The Puppet Master of Java by Alexander Crane: book review

The Puppet Master of Java (2015) is set in Indonesia in 2002, two months before the ‘Bali bombings’ at Kuta Beach on 12 October in which 202 people died at the Sari nightclub and Paddy’s Bar. Three men were arrested, convicted, and executed on 9 November 2008: they were all from the neighbouring island of Java.

Leon and Josh are 19-year-old British tourists on an eight-month holiday. The two men had already spent six months in Asia and were now in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. They had booked to return to England on 13 October 2002.

Cinta and Etok are 19-year-old Indonesian women – cousins – working in a travel agency. Ahmad and Wening are Cinta’s parents. Australians Cynthia and Simon are in Indonesia too, and in a couple of months so too are Australian footballers celebrating the end of the season.

Leon and Josh are the focus of the story that covers two months from 10 August to 13 October 2002. Josh wants to stay in Jakarta to be with a woman he just met: Cinta. Leon, after a night with Etok, argues with Josh about women, and leaves Jakarta to visit Yogyakarta, about 270 miles (435 kilometres) east of Jakarta. Yogyakarta in Java is famous for its batik fabrics, Javanese dancers, and wayang kulit puppet shows.

Leon meets genius Zak, the puppet master of Java, puppet master to the Sultan of Yogyakarta. From seven generations of shadow puppet masters Zak is young and wants to break away from traditional performances, so he quits his job to develop and stage his own puppet shows. Zak and his friend Aji belong to a group of revolutionary artists called Taring Padi.

Zak ends each scene of his new show with a tree moving across the stage. It is the Tree of Life with two sides: heaven and hell. The side that the audience sees is hell. The puppet masters show is daringly, controversially, and outrageously modern.

While Leon is getting closer to Zak, Josh is getting closer to Cinta. But his meeting with her parents does not end well. Cinta has to make a choice: respect her father’s wishes or stay with Josh. But does Etok also have feelings for Josh, and does Simon have feelings for Etok. Cynthia sees what is happening and her jealousy is hard to hide.

In October Leon and Josh reunite for their last days of their vacation: both changed by their seven-week experience away from each other. They go to Kuta Beach, Bali. Cinta goes too, travelling to reach Bali before the two men leave forever.

The end – the night of 12 October – the night of the Bali bombings – is the culmination of tension and suspense, superbly written – and emotionally devastating.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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