Complicated Cancer

I’m a big fan of Adhitya Mulya! Since I read his first novel, “Jomblo”, I thought that this man was incredibly funny and smart. The ending of his stories were unpredictable yet real.

“Travelers’ Tale – Belok Kanan: Barcelona!” is one of his masterpiece together with three other writers (Alaya Setya, Iman Hidajat, and Ninit Yunita). Quoting Wimar Witoelar in the preface, “The mood and background of the book is more important compared to the story itself.” True! I also felt I was holding a copy of “Lonely Planet” in my hand when I was reading the book. To tell you the truth, I didn’t really care about the story. It's simple...about four best friends who have feelings for each other. The description about beautiful cities visited by all characters in the book was more interesting to me. It made me want to go traveling even more. Hiks…when’s that?!

But I’m afraid that the book is a bit confusing because each writer represents one character in the book. New chapter, different character. So every new chapter I must guess, “Which character will tell his/her story in this chapter?” Also, I feel a big gap between Jusuf and the other three characters. Jusuf is so “Adhitya Mulya” and so hilarious. On the contrary, Farah, Francis, and Retno are too “ordinary”.