BOOK REVIEW: MEREKA BILANG, SAYA MONYET! (They Say, I'm a Monkey!)

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Hello, book lovers, how was your weekend? What are you doing this weekend

Since I was still in the midst of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, I decided to finish a reading book. Actually, vacation moments like this are used to go on vacation with family, however, because the flow to all tourist attractions is very full, I decided to stay home and review the book I just finished reading.

In fact, I've read this book many times, apart from the unusual genre used, also, this book has a lot of meaning and needs to be paraphrased behind the stories in Djenar Maesa Ayu's collection of short stories.

For fans of the literacy world or those who have been in the literary world for a long time, the name Djenar Maesa Ayu is certainly not a foreign figure. Apart from being Sjenar's son from a senior writer Sjumanjaya (author of the book AKU, Djenar also always believes in her idealism when writing his ideas in a cinema or cinematography.

Evidently, Djenar with her works remains consistent with the characteristics of the language and diction used.

Djenar Maesa Ayu's book that I first read was entitled "MEREKA BILANG, SAYA MONYET!" (They Say, I'm a Monkey!"). This book, which has 145 pages thick, was first published in 2002 by the biggest book publisher in Indonesia, PT. GRAMEDIA PUSTAKA UTAMA.

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BLURB

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All my life I have seen humans with four legs. The tail of a dog, pig or buffalo. The fur of a wolf, hedgehog, or tiger. And the head of a snake, a bull, or a donkey. But still they are not animals. The way they eat the food in front of the dining table is very correct. The way they talk always uses polite language and attitude. And they read quality books. They write important notes. They dress beautifully and tie.
They even say they have a heart. I watched my reflection in the mirror carefully. I have two legs, a human head, but according to them, I am an animal. They say I am a monkey. When they told me that, I was overjoyed. I said, if I am a monkey then I am the only animal that comes closest to humans. Means my degree is above them.
But they are humans not animals, because they have reason and feelings. And I'm just an animal. Just a monkey....

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Maybe for readers who are not used to reading books in the language style of Djenar, they will say that Djenar's books are pornographic/vulgar books, because apart from Djenar always using very sarcastic language, Djenar is also very open to the issue of feminism which continues to be intensified and messages about feminism and anti-patriarchy are inserted in almost every work.

MEREKA BILANG, SAYA MONYET! contains eleven short stories, including:

• Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet!)(They Say, I'm a Monkey
• Lintahb(Leeches)
• Durian
• Melukis Jendela (Painting windows)
• SMS
• Menepis Harapan Dispels Hope
• Waktu Nayla (Nayla Time)
• Wong Asu
• Namanya, ... (Her name, ...)
• Asmoro
• Manusya Dan Dia (Manusya And Him)

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Djenar Dare To Use figurative language consistently

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Of the eleven short stories in the book Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet! (They Say, I'm a Monkey!), Djenar never lets go of his consistency in using figurative language for each storyline.

This can be seen from the title of the first short story. With the same title as the one on the cover of the book, if we don't pay close attention, we might get confused reading the short story entitled They Say, I'm a Monkey! all of the characters are likened to an animal.

All my life I have seen humans with four legs. The tail of a dog, pig or buffalo. The fur of a wolf, hedgehog, or tiger. And the head of a serpent, bull, or donkey (page 1)

At first glance, it looks like a fable or maybe a fantasy story, right? However, that's how Djenar describes a person with their own character. He did not label someone as flirtatious, likes many women, likes to have an affair or anything else, Djenar describes with various types of animals with a fixed body as a human. In fact, the main character "I" in the story is also depicted with a monkey by other characters.

This also applies to the title of the second short story entitled "Leech", instead of telling about a literal blood-sucking animal, the short story of the leech tells about the mistress of his mother from the main character 'I' who has leech-like character. a man with a character besides sucking his mother's property, also sucks the virginity of his daughter. The leech has a slick body, very fitting to describe a male character whose wits are cunning.

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However, my favorite thing in this book is the short cheer entitled "Painting the Window".

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So what did Djenar tell in his short story Painting Window? About a little girl named Mayra who has a beautiful face. Mayra grew up with her father without ever knowing who her mother was. Her father never once told her about Myara's mother.

However, the point in this short story is when Mayra becomes the victim of a male friend's sexual harassment at her school. She often gets unpleasant treatment with the excuse that Mayra is beautiful and seduces the group of men.

This is a serious issue, because in my country the issue of sexual harassment is then placed on the women's side as victims. Many lay people still judge that there is violence or sexual harassment because women are dressed up too much, because the clothes they wear are inappropriate or because women's behavior provokes sexual harassment.

The question can then be reversed by, why not only men who also restrain their lusts / aren't women also free creatures who are free to choose their way of life, what they want to wear, or how they want to behave, as long as it doesn't harm other people and doesn't harm others. breaking the law, isn't that fine.

In the story of Melukis Jendela (Painting Windows), Mayra's character then feels depressed and wants revenge against her male friend. However, all he could do was paint a window.

From the window painting, Mayra imagines herself entering the window she painted and then finding a new world where Mayra can lie quietly in a place with white sand and a sea with the sound of thundering waves.

In her world behind the window painting too, Mayra could imagine that she had succeeded in taking revenge by cutting off all the penises of a group of men who were bothering her.

There is nothing left Mayra.

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A GLANCE ABOUT DJENAR AND THEIR BOOK SAYS I AM A MONKEY!

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All the short stories collected in this book have previously been published in national print media, such as: *Kompas, Horison, Media Indonesia, Republika, Lampung Post, and A+ magazine.

Djenar turned out to be a big admirer of the great writers Sutardji Calzoum Bachri and Seno Gumira Ajidarma. Sutardji is highly respected and now has the title of president of Indonesian poet.

Thank you Hive for reading my review. See you next time, and happy weekend!

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