Over the Water (William Lane, Transit Lounge)

William Lane’s debut novel launches with narrator Joe stumbling through the ‘higgledy-piggledy’ of Bandung, Indonesia, to interview for a room. Joe has recently arrived in the country to teach at one of Bandung’s English schools, and his interview with the drug-addled Lisa, also a teacher at the school, is the first of many conversations he has with locals and expats exploring the strange pull (or push) of Indonesia. Despite the immense spider that greets him on his way to Lisa’s, Joe’s journey, while dreamlike, is not the nightmarish dead-end terrain of Wake in Fright. His descent into the steamy soup of a fantastical Indonesia haunted by the ghosts of its violent past (Dutch colonialism, the Japanese occupation in World War II, the anti-communist purges of the 1960s), with its walking-dead Westerners seeking enlightenment or absolution, becomes a stimulating discussion of the East/West divide. I’m not sure the slightly Dickensian twist at the end worked for me, but the book has a strong aftertaste. Over the Water is for readers of literary fiction and travel narratives, and anyone planning a trip to Indonesia.

Viki Dun is editor of Gleebooks’ Gleaner

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews