Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I've felt like anxiety has been one constant factor in my life. I'd be remiss if I failed to mention that most of the time, I feel pretty chill actually, fine even, but this uncomfortable, nagging feeling that something wrong is bound to happen sooner or later has always been there under the surface.
The curious thing about the pandemic was that as terrible as it was, it also gave me this weird sense of camaraderie with the human race. The uncertainty of it all was excruciating, sure, but the fact that everyone was in it together gave me the belief that we're going to come through. Everything was going to be okay.
Now, four years on (yes, for all intents and purposes I consider 2020-2022 as one time unit), that belief is gone and what is left is dread without recourse. People are bombing the shit out of each other, the domestic economy is tanking, and it came to a point that whenever I didn't feel particularly bad about anything, my brain would scream, This is a coping mechanism! You should be worried!, which would lead me to start worrying, which in turn would make me feel guilty because objectively speaking, I am fine. I have a roof over my head, I'm debt-free, I have money to live on. What I don't have, or rather, have lost, is the ability to hope for a better future. Even the act of hoping itself seems irresponsible.
And while we're being objective here, I know that there are too many factors outside my control so it's useless to mull over them too much, and that it's better to focus on what I can do. Something along the lines of do your best and let God do the rest, if you're more religiously inclined. But therein lies the problem. I do believe in God, but I don't trust myself. At all. It's downright miraculous how often I got the help that I needed in the eleventh hour, seemingly almost without any active attempt on my part. I don't think I earned or deserved this relatively smooth-sailing life, and I'm afraid that it's only a matter of time before everything falls apart.
Monday, May 25, 2026
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Kiat Sukses Hancur Lebur, or WTH Did I Just Read 4/15/2026 09:38:00 PM
"Tidak ada gunanya. Itulah intinya. Tidak ada gunanya. Mari makan rebung, Bapak-Ibu sekalian."
I'm a total philistine when it comes to contemporary Indonesian literature. Or any Indonesian literature, for that matter. As such, I don't have what you might call "taste". I don't know what is good even if it hits me in the face. Once in a blue mooon, though, I'd pick something up, and my only criterion was whether something was interesting. It must've been one of those aimless Internet surfing sessions that brought me to Martin Suryajaya's Kiat Sukses Hancur Lebur, and let me tell you: reading it was one hell of an experience. It alternately fried my brain and made me cackle like some kind of wild parrot imitating human. So yeah, it was interesting. Very interesting, in fact, that I felt like I need to write something up about it, just to make the brain itch go away. So consider this not a review, but random musings of an Internet stranger, inspired somewhat by the "novel".
One thing about me is that I'm easily amused. Lame puns and stupid jokes are my jam. Beruang mengkudu? Kebugaran syahwati? WC Rendra?--I eat that shit up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, no pun intended. And since superficially Kiat Sukses Hancur Lebur is chock full of puns, of course it managed to secure my goodwill right from the start. But it would be wrong to think of it as just a collection of clever, and inane, wordplays. The author mixed up, twisted, stretched phrases, sentences, and even a whole genre of writing into non sequitur, often making it impossible to extract meaning from sentence level. Here's a sample, from Chapter 1:
And I think that's the value of the book. It challenges you to think beyond what is commonplace, to be more critical or at least observant of stuff that is so ordinary it's usually passed without comment. You shouldn't take my word on any of this, though. Go and read it yourself.
Google Play
The publisher's site
I'm a total philistine when it comes to contemporary Indonesian literature. Or any Indonesian literature, for that matter. As such, I don't have what you might call "taste". I don't know what is good even if it hits me in the face. Once in a blue mooon, though, I'd pick something up, and my only criterion was whether something was interesting. It must've been one of those aimless Internet surfing sessions that brought me to Martin Suryajaya's Kiat Sukses Hancur Lebur, and let me tell you: reading it was one hell of an experience. It alternately fried my brain and made me cackle like some kind of wild parrot imitating human. So yeah, it was interesting. Very interesting, in fact, that I felt like I need to write something up about it, just to make the brain itch go away. So consider this not a review, but random musings of an Internet stranger, inspired somewhat by the "novel".
One thing about me is that I'm easily amused. Lame puns and stupid jokes are my jam. Beruang mengkudu? Kebugaran syahwati? WC Rendra?--I eat that shit up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, no pun intended. And since superficially Kiat Sukses Hancur Lebur is chock full of puns, of course it managed to secure my goodwill right from the start. But it would be wrong to think of it as just a collection of clever, and inane, wordplays. The author mixed up, twisted, stretched phrases, sentences, and even a whole genre of writing into non sequitur, often making it impossible to extract meaning from sentence level. Here's a sample, from Chapter 1:
Struktur buku ini memang dirancang fleksibel. Kalimat-kalimatnya mudah dimasak, sangat praktis dan tidak perlu dibersihkan--cukup ditiup sesekali saja. Kalimat-kalimatnya jenaka seperti khotbah motivator yang ingin gantung diri, tetapi juga menggugah iman seperti suara tetabuhan ondel-ondel. Kalimat-kalimatnya terdengar lugu seperti petuah-petuah anak TK, tetapi juga tampak benar seperti jeritan dosen mata kuliah Desain Bejana sewaktu kukunya terjepit pintu. Seluruh kalimat itu dibungkus dalam struktur sambal goreng labu yang praktis dibawa ke mana-mana. Penulis juga menyediakan banyak jembatan keledai agar Bapak-Ibu sekalian mudah menghapal intisari spare part yang bertebaran di sekujur buku ini.Like, how can you even begin to comprehend that nonsense? But in between confusion and glee, it got me thinking. To recognize that there's something "wrong" with the text in the first place, you need to be familiar, or maybe socialized in is a better way of putting it, with what is considered common sense, what is commonly understood as valid. But for the uninitiated, there might not be any meaningful difference between, say, the book's bonkers avant-garde chart of account and real, legit accounting. On the flip side of the coin, the sensibility you acquire through training and constant exposure can make you lazy; your judgment becomes automatic you never stop to wonder about the building blocks of your thinking. What is common is right is natural.
And I think that's the value of the book. It challenges you to think beyond what is commonplace, to be more critical or at least observant of stuff that is so ordinary it's usually passed without comment. You shouldn't take my word on any of this, though. Go and read it yourself.
Google Play
The publisher's site