However, even if it is taken from a true story, most novels will still contain elements of the author’s imagination so it can be said that almost the entire novel presents a fictional story. In Indonesia, there are now more and more fiction novels that come by presenting various genres and interesting stories that can entertain their readers. Here are some recommendations for Indonesian fiction novels that present interesting stories and are worth reading.
November Indonesian Fiction Novel Recommendation Update
Katarsis – Anastasia Aemilia
The first fiction novel recommendation , namely Catharsis written by Anastasia Aemilia, an author, editor, and translator at Gramedia Pustaka Utama. The novel he wrote was successfully published for the first time by the publisher Gramedia Pustaka Utama in 2013.
The 261-page novel follows a teenage girl approximately 18 years old–being the only witness to a devastating robbery that occurred at her uncle’s house in Bandung city. Tara Johandi is the only person who still survives, while all her family members are dead.
When found, Tara was locked up in a wooden toolbox in a very shocked state. The police suspect that the culprit is a pair of robbers who have been fugitives for a long time. Even during the investigation, one by one, the evidence of clues began to reveal his incongruity.
Alfons, who is a psychiatrist, helps Tara in releasing all the trauma of the incident she experienced. Alfons felt that Tara kept a secret very tightly. However, before Alfons reveals more about the secret, a mysterious man named Ello is present, making it difficult for Alfons to eliminate trauma to himself Tare.
The presence of Ello, who is referred to as Tara’s childhood friend , coincides with a serial murder case involving a wooden toolbox like a few years ago. The police and the psychiatrist speculated that the serial murder case was related to the tragic robbery and murder experienced by Tara and her family members.
So, how did the police and Alfons solve the case?
Looking at it as a whole, this novel is very good and recommended. Readers will get goosebumps when they follow the storyline. The novel contains murder, blood, torture, and mutilation–all of which sound very creepy.
This novel with the psychology-thriller fiction genre also seems heavy so that it requires full concentration when reading it. However, Anastasia as the author of this Cathartic novel has successfully wrapped everything up using light and simple, but meaningful language.
Interested in reading it? Be mentally prepared and follow the storyline of this Cathartic novel in wisdom.
Departure – Nh Dini
The novel Departure by Nh. Dini was first published in 1977. It tells the story of a girl of Dutch descent named Elisa who falls in love with a Javanese man. Romance stories and family dramas adorn novels that revolve around questions about the identity and nature of a woman in this country.
Through his various early works, Nh. Dini has also defended and defended women’s voices and expressed the importance of equal rights between men and women.
Departure quotes a piece in the life of Elisabeth Frissart, a girl of Dutch descent. In accordance with the year the novel was first published, Departure is set in the 1970s.
It is told in this novel , when the anti-foreign spirit that occurred in this country in the 1970s, citizens of foreign descent who had long settled in Indonesia were forced to return to their respective habitats, including Elisha’s own family. Although all members of Elisha’s family returned to the Netherlands, Elisha decided to stay in Indonesia.
When Elisha was a child, she did grow up in an indo-populated environment, but in fact preferred to make friends and associate with the indigenous people. Therefore, Elisha did not hesitate to establish a relationship with Sukoharjito who was a young Javanese man. However, their relationship was eventually forced to run aground because the girl who worked as a flight attendant was faced with a complicated choice, which was to stay in Indonesia or leave it.
The Novel of Departure can be said to be a simple story brought in a slow rhythm and moving forward smoothly. This novel does not create the impression of a forced or forced story, even to the end of the story.
Renjana – ElAlicia
Renjana is a novel with a combined genre, namely fantasy fiction with culture written by ElAlicia. On one occasion the author once said that the reason behind him carrying the theme was because the genre he chose was fairly rare and indeed he put his heart on Indonesian history and the culture of the city of Jogja.
With the theme of Nusantara culture, El wrapped a fantasy with Javanese culture so that it could be used in the form of this novel. Initially, El used the Wattpad digital platform to write his work, until he won the Wattys Award in 2020 in the Historical Fiction category.
Renjana’s novel is his 9th written work. Amazingly, El’s 9th work also successfully attracted 1.4 million pairs of eyes to read Renjana’s story in the Wattpad application. The novel tells the story of a Majapahit King who has been erased and exiled from history and cursed to pay for his mistakes in the incarnation of his own wife.
Interested in following a fantasy story wrapped in this culture? Read Renjana’s novel right now!
Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie
Murder on the Orient Express is a detective-mystery fiction novel by Agatha Christie that shows a young detective named Hercule Poirot. His paper was first published in early January 1934 in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club.
The novel consists of three parts. The first part contains an explanation of several facts, namely regarding the bodies of the victims and there are 12 suspected people. Then, the second part is the interrogation of the suspected passengers. The third part is the analysis of detective Poirot assisted by two of his colleagues. When viewed from the number of characters, it will tend to be crowded because the characters are 17 people, there are detective poirot characters, there are victims, doctors, conductors, directors, and 12 people who suspected.
When reading this 256-page novel, the reader will be confused and it is difficult to guess who the murderer is, especially with some powerful alibis of the characters.
For those who rarely read detective novels, this Murder on the Orient Express novel will enlighten you that detective stories will continue to haunt as long as you follow the storyline in the the novel.
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
The Midnight Library tells the story of a 35-year-old girl, named Nora whose life is full of regrets. Once, he set to end his life, but instead he was carried into a library in the middle of nowhere. The library offers Nora the opportunity to be able to realize various things that Nora has rejected in the past.
Midnight Library is his name. There, Nora is given an interesting offer to live various events that she regrets in her life and do a different life than before. Nora is shown the Book of Regrets containing various regrets that Nora has experienced during her life and is welcome to make choices to change the life that has been regretted so far.
Reading the novel The Midnight Library provides a very memorable knowledge or experience. Tracing and following Nora’s story, readers will also be invited to think about their own lives. Such as a sense of sadness and regret that is also felt by the reader. There are not a few experiences of Nora that make this self reflect on herself. Then, there is a calmness of heart that envelops inside when reading the ending in this novel.
In addition, this novel also reviews a little about multi-universes, then inserted theories related to life in parallel worlds. So it’s logical that Nora comes into a life she’s not living, she doesn’t even remember anything. Although in the real world we do not know whether such a life exists or not. However, the theory on this subject is not so deeply reviewed by the author.
Curious about Nora’s story in the Midnight Library? Read The Midnight Library novel right now .
Common People – Andrea Hirata
Andrea Hirata inaugurated her 10th paper in early 2019. This fictional novel entitled Ordinary People has attracted the attention of people from various circles, especially those who have followed the works of Andrea Hirata for a long time.
The Common People told the plan of the robbery group that was to be carried out by 10 friends in order to obtain funds (read: money) to continue the pediatric medical education from Dinah, namely Aini. Such actions are indeed somewhat wrong and not justified at all.
However, this gives an idea that parents will work hard and strive so that the child can achieve their goals and certainly in a good way. Like the story in this novel which shows that although they have the opportunity to earn and find a lot of money in an instant, but they actually choose the path which is true and good.
The novel Ordinary People is wrapped in light, simple, and easy-to-understand language because it does not use too many allusions. Many points attract attention when reading the story in this novel.
If you want to find a reading with light language, simple discussions, or just an entertaining reading, this novel Orang-Orang Biasa by Andrea Hirata is the right choice .
The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida – Clarissa Goenawan
The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida was successfully released in 2020 by the publisher Gramedia Pustaka Utama. This novel is Clarissa Goenawan’s second written work, after the success of her first novel entitled Rainbirds.
By reading this novel, it will take the reader through several issues. Search and select pieces of the story in order to gain the integrity of the story of a Miwako.
Through three different points of view, the reader will be drawn to explore Miwako’s life and investigate a number of mysteries that she keeps on her own. Although the story is narrated by three different people’s points of view, the storyline feels very fluid.
The melancholy atmosphere will feel familiar in every part of the story of this novel. There’s kind of melancholy, but there’s also the prowess that shakes the story in this novel. In addition, there is sadness, but there is also the sincerity of the heart to let go of a departure.
Life and death, self-identity, and sexuality are the pieces of the story that complement the story in this 372-page novel. Set in the late 80s in the city of Tokyo, readers seem to be invited to explore a secret passage, also feeling the silent and mysterious atmosphere of the village being slumped.
In addition, he also felt the warmth of a bookstore that was often visited by Ryusei and Miwako figures. There is a kind of harmonization between mystical elements and mysteries that makes the pounding of the heart even stronger as secret after secret unfolds.
The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida will share the undisclosed reading experience. In fact, when you just open and read the start page, it seems as if curiosity has penetrated the mind so that you want to finish the story in this novel as soon as possible until the end of the page .
The Woman Who Cried to the Black Moon – Dian Purnomo
This novel has a fairly heavy theme with a fairly thick number of pages. However , the storyline presented is not too complicated, the rhythm of the story is indeed fast even though it is divided into 57 chapters, but the content of each chapter is quite short . In other words, it is very easy to complete this novel because it feels reluctant to stop every time you read page after page of the novel.
For those who want to read, be prepared for the conflict experienced by Magi because it will be very tearing apart feelings. Despite taking a third-person point of view, Dian Purnomo cleverly managed to make the reader absorb the emotions experienced by the Magi character. Fear, anger, helplessness, disappointment, sadness, tension, indecision, and other emotions. With all the emotions felt, there is not the slightest word saturated when reading this novel.
The novel is labeled 17+ and the cover of the latest print also has the words Trigger Warning because there are indeed several scenes of physical, even sexual violence. The struggle that was carried out bore fruit with the culmination of a tense conflict with the crazy action of the Magi character and closed with an epic ending.
When reading this novel, readers will see the development of the character and the struggles of Magi as the main character which is very inspiring. All the ways he did in order to obtain deprived rights, self-respect, and independence.
Not to forget, Dian Purnomo as the author of this novel also inspires readers more. Through this novel, he describes the fight against the tradition of capture marriage in Sumba which is neatly packaged into the form of a fictional story so that the mandate he wants to convey is also beautifully channeled .
Ibuk – Iwan Setyawan
Ibuk is a novel released in 2012, written by a national best seller writer, namely Iwan Setyawan. Ibuk tells the story of a life party led by a mighty, tough and simple woman. The clear and green female figure is like a tree that envelops the aridity–providing oxygen for human life.
Reading Ibuk’s novel is like reminiscing along with memories of the past, childhood, just a time when the struggle of life is not only saving expenses and saving money for sightseeing, not just stay away from social media to maintain the sanity of life. However, the period when the stomach no longer feels starved which is a primary and basic need.
Although this is a fictional novel, the story seems very lively and real because it talks about people’s lives in the days: let alone going to school, just eating is difficult. Education is low and does not have enough income, but the desire to change fate has run aground to ashes.
There are not a few families fortified by people such as the characters of Sim and Tinah in this novel who have managed to lay the foundation pillars of life very gallantly for their children. It’s not just raising, it’s educating by giving their children exposure to this vast real life.
Not only that, this approximately 300-page novel will provide illustrations of domestic life that is not always ideal, aka far from perfect.
In addition, the novel shows that the real power in the family and the household lies in the words sincere and accepting. Everything will feel beautiful and easy if both things are applied in life.
Interested in what kind of life Sim and Tinah live? Read the full story in Ibuk’s novel.