London Wild Rose's ponders human organ trade, immigrant life

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Kusuma Andrianto's debut novel, London Wild Rose: Dan Cinta pun Menari, is a modern-day satire that portrays the bitter life of illegal immigrants in London.

The novel revolves around a stripper, Monique, her abused sister Sophie, and a doctor, Katerina -- all from eastern European countries -- and Donny, an Indonesian studying medicine in London, and how their lives cross the shadowy trade in human organs.

Monique plans to sell one of her kidneys to buy passports for her and Sophie, so they can get away from Sophie's abusive husband, Giorgio.

Monique ropes in Donny, who works as a janitor at her nightclub, to help her sell the organ.

Although initially opposed to the idea, Donny eventually agrees and introduces Monique to Katerina, a friend of his. Katerina, as an illegal, cannot practice medicine, and so works at a crematorium.

Through a series of complications involving Monique's kidney, Donny decides to sell his own kidney.

In the end, however, Monique and Donny defeat the cruel Giorgio, taking their revenge and escape the law with their organs intact.

The author, a native of Padang, West Sumatra, appears to reveal an understanding, if not tolerance, of the clandestine trade in human organs. This leniency may draw upon his background as an economist -- Kusuma obtained his bachelor degree from Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, and his doctorate from Leeds University in the U.K.

Kusuma is currently a post graduate lecturer at Leeds University and Leeds Metropolitan University, and said selling one's organs was an understandable option amid poverty.

He also cites a medical argument through the illegal immigrant doctor Katerina, that people could survive with one kidney just as well as with two kidneys, as the remaining kidney would become enlarged to accommodate its expanded function. The single kidney does not work harder, and instead increases its production capacity.

But the author seemed not to consider the many reports that patients are weakened by surgical operations for organ removal, and that many patients have regretted their decision to sell their kidneys.

In his acknowledgements, however, Kusuma said the inspiration for London Wild Rose arose from a concern over the trade in human organs, a trade that involves trillions of rupiah. The author apparently attended a meeting of world economists in Japan two years ago and interviewed a German economist who was concerned about the trade.

Unwittingly, perhaps, the novel also seemed to allow that women were typically victims of conflict, even in a developed country.

The book basically reads like a Hollywood action film: the good defeats the bad, and the male protagonist rescues the women characters from the evil brute.

Despite its interesting subject and poetic title, with a cast of characters set against immigrant life in London, London Wild Rose would have been stronger if Kusuma had developed the plot and his characters further.