banter. Their dynamic. The changes are subtle and it flows effortlessly. It was sweet and warmth. It was just enough.

I love this. It deals with grief and growing up as a teenager in a not so harmonious family. It revolve around second chance and the nature of giving. Sending benefits and joys to others. I love the friendship dynamic. The boundaries they share with each other.
This book tells a lot around virtual reality (VR) which I'm not so familiar at first. AND IT GAVE MANY EXCELLENT INSIGHTS. Not in a patronising way ofc. It was quite informative and entertaining. I love how they make the VR project into something lovely for the kids in the hospital 💖 an enjoyable journey.

OH and I'm a fan of the artstyle 😍 super eye pleasing 😭👌👌👌