Murjangkung

Title: Murjangkung, Cinta yang Dungu dan Hantu-hantu

Author: A.S. Laksana

Publisher: GagasMedia, 2013

Pages: 214

I enjoy reading literature although sometimes after finishing the book I get more headache than enjoyment.. haha.. but still I read it once in a while to balance my reading experience.  A.S Laksana, the author of Murjangkung is one of my favorite among other literature authors.  I started to enjoy his works during 1990s when I still studied at my college and at that time De Tik Tabloid was considered as a mandatory read for almost all of the college students until it was revoked by General Soeharto regime together with Tempo magazine and Editor magazine on June 21, 1994.  I remember every time I got De Tik edition, I always read a column written by  A.S. Laksana first  before I continued with the headline news. I think I was kind of addicted with his  writing which is simple yet deep.

Murjangkung is A.S. Laksana's second short stories compilation after Bidadari yang Mengembara, the best literature in 2004 as stated by Tempo magazine. Murjangkung tells about 20 short stories. 20 differrent flavors of short stories that will take readers' mind somewhere, far far away, beyond our imagination. Read each story slowly, enjoy the strong characters, smart dialog, rich description and details and of course unpredictable endings. 

Although it's a literature but the author not using any poetic words that will make the reader tired or confused on the contrary he delivers the stories by using the power of storytelling. He uses complex yet clear sentences. Those power makes this book unputdownable. You just can't stop until it's finished.