Take your time in reading. There's no need to rush.
My first encounter with Romo Mangun’s Burung-Burung Manyar (The Weaver Birds) came about 5 years ago when I was in senior high. I found the first chapter of the novel in my old brownish Bahasa Indonesia text book. I though I liked it. I liked his satirical heavily-javanese-influenced Bahasa. But poor me, I couldn’t find ‘the real’ novel in bookstores in my lovely hometown, Bukittinggi. So, I decided to forget the book for a while, while hoping that one day, I’d find it somewhere.
Last year, in a trip to one of my favorite place in the city, Gramedia book store, I saw the book lining up in the shelf and was sold for a reasonable Rp. 45000,00. I couldn’t stand my self, I was like “I’m gonna get it”. Soon enough, after I got the book in my hand, I read it. Day 1 passed. Day 2 passed. Day 3, hell! I didn’t enjoy it. It didn’t live up to the hype I was creating in my mind. After a while I came up with a two-headed conclusion, it’s either I didn’t fit novels, or novels didn’t fit me. I was clueless. I had no fucking idea.
A year and a couple of history books later, I read Roger Angell’s post on the New Yorker, Two Emmas. He tells about his hobby of rereading old novels during the summer holiday with his wife and family. The point is rereading can be fun. Really? What’s so fun about reading the same stuff over and over? But, well, I gave it a shot anyway. Taking back the novel from my dusty book shelf and reading it again. This time slower, word by word, there was no need to hurry. Hey, surprise, surprise! I enjoyed it. I really did. The words came livelier. Now I can tell you clearly why Teto chose to to stick to KNIL instead of joining the new nation armed force. Or how Teto felt when he met Atik after being apart for decades. Poor Teto! Hey, I like it!
Roger’s right. Rereading can be fun!
At least it works for me. And him. I should try it to other novel. Buya Hamka’s Tenggelamnya Kapal Van der Wijck is an obvious choice. In the past, I treated it the same way I did with Burung-Burung Manyar. Hopefully, it will be as fun.
Anyway, try rereading yourself. Who knows it works for you too.
