Winner of the prestigious Pegasus Prize for Literature, And the War Is
Over is a taut novel set in and around an Indonesian village as news of
Japan's surrender gradually makes its way to her far-flung army. War has
transformed the quiet Sumatran village of Teratakbuluh, bringing with it
the officious, often incomprehensible members of the Japanese army and a
camp where Dutch internees are put to hard labor. Some of the Dutch are
plotting escape, and the Sumatrans in the village are divided on whether
to help or to avoid involvement. The Japanese officer Lieutenant Ose
struggles with his conscience -- how to handle the love he feels both
for his Javanese servant and his wife, who has betrayed him for a
powerful general, and how to cope with the impending end of a war he
never wanted to be involved in. As the Dutch escape and the news of
surrender loom nearer, tensions between the Japanese and the Sumatrans,
within the Dutch camp and within the life of the village, explode into a
final, heartbreaking act of violence. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote,
has the dramatic intensity of a kick in the guts.... [Marahimin's]
mastery of the universe he's created is flawless. What is remarkable ...
is that we finally get the familiar war from an unfamiliar,
non-combatant, Asian point of view. -- Bharati Mukherjee, The Washington
Post Book World [A] deep and complex novel. The author is searching
for redemption for all humans. -- Abigail F. Davis, Rocky Mountain News
(Denver)
