O

O, a monkey in a travelling street show, lives in a world where monkeys must learn to behave like people before they can truly become human. Through endless abuse, O holds on to that hope, believing love waits on the other side in the shape of the Emperor of Dangdut, the singer Entang Kosasih, first seen in a magazine picture. Rivals such as Betalumur and Kirik stand in the way. Love also drives a policeman to leave home and wonder whether he can prove it by jumping into a river that will turn him into a fish. Separate stories gradually join into one, as these lives tangle with a dog, a cockatoo, a python, a blind man, a pair of scavengers and a sardine tin, in a fable about dreams and the cruelty of life.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

470 pages in the original

Genres

Satire, Love (assigned by AI)

Set in

Indonesia

First published

2016 by Gramedia Pustaka Utama

ISBN

9786020325590 (original)