[BOOK REVIEW] People Like Us by Yosephine Monica

Penulis : Yosephine Monica

Penerbit : Haru

Genre : Romance

Kategori : Young Adult

Terbit : Juni 2014

Tebal : 330 halaman

ISBN : 978-602-7742-35-2

Harga : Rp. 54.000

 “Aku lebih menyukai hidupku sekarang. Mungkin jika semuanya tidak serumit ini, aku takkan mengenalmu. Tapi jika aku bisa memilih, aku akan memilih untuk bisa mengenalmu sejak dulu –jauh sebelum penyakit ini datang.” (hlm. 288)

BLURB

Akan kuceritakan sebuah kisah untukmu. Tentang Amy, gadis yang tak punya banyak pilihan dalam hidupnya.

Serta Ben, pemuda yang selalu dihantui masa lalu.

Sepanjang cerita ini, kau akan dibawa mengunjungi potongan-potongan kehidupan mereka.

Tentang impian mereka,

Tentang cinta pertama,

Tentang persahabatan,

Tentang keluarga,

Juga tentang... kehilangan.

Mereka akan melalui petualangan-petualangan kecil, sebelum salah satu dari mereka harus mengucapkan selamat tinggal.

Mungkin, kau sudah tahu begaimana cerita ini akan tamat.

Aku tidak peduli.

Aku hanya berharap kau membacanya sampai halaman terakhir.

Kalau begitu, kita mulai dari mana?

SINOPSIS

Amelia Collins (Amy), gadis lima belas tahun yang jatuh cinta pada teman satu sekolahnya, Benjamin Miller (Ben). Amy adalah gadis biasa-biasa saja di sekolahnya, akan tetapi dirinya cukup terkenal dikalangan teman-temannya karena dua hal. Pertama, dia senang menulis cerita fiksi roman di blog-nya. Ceritanya bagus dan banyak disukai teman-temannya, namun semua cerita yang dia tulis tidak memiliki ending sehingga membuat semua penasaran. Kedua, dia menyukai Ben.

Berawal dari pengakuan Amy pada temannya dan berujung dengan tersebarnya berita itu ke seluruh sekolah, Ben tahu keberadaan Amy. Amy menyukai Ben saat usianya dua belas tahun. Saat itu dirinya bertemu dengan Ben di kelas musik saat middle school. Mereka berada di kelas yang sama, akan tetapi Ben yang selalu menghindari dunia tidak menyadari itu.

Benjamin Miller (Ben), pemuda yang sudah menjalani hidupnya dengan begitu cuek karena sudah mengalami berbagai kejadian pahit di keluarganya. Ayahnya meninggal karena mengidap penyakit kanker, orang tuanya bercerai dan Ben menjadi anak yang tidak cukup dianggap di keluarganya yang membuat dirinya menjadi pribadi yang cuek dan sinis. Ben yang awalnya ingin menjadi penulis kini berganti keinginan dan memilih untuk menggeluti bidang olahraga, khususnya sepak bola. Saat mendengar kabar Amy menyukainya, Ben tidak peduli. Namun setelah cukup sering berpapasan dengan gadis itu akhirnya Ben menganggap bahwa Amy adalah penguntit.

Poetess : “Hai readers, apa kabar? Gimana masa karantinanya? Kalau bosan baca buku aja yuk!”

Baca juga : [BOOK REVIEW] UnderWater by Marisa Reichardt

REVIEW

Novel  People Like Us merupakan pemenang 100 Days of Romance yang diadakan oleh Penerbit Harus’s Writing Competition 2013. Jujur aku tidak tahu kalau novel ini adalah pemenang 100 days of romance, tapi setelah membaca novel ini aku baru paham kenapa novel ini menjadi pemenang.

Sudah lama novel People Like Us ini hilir mudik di beranda situs online tempatku membeli buku. Awalnya aku acuh karena dari judulnya aku sudah menebak, ini adalah novel romantis ala remaja. Akan tetapi, setelah membaca blurb di belakang buku ini, aku langsung jatuh hati. Novel ini membuatku jatuh hati pada paragraf pertama.

Blurb-nya unik, seperti mengajak bicara pembaca sekaligus provokatif tentang ending yang sudah tertebak. Meski aku tahu temanya klise, tapi penulis membungkus kisah klisenya dengan sangat apik sehingga menjadi menarik. Selain itu penulis tidak membiarkan aku membaca sendiri karyanya karena dia juga mengajakku bicara lewat novelnya. Itu yang aku rasakan, sih. Rasanya seperti sedang mendengarkan kisah bukannya membaca.

"Apakah menyukai seseorang butuh alasan?" (hlm. 250)

 

Meski penulis menekankan bahwa cerita ini biasa saja dan endingnya sudah tertebak, aku justru merasa tambah penasaran. Aku ingin tahu memangnya seperti apa kisah yang mudah ditebak itu, apa bisa membuatku bosan dan meninggalkan buku ini sebelum sampai ke ending atau justru sebaliknya?

Dan saat memasuki cerita, aku dibuat kaget dengan gaya bahasanya yang kaku, puitis dan sedikit mengayun. Dan menurutku membuat gaya bahasa seperti itu cukup sulit, tapi penulis yang konon saat menulisnya masih berusia belasan tahun ini membuatku mengacungkan dua jempol sekaligus. Ngomong-ngomong gaya bahasa seperti ini jadi mengingatkanku dengan penulis Annisa Ihsani yang menulis ‘A untuk Amanda’ .

"Kadang kau tidak butuh petualangan di hutan yang mendebarkan atau perjalanan menuju belahan dunia lain untuk merasakan kebahagiaan yang sesungguhnya. Kadang kau hanya perlu satu orang dan rasanya kau sudah bisa menggapai seluruh dunia dengannya. "(hlm. 259)

 

Novel ini mengambil dua sudut pandang, yaitu Amy dan Ben. Dari dua sudut pandang yang disuguhkan aku jadi mengenal sosok Amy dan Ben lebih cepat. Alur cerita yang katanya lambat tidak begitu terasa lambat karena aku bisa membacanya dengan cepat, saking serunya tiba-tiba saja aku sudah di pertengahan halaman. Semua kejadian yang aku baca terserap dengan sangat mudah dan membuat ketagihan.  Rasanya dalam beberapa lembar saja aku sudah banyak mendapat bayangan kejadian dan kisah mereka. Bagaimana bisa kisah sebanyak itu dituangkan hanya dalam beberapa lembar saja? Dan anehnya terasa seru dan tidak rancu.

               

Selain gaya bahasa dan alur, karakter tokohnya juga asik dan punya ciri khas masing-masing. Amy yang ramah, tabah pemalu dan optimis. Ben yang memiliki sifat dingin dan sinis namun kesepian. Karakter keduanya sangat bertolak belakang.  Dan aku berharap sambil membayangkan bahwa cerita ini bukan cerita sedih melainkan cerita romatis ala remaja yang bahagia, karena dengan begitu pasti Amy bisa mengajak Ben main kesana kemari dengan gembira, membiarkan Ben merasakan hal baru dan hal-hal seru lainnya sambil diselingi canda tawa. Akan tetapi novel ini tentang si tokoh utama yang sakit dan memiliki sifat optimis.

Tapi tenang saja, meski novel ini sudah diklaim menyedihkan bahkan sebelum aku membacanya, novel ini bukan menceritakan kesedihan dan keputusasaan Amy, justru sebaliknya, Amy begitu tabah dan optimis. Amy yang mencoba membuat semuanya tampak baik-baik saja dan menganggap bahwa sakit bukanlah akhir dari segalanya mampu menyentuh hatiku saat membacanya. Meskipun terkadang, terselip ucapan Amy yang menyiratkan kesedihan, semua itu langsung berubah menjadi tidak menyedihkan lagi karena ada Ben yang semakin dekat dengan Amy dan mulai memberikan perhatian-perhatian kecil.

Ketimbang teringat dengan novel ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ aku lebih teringat ke film ‘A Walk Remember’ yang aku tonton sambil banjir air mata. Aaaa semuanya menebarkan aura sedih, optimis sekaligus romantis.

Perkembangan karakter yang aku lihat juga tidak terburu-buru dan terkesan dipaksakan. Lambat tapi pasti semuanya berubah seperti cerita pada umumnya. Aku suka Ben yang cuek tapi perhatian, saat dirinya bercanda dengan Amy, juga saat menjaga Amy. Aku juga suka Amy yang penuh perhatian. Komunikasi keduanya sangat manis sekaligus menggemaskan.

Terimakasih penulis dan Penerbit Haru yang sudah menciptakan novel ini. Sebagai penutup review ini aku memberi 5 bintang dari 5 untuk buku ini. Apa kalian jadi tertarik membaca novel ini?

Akhir kata, selamat menjalankan masa karantina #dirumahaja! 

“I like my life better now. Maybe if things weren't this complicated, I wouldn't know you. But if I could choose, I would choose to know you long ago - long before this disease came." (p. 288)

BLURB

I'll tell you a story. About Amy, a girl who doesn't have many choices in her life.

And Ben, a young man who is always haunted by the past.

Throughout this story, you will be taken to visit pieces of their lives.

About their dreams,

About first love,

About friendship,

About family,

Also about... loss.

They will go through small adventures, before one of them has to say goodbye.

Maybe, you already know how this story will end.

I don't care.

I just hope you read it to the last page.

If so, where do we start?

SYNOPSIS

Amelia Collins (Amy), a fifteen year old girl who falls in love with her schoolmate, Benjamin Miller (Ben). Amy is an ordinary girl at school, but she is quite famous among her friends because of two things. First, she enjoys writing romance fiction stories on her blog. His stories were good and liked by many of his friends, but all the stories he wrote had no ending so they made everyone curious. Second, she likes Ben.

Starting from Amy's confession to her friend and ending with the news spreading throughout the school, Ben knew where Amy was. Amy had a crush on Ben when he was twelve. At that time, she met Ben in music class at middle school. They are in the same class, but Ben, who always avoids the world, doesn't realize that.

Benjamin Miller (Ben), a young man who has lived his life indifferently because he has experienced various bitter events in his family. His father died of cancer, his parents divorced and Ben became a child who was not well respected in his family, which made him an indifferent and cynical person. Ben, who initially wanted to be a writer, has now changed his desire and chose to pursue sports, especially football. When he heard the news that Amy liked him, Ben didn't care. However, after running into the girl quite often, Ben finally assumed that Amy was a stalker.

 "Hi readers, how are you? How is the quarantine period? If you're bored, let's just read a book!”

REVIEW

The novel People Like Us was the winner of the 100 Days of Romance held by the publisher Harus's Writing Competition 2013. Honestly, I didn't know that this novel was the winner of the 100 Days of Romance, but after reading this novel I just understood why this novel was the winner.

For a long time, the novel People Like Us has been back and forth on the home page of the online site where I bought the book. At first I was indifferent because from the title I already guessed, this is a teenage romance novel. However, after reading the blurb at the back of this book, I immediately fell in love. This novel made me fall in love in the first paragraph.

The blurb is unique, as if inviting the reader to talk and at the same time provocative about the predictable ending. Even though I know the theme is cliché, the author wraps up the cliche story very nicely so that it becomes interesting. Apart from that, the author didn't let me read his work myself because he also invited me to talk through his novel. That's what I feel, anyway. It felt like I was listening to a story instead of reading.

"Does liking someone need a reason?" (p. 250)

 

Even though the author emphasized that this story was ordinary and the ending was predictable, I actually felt even more curious. I want to know what a predictable story is like, can it make me bored and leave this book before I get to the ending or is it the opposite?

And when I entered the story, I was surprised by his stiff, poetic and slightly swinging language style. And I think creating a language style like that is quite difficult, but the author, who was said to have been in his teens when he wrote it, made me give two thumbs up at once. By the way, this style of language reminds me of the writer Annisa Ihsani who wrote 'A is for Amanda'.

"Sometimes you don't need a thrilling jungle adventure or a trip to another part of the world to feel true happiness. Sometimes you just need one person and it feels like you can reach the whole world with them." (p. 259)

This novel takes two points of view, namely Amy and Ben. From the two points of view presented, I got to know Amy and Ben more quickly. The story line which was said to be slow didn't feel so slow because I could read it quickly, it was so exciting that suddenly I was in the middle of the page. All the events I read were absorbed very easily and became addictive. It feels like in just a few pages I can already imagine a lot of their events and stories. How can such a large story be contained in just a few pages? And it feels strangely exciting and unambiguous.

               

Apart from the language style and plot, the characters are also fun and have their own characteristics. Amy is friendly, stoic, shy and optimistic. Ben has a cold and cynical nature but is lonely. The characters of the two are very opposite. And I hope while imagining that this story is not a sad story but rather a romantic story in the style of a happy teenager, because then Amy will definitely be able to invite Ben to play here and there happily, letting Ben experience new things and other exciting things while accompanied by laughter. However, this novel is about the main character who is sick and has an optimistic nature.

But don't worry, even though this novel was claimed to be sad before I even read it, this novel does not tell about Amy's sadness and despair, on the contrary, Amy is so steadfast and optimistic. Amy, who tries to make everything seem fine and thinks that pain is not the end of everything, was able to touch my heart when I read it. Even though sometimes there were moments in Amy's words that implied sadness, everything immediately changed and became less sad because Ben got closer to Amy and started to pay little attention to her.

Rather than remembering the novel 'The Fault in Our Stars', I am more reminded of the film 'A Walk Remember' which I watched while flooded with tears. Aaaa, everything gives off a sad, optimistic and romantic aura.

The character development that I saw was also not rushed and seemed forced. Slowly but surely everything changes like the story in general. I like Ben who is cool but caring, when he jokes with Amy, and also when he looks after Amy. I also like the caring Amy. The communication between the two is very sweet and adorable.

Thank you to the author and publisher Haru for creating this novel. In closing this review I give 5 stars out of 5 for this book.

Are you interested in reading this novel?

Finally, have a good quarantine period #stayathome! Hahaha!