This book addressed some of the points that I’ve had problems with from the first installment. How enigmatic Minke is, how he, as a native, only writes in Dutch and extremely ‘european-minded’ and who at the end of the day is still a very privileged person who doesn’t quite understand the hardship his fellow countrymen had to endure during those time. Plot wise it is still almost non-existent and might I add, the story gets so convoluted in the middle, it felt like a crash course to world history, especially when Minke was in the ship on the way to Jakarta. The book ends with again, a courtroom scene and the Wonokromo gang (Mama, Minke, Darsam, etc.) confronting the Mellema engineer who wanted to take over their business and attacked his character, which I think was very satisfying indeed.
I didn’t like this book as much as I liked the first one just because I thought it was boring and I was losing interest in the story. Not quite sure if i’d pick up the third installment anytime soon.