House of Glass

by Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Book Overview

With House Of Glass comes the final chapter of Pramoedya's epic quartet, set in the Dutch East Indies at the turn of the century. A novel of heroism, passion, and betrayal, it provides a spectacular conclusion to a series hailed as one of the great works of modern literature. At the start of House of Glass , Minke, writer and leader of the dissident movement, is now imprisoned--and the narrative has switched to Pangemanann, a former policeman, who...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140256792
• ISBN13: 9780140256796
• Release Date: July 1997
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.0" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A must-read book!

The book awakens national consciousness.It is an inspiration to those who dream of true freedom and oneness.

powerful look at indonesia from the inside

Really an excellent series.... :

I thought it was great!

The character development and subtleties of the story as it progressed really got my attention. This book inspired me to read the other three books of the quartet, though I would recommend reading them in order. References to some of the minor characters of this book (which were major ones of earlier books) were confusing without the context of the first three, but echo larger with that context. The shift in perspective, revolving around events common to the third book but covering different ground, was done extremely well. The author captures the erratic, rising wave of nationalism seeping out of an awakening people, and immerses the reader in the context of the age, without shying away from a lurking sense of tragedy.

A colonial middleman's dilemna

This book tells the story of Jacques, a native Indonesian policeman, and his conflict in carrying out the law of his European bosses to provide for his family. He seeks the rank and monetary priviledges of climbing up the administrative ladder, even though no native has been fully accepted in higher circles. But this same Western law demands that he attempt to destroy a well-known and loved native nationalist, Minke, whom Jacques greatly admires. As the story progresses and Jacques is given greater rank and responsibility in suppressing nationalist sentiment, the policeman feels his self-respect, integrity, and health slipping away. Every day is a constant battle to reconcile his own needs with those of his own people. His emotional and physical struggles are depicted in beautiful, flowing prose and dialogue. If ever a book could describe the colonial experience from the perspective of the native elite working within the European framework, this would be it

--Divided loyalties in the Dutch colonial secret police--

The fourth volume of Pramoedya's Buru quartet investigatesissues of power and complicity through the narration of thehighest-ranking Native in the colonial secret police, whose task is to observe and obstruct the development of Indonesian nationalism in 1910s Java. Choosing career over conscience, he comes apart as he sinks deeper into the moral quagmire of colonialism. Historically rich, politically astute and psychologically complex, this compelling book by Indonesia's most original writer manages to make its thoroughly abhorrent anti-hero sympathetic.