Map of the Invisible World by Tash Aw - first published in Britain in 2009
I didn't enjoy this book very much - it is readable but not very exciting. It is about 2 brothers, who were separated as young children when they were living in an orphanage and were adopted by different people. Johan, the elder brother was taken to live a life of luxury in Malaysia while Adam stayed in Indonesia and was adopted by a Dutch man called Karl, who led an unconventional life but was very kind to him. In the 1960s when Adam is 16, Karl is arrested by President Sukarno's soldiers who are trying to rid Indonesia of its colonial past. Adam sets off to Jakarta to find him and meets up with Margaret, an old friend of Karl's. However he also unwittingly gets involved in anti-government protests. He does eventually find Karl but is never re-united with his brother. There was lots of detail about life in Jakarta in the 1960s but no clear explanation of the background history. Maybe I should have known this and I know I could have looked it up online but I would have found it useful if there had been a timeline of historic events or a page summarising the 20th century history of Indonesia at the front or back of the book. 3/10
2nd November 2011
