Indonesia, Etc.

Exploring the Improbable Nation

By: Elizabeth Pisani

Narrated by: Jan Cramer

An entertaining and thought-provoking portrait of Indonesia: a rich, dynamic, and often maddening nation awash with contradictions. Jakarta tweets more than any other city on earth, but 80 million Indonesians live without electricity and many of its communities still share in ritual sacrifices. Declaring independence in 1945, Indonesia said it would "work out the details of the transfer of power etc. as soon as possible." With over 300 ethnic groups spread across 13,500 islands, the world's fourth most populous nation has been working on that "etc." ever since.

Bewitched by Indonesia for twenty-five years, Elizabeth Pisani recently traveled 26,000 miles around the archipelago in search of the links that bind this impossibly disparate nation. Fearless and funny, Pisani shares her deck space with pigs and cows, bunks down in a sulfurous volcano, and takes tea with a corpse. Along the way, she observes Big Men with child brides, debates corruption and cannibalism, and ponders "sticky" traditions that cannot be erased.

©2014 Elizabeth Pisani (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Very informative and entertaining book

Any additional comments?

I like this book. The author is very candid on her impressions and made some effort to put things on context. I wish somebody would write something like this for my country (Philippines). Indonesians and Filipinos seems to have a lot of similarities.

Interesting and informative.

It's a little hard to listen to with the sing song narration. The performer seems like a mismatched to the writing style. We tried to listen to it on a road trip and after a few minutes we looked at each other and said pass.

I came back to it because I wanted to learn about Indonesia and I'm glad that I listened to it. The author is obviously smart and the content is interesting, but sometimes it feels like a text book.

Capturing the essence of Indonesia

What made the experience of listening to Indonesia, Etc. the most enjoyable?

If you want to know, I mean really start to know Indonesia this book is a great place to start. It wont tell you everything, no book can. What it does do is give you a varied and in-depth information about the people, politics, and culture of Indonesia. I dare say no other book provides such an accurate snapshot of Indonesian culture. The author is informed, non-judgmental, and has the years of experience necessary to explain some of the nuances of the culture.

What does Jan Cramer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

A good narrator that fits ones impressions and expectations of the the author.

Fascinating book!

I love how this book weaves personal narrative and history/geography together to give a portrait of the country of Indonesia as a whole. The author does an excellent job conveying what a miracle it is that Indonesia even exists as a nation, given how massive and diverse of a country it is. The accounts of her travels are daring, colorful, and funny, and she brings the historical and sociological background information into the story in an organic and interesting way. The narrator for the audiobook is very expressive and engaging and fits the material well, one of the best non-fiction narrators I've heard so far.

Indonesian speakers beware!!

What made the experience of listening to Indonesia, Etc. the most enjoyable?

I really enjoyed the perspective of the writer. Having lived in Indonesia, Jakarta only. It was nice to hear more about the other provinces.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Jan Cramer?

I would have preferred to have the narrator pronounce the Indonesia words closer to the correct Indonesian pronunciation. There were far too many times the narrator's pronunciation of Indonesian words were so far from correct, I had no idea what she was saying. It forced me to rewind the narration and listen two or three times before I was able to decipher the word. I don't know why the author allowed this to happen.

Any additional comments?

The story was compelling enough for me to struggle through the poor pronunciation. Please Dr. Pisani, don't let anyone convince you to Anglicize the pronunciation of Indonesian words in books about Indonesia.