Map Of The Invisible World

I very much enjoyed Tash Aw's debut novel, The Harmony Silk Factory, so I anticipated liking his follow up, Map of The Invisible World (2009). It is yet another fascinating look at Asia, this time the action takes places in Indonesia rather than Malaysia. There are several stories that insect throughout the novel both those of native Asians and Europeans who have come to see the island country as their home. The setting is 1964 in Sukarno's increasingly unstable state-"the year of living dangerously"-as it was portrayed on film. One story is that of the separation of two brothers orphaned at a young age-Johan is adopted by a Malaysian family and later his younger brother Adam is adopted by a Dutch man, Karl, who feels that Indonesia is his spiritual home. I wonder if these boys represent a metaphor of how the boy reflect the respective countries reactions to independence form colonialism. I don't know enough about either country's history to confirm this suspicion. During the troubles, he is mistakenly seized by soldiers and may be headed for repatriation to Holland. Adam searches out a long lost fiend of his father's Margaret Bates. It is here that Adam gets caught up with revolutionary students from Margaret's university, Din and the beautiful rich girl would-be Marxist, Z. Aw does an admirable job of giving each character a distinct personality and world view. He also does a good job of recreating "the year of living dangerously."