Gerhana Kembar, a novel by Clara Ng

Lendy, book editor on big publishing house got bit surprise when she found old manuscript and letters in her grandmother’s cupboard. Now, her grandmother’s is dying because of cancer in hospital. Lendy read the story as if she go inside the locked world. The deeper she read, the more concern she felt about the story that it is a true story. Story that her grandmother kept for a long time. Story that involved her grandmother’s past and as the link to her existence in the world. With the story, Lendy learned her life and her relationship with her mother: try to be honest to herself, feel free to forgive and be friend with the past.

The story is the journey of the heart. Story about family: bravery, power and toughness. Love story that will never lose its meaning though it is between two women.

I feel I was being cheated. When I read the synopsis on the back of the book, I thought this story is about fantasy world mixed with real world. In few chapters, I realized and sure this is homosexual story. Wow! Ms. Ng is brave to write novel with sensitive theme. I kept on reading because I wanna know the ending. It flowed smoothly. And my sympathy to them is increasing a lot, especially to Diana and Selena in this story. It’s not they want to become like that. They struggle between themselves and family. And the family win. They sacrifice their life and they don’t insist to get what they really wants.

I have to confess: I thrilled when I read and imagined how Diana and Selena showed their love. They have to play hide and seek. In our society, life and relationship like this is not normal. But I don’t care with what they do (it’s their life and I can’t step forward to play as judge or to be their heroine with joining homosexual organizations). My head is spinning and I have to stop for a while to calm down myself. I said, “This is what they feel, this is what they face everyday for the rest of their life, this is their world.”

The story consist of two sections: (1) Lendy is looking for the truth from manuscript she found and (2) Diana’s writing, told by turns per chapter to the ending of the story. The story is beautiful. Diana’s and Selena’s fighting to be together is hard. Separated in different continent, they can be together again after 47 years (although it only happened in story written by Diana).
NB: I prefer not to read such story anymore. One is enough knowing their feeling.

Book-O-Meter