Book Review

Book Review

The Green Iguana
By Rob Goodfellow, illustrated
by Weldon Neville
Kang Djoko books, 1999

JAKARTA (JP): This is a delightfully illustrated book, with
the cover depicting an iguana on a leash perched on a bus seat.
It has 21 short tales, or chapters, the first one being about a
Kuta watch seller with an attitude. The second chapter touches on
superstition in Central Java and gives some insight into how
superstition plays a big part in Indonesia's village life.

There are chapters on gambling; road courtesy, or lack of;
surrealism, which starts off well and gives hope to the reader
that the book is going to finally have some depth. But
unfortunately it falls flat.

One endearing character is an 85-year-old, bespectacled,
humpbacked, toothless, retired massage woman; every kampong has
one and she is one character who is totally imaginable.

There are tales aplenty to be told by those who moved here as
young adults and have remained for a decade or so, tales that
make for interesting conversation at dinner out with friends. But
they rarely make for stimulating reading to anyone who does not
know the author.

For those who pick up the book out of sheer curiosity, at the
end it appears to read as nothing more than sheer fluff.

The quaint illustrations scattered throughout the book give it
a reader friendly appearance, but in all, the chapter titled Let
the Buyer Beware is a fitting description for the book itself.
(Linda Hollands)