Mara finds herself brainstorming an ad campaign for Free Maxi Pads, with a little help from the menstruation-eating hag of her childhood. Jamal falls in love with the rich and powerful Bambang, but it is the era of the smiling general and his naivety might get him recruited to Bambang's brutal cause. Solihin would give anything to make dangdut singer Salimah his wife - anything at all. In the globally connected and fast-developing Indonesia of Apple and Knife, taboos, inversions, sex, and death all come together in a heady, intoxicating mix full of pointed critiques and bloody mutilations. Women carve out a place for themselves in this world, finding ways to subvert norms or enacting brutalities on themselves and each other. Readers will receive new insights into life as a woman in Indonesian society - seemingly different from the mainstream Australian experience, but maybe not so different after all.
Mara finds herself brainstorming an ad campaign for Free Maxi Pads, with a little help from the menstruation-eating hag of her childhood. Jamal falls in love with the rich and powerful Bambang, but it is the era of the smiling general and his naivety might get him recruited to Bambang's brutal cause. Solihin would give anything to make dangdut singer Salimah his wife - anything at all. In the globally connected and fast-developing Indonesia of Apple and Knife, taboos, inversions, sex, and death all come together in a heady, intoxicating mix full of pointed critiques and bloody mutilations. Women carve out a place for themselves in this world, finding ways to subvert norms or enacting brutalities on themselves and each other. Readers will receive new insights into life as a woman in Indonesian society - seemingly different from the mainstream Australian experience, but maybe not so different after all.