A Book Review "Well, That Was Unexpected!" | #blogsocialdiary

Blurb:

Mortified by her mother’s matchmaking. Sharlot Citra agrees to ONE date with George Clooney Tanuwijaya, son of the most famous family in Indonesia. But when the media gets wind of it, things quickly spiral and the two families get swept up in a highly publicized romantic stunt where everyone has a role and a secret to play.

 

Here is my review…

First of all, I will start with the characters:

·        Sharlot Citra:

I could imagine the visualization of her. I also find it easy to love, hate (for a little), and pity her. She had been stirred by her single mother all the time. It made sense since her mother is a full-time Asian mother typically even though they lived in the U.S. Her mother brings Asian values toward her only daughter. I can imagine how she was disappointed and upset when she found out her only daughter tried to lose her virginity to her boyfriend, Bradley.  Her mom plans to take Sharlot (she has a Chinese name called Shi Jun) to Jakarta, Indonesia for summer vacation. During the time her mother hopes Sharlot breaks up with her boyfriend. Back in time, Sharlot’s Mom grew up in Indonesia. So, she wants Sharlot to know her basic identity, that she still has Indonesian bleed. However, the things that happen in Jakarta are out of her mind. Her mom has trapped her for a “blind” date with a guy. However, who could guess it? That guy is the heir to a big Indonesian company. He is….

·        George Clooney Tanuwijaya:

His family background is that of a wealthy Chinese-Indonesia family in Jakarta. He is the elder son of the family.  He is only about 17 years old but is forecasted to be an heir to their family company. Also, he is pointed to have a responsibility to develop and launch its mobile application. It almost doesn’t go smoothly because of his behavior before it is launched. At the story's beginning, he gets caught by his dad and younger sister when he does a normal personal activity for a teenage boy in a room alone. It leads his dad and younger sister to use his account to chat with a girl nickname on the internet. His younger sister and dad introduce George's identity to the girl. It ends up with them having a vacation together in Bali while his family plans to launch their mobile application at the same time.

The image is provided by Goodreads

Author Jesse Q. Sutanto created the storyline, and each character is so good. She started by describing a female adolescent (or she can be called a young adult?!) who has a high curiosity about things that only adult people do. That girl teenager had discussed "that thing" with her boyfriend before her mother caught them in her room. I also could say that the author is easy to describe how the Asian parents act since she is an Asian person, too. I could feel her characters' emotions when I was reading it. It feels so touching. Perhaps, I also live in Southeast Asia—the country where George Clooney and his family live.

 

Sharlot Citra is an Indonesian daughter who has lived in America since she was born. For the exact, she is a Chinese-Indonesia bleed. Her mother never told or brought her to their home, Jakarta. Her mother has her own words related to it. So, Sharlot felt unfamiliar when they landed at Jakarta Airport for the first time. She thought that her life was in California, not in Jakarta. Additionally, her mom hacked her ShareIt account with her daughter’s profile and chatted with a young man. Who thinks that it will bring Sharlot’s Mom to her high school memories, too? Sharlot and her mom’s trip to Bali is not only unforgettable for Sharlot but also for her mom.

And, the young man who is Sharlot’s Mom chatting with is George Clooney. A teenage boy whose ShareIt account is being hacked by his dad and younger sister to get a new girlfriend. At least, they could make George and that girl’s relationship value their company stock and brand since they are working to publish a mobile network application. George is the person in charge of it.

 

Thanks to Jesse for bringing up and letting the whole world know how beautiful my hometown is! It is Bali!

 

Sharlot and George developed their feeling while they had a short vacation in Bali. George’s family plans to launch their mobile application, OneLiner in Bali. They invited a journalist team to shoot their daily vacation there. In the end, the journalist becomes so cruel to Sharlot. She leaked Sharlot’s past affair with her ex-boyfriend in America and forced George to take responsibility for it. George’s family was mad, no, they only thought they were a bit disappointed in Sharlot. It made Sharlot's mom and George’s Eighth Aunt keep their distance for a while since the news was spreading out.

Sharlot’s mom plans to take back Sharlot to America and make her forget about the thing that happened recently. Sharlot realized that she could not leave George with this misunderstanding. For a fact, Sharlot has already fallen for George due to their time together in Bali. So, she could not leave the situation between them just to end in that way. George’s idea is to make it up and launch his family company’s mobile application for the young generation while they open up their feeling and relationships to the public.

 

Read: Petualangan Sherina 2 Movie Review, here

This is my first review in English fully. I am sorry if it is not perfect completely yet. Furthermore, it is my first time to complete English reading literature. So, I still do not know how to write it well. I will make it better again in my next writing. Anyway, thank you for visiting this simple #blogsocialdiary. Feel free to scroll down some posts you are interested in. 😊 

You can also read my review on Goodreads here. 

Read, also: A Week To Forever Book Review, here

Book Review: Badminton Freak (Stephanie Zen)

Haloo!

Sembari aku ngumpulin materi buat ngisi Kepoin Figur Publik #3, aku mau sharing dulu yang satu ini. Sepertinya ini tema baru disini. Jadi aku kan sempat jadi penggiat sebuah klub baca buku di Jogja, gak afdol rasanya sebagai bookworm tapi gak ada postingan tentang review buku (setidaknya ada satu atau dua gitulah ya :D).

Buku yang mau kureview ini merupakan sebuah novel fiksi--aku tertarik karena apa yang ditulis didalamnya. Sebenarnya aku tahu buku ini ada sejak lama (sekitar tahun 2015), pengen beli waktu itu tapi isi dompet lagi banyak bawang merahnya :(, giliran pas mau dibeli, eh stoknya buku udah gak ada ditoko buku kebanyakan. Huhuhu. Alhamdulillah berkat kegigihan tanpa patah arang mencari buku ini, akhirnya aku mendapatkannya. Yeay! Gak pengen menyesal lagi, langsung bungkus aja deh buku itu.

Genre: Teenlit
Judul Buku: Badminton Freak
Penulis: Stephanie Zen
Penerbit: Gramedia Pustaka Utama
Tahun: (1) 2010 ; (2) 2016

Cobalah tanya pada Fraya Aloysa Iskandar siapakah cinta pertama dalam hidupnya? Jawabannya gak akan menempatkan Albert, pacarnya sendiri diurutan pertama. Karena Fraya sudah terlanjur jatuh cinta dengan BULUTANGKIS sejak ia kecil karena para tantenya yang menularkan virus itu padanya. Saking cintanya Fraya terhadap bulutangkis, Fraya pernah bercita-cita menjadi pemain bulutangkis profesional yang main diklub kemudian dilirik oleh pelatnas. Siapa sih gak mau yang terakhir itu? Hehehe. Semua itu gagal diwujudkan karena ada kesalahan komunikasi dengan sang mama yang sebelumnya Fraya gak pernah berani secara langsung menanyakan kepada mamanya alasan ia tidak boleh main bulutangkis secara profesional.

Demi menuntaskan hutang mimpinya menjadi atlet bulutangkis nasional yang memiliki kesempatan mengibarkan merah putih dan mendendangkan lagu kebangsaan Indonesia Raya diluar negeri, Fraya akhirnya hanya bisa bergabung dengan ekskul bulutangkis disekolahnya. Sayangnya, pacarnya gak pernah suka Fraya main bulutangkis. Albert lebih suka melihat Fraya dilapangan memegang pompom dipinggir lapangan dan menyemangati ketika Albert tengah bertanding basket. Iya. Cowo basket dan cewe cheerleader tentu akan jadi pasangan yang cocok kan? Begitupun pikiran Albert, namun Fraya merasa menjadi anggota cheerleader bukanlah menjadi dirinya sendiri. Fraya dan Albert gak pernah cocok karena hal ini.

Puncaknya ketika ada gelaran Thomas dan Uber Cup 2008 dan Indonesia terpilih sebagai tuan rumah. BL mana sih, gak niat bener nonton langsung di Istora setiap ada turnamen internasional bergengsi, seperti TUC ini contohnya... Fraya pun. Ia sampai rela-relain bohongin Albert, bilang sakit kek, demi bolos menonton Albert tanding basket dan mlipir ke Istora (orang mah kalau udah cinta, segala cara oke aja ya..). Albert pun akhirnya tahu karena kesalahan Fraya sendiri. Sepandai-pandai menyembunyikan bangkai, akhirnya tercium juga. Yah, itu peribahasa paling tepat buat Fraya. Albert menghukum Fraya tidak boleh lagi nonton langsung di Istora selama gelaran TUC, padahal sudah memasuki babak perempat final Thomas Cup, semifinal Uber Cup, hingga puncaknya final Uber dan Thomas Cup. Coba bayangin gimana Fraya gak sedih? Albert sudah seperti satpam selama beberapa hari dirumah Fraya agar ia tidak melarikan diri diam-diam pergi ke Istora.

Lama-lama Fraya nggak tahan dengan sikap Albert yang dikira sama sekali ngga mendukung kecintaannya. Fraya dan Albert putus. Bukan hanya menjadi masalah bagi Fraya seorang bahkan adiknya yang terlanjur dekat dengan Albert, Lio selalu menanyakan Albert ketika lama gak main kerumah mereka. Anak kecil seperti Lio memang harus dikasih pengertian yang paling sederhana untuk dijelaskan apa itu "putus cinta" hingga akhirnya mungkin Lio mengerti setelah datang pengganti Albert kerumah dan membawakan virus bulutangkis padanya, bahkan Lio langsung ingin terjun dalam dunia bulutangkis. Siapakah orang itu?

Orang itu adalah Edgar Satria, seorang pemain ganda putera andalan Indonesia (sewaktu membacanya, aku langsung membayangkan Edgar Satria seperti Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo :D). Perkenalan kedua Edgar dan Fraya lucu banget deh.. waktu itu Fraya salah mengira yang mengirimi SMS padanya adalah orang usil, ternyata itu Edgar. Malu bangetlah Fraya pada saat itu. Itu merupakan saat awal Edgar menunjukkan ketertarikannya pada Fraya yang memiliki pengetahuan bulutangkis diatas rata-rata, sangat berbeda dari gadis-gadis yang pernah ditemui Edgar.

Fraya Aloysa Iskandar, mungkin kamu sudah tidak bisa lagi mewujudkan cita-citamu untuk menjadi atlet bulutangkis , tapi punya pacar atlet bulutangkis bukan ide yang buruk, kan? - Edgar Satria (p: 233) 

Quote diatas membuatku berkhayal ketika Jonatan Christie yang bilang padaku--didepan wajahku. Aw! Heehehe

Biar kutebak, mungkin si penulisnya alias Mba Stephanie Zen seorang Badminton Lover atau salah satu penonton setia setiap pertandingan tim bulutangkis Indonesia. Gaya berceritanya enak dibaca. I'm really really enjoy every words in every pages. Seperti ikut merasakan yang dirasakan Fraya (tapi yang ini aku memang seperti berkaca pada seorang Fraya). Meskipun ketika membaca, aku berasa jadi dedengkot fans bulutangkis karena hampir semua atlet nasional maupun luar negeri yang disebut didalam buku ini aku tahu era mereka. Okelah, karena mereka semua adalah pemain top dunia pada waktu itu.

Pokoknya kalau ngaku BL, baca deh "Badminton Freak" ini, aku berani jamin 1000% bahkan lebih, akan semakin freak sama bulutangkis. Karena penulisnya pinter menggiring imajinasi pembaca kearah kegilaan itu. Pas membaca ini, aku benar-benar bisa jungkir balik dikasur atau sofa sakling menikmatinya. Lebay? Tapi memang begitu :D

By the way, postingan book review ini kutulis bersamaan dengan momen Sudirman Cup 2017 dan sebuah sejarah tercipta pada 24 Mei 2017. Untuk pertama kali sepanjang sejarah perhelatan Sudirman Cup sejak 1989, Tim Indonesia harus menyudahi perlawanan mereka dengan tidak sampai babak perdelapan final grup 1 :(

Tetap semangat para pemain bulutangkis Indonesia. Terima kasih atas perjuangan luar biasa-nya, tim! Anggaplah hanya soal waktu saja yang belum mengizinkan kalian menjemput si piala kembali kerumahnya. Dukungan penuh seluruh pecinta bulutangkis selalu untuk para pahlwan olahraga ini :)

Akhirnya aku tutup postingan ini dengan perasaan masih campur aduk (belum move on). Terima kasih pada kalian yang sudah menyempatkan mampir keblog sederhana ini.

Ganxie nimen! :)