Telembuk

Set in Indramayu in West Java between the 1990s and the 2000s, the novel follows Safitri through the world of dangdut music and of the telembuk, as the region calls its sex workers. Around her, women face objectification, the exploitation of girls, violence in public and at home, and life on the margins, yet some of them work, study and change how others see them. The story also reaches into local history: legends of the Sinang forest, where followers of the old Sanghyang faith hid from the Cirebon sultanate's armies, a revolt against land leased to the Dutch, and the May 1998 riots, when villagers come home from Jakarta with looted goods while the local Chinese are left in peace.

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About the book

Form

Novel

Length

412 pages in the original

First published

2017 by Indie Book Corner

ISBN

9786023092659 (original)