Beauty Is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan was a highly anticipated read for me. Translated from the Indonesian by Annie Tucker, it is a literary fiction novel that spans generations, about the prostitute Dewi Ayu, who rises from the dead after 21 years, and her four daughters, and the curse they suffer, inflicted on them from Ayu’s ex-husband.
This was a book with so much promise, from the historical and folkloric inspirations to the idea of a multi-generational story, always a favorite for me, to the dark comedic approach and satire it took to politics. The myths were fascinating and I liked the idea of what I thought would be the female-centered story.
However, it was not a female-centered story. Content warning for rape and sexual violence. A hefty one. The male perspectives are the ones who end up actually featured, and there is…so, so, so much sexual assault in this novel. Every woman in the book was at some point raped, and the assaults are often bizarre or somehow given dark humorous bents; the author uses rape and sex interchangeably. This is not portraying the realistic, persistent risk of assault women face—this is way, way past that. The text seems to revel in exposing these dark, gross details and ‘battles.’ The narrative is focused on the men and their obsessive 'love’ with beautiful women, or with seductive girl children. These men are brought to their downfalls through 'love.’ The most the women get is stubborn dignity and bargaining in the face of these absurdly graphic scenes of violence.
So ultimately, one star, and it’s a shame, because the writer has so many good ideas, and much of the novel was good, but when every single story features sexual assault after sexual assault, it becomes overwhelming and appalling.
