Really pleased to see that this book has been longlisted for the National Book Awards for translated fiction!

“Night of a Thousand Hells” really draws you in from the beginning. The key plot point could be overdramatised in the hands of a different author, but Paramaditha masterfully weaves in themes of religious fundamentalism as part of a broader story.

Ultimately a tale of three sisters, the book navigates several important themes related to family, gender, and class and is written in a unique and dynamic way. I really enjoyed this one and recommend it, especially for those who enjoy character driven fiction, mythical elements, and are interested to learn more about contemporary Indonesia.

Intan Paramaditha’s tale is a testament to the expanse a novel can hold. I’m astounded by how much she was able to explore here: dysfunctional family dynamics, suffocating customs, identities and destinies, politics, oppression and liberation. So I agree that this would not be a ‘horror’ novel as it is many more! The precision and elegance of her writing (and the translation), alongside the character work, are all so excellently done.

In this novel, we follow Mutiara and Maya in the aftermath of an unimaginable act: their sister, Anissa, with her daughter and husband, straps a bomb to her waist and sets it off in a community centre.

For the majority of the novel, I was haunted by the same question that haunts the sisters: why did Anissa do this?

In search of the truth, Mutiara and Maya return to their childhood, literally combing through their lives and confronting Indonesian mysticism and occult traditions (many of which I had to Google!), only to uncover more family secrets and broken hearts that have only now become visible. It’s a horrific situation, and those left behind are grasping at straws, trying to make sense of something that perhaps can never fully make sense.

Whether or not they find the answer, I’ll leave for you to discover! But what became clear to me was that in their preoccupation with finding out, they eventually had to confront a more difficult present: the impossibility of making peace with the victims, and the fact that they will have to live their lives forever entangled with what Anissa did.

A devastating, expansive novel about what happens to those left behind when there are no easy answers.

The story centres on three Indonesian sisters, one of whom, the youngest, commits a suicide bombing in the opening pages of the book, together with her husband and their two young children. As this heinous act quickly reverberates through the lives of the two surviving sisters, everything is turned upside down, and their already precarious emotional existence is shaken to its foundations.

Mutiara, the eldest, is in her forties and leads a deeply religious life in Indonesia. She lives alone with her cats and focuses much of her life on caring for her dying father, having previously done the same for her mother. Maya, the middle sister, lives a secular life in New York, is involved with a married man, and is working on a novel about her grandmother's life. Annisa, the youngest, the prettiest, and her father's favourite, married young, had children, and somehow became radicalised.

The narrative moves between the sisters' childhood and the present, as Mutiara and Maya reconnect after years of limited communication. Chapters alternate between their perspectives, while even Annisa is given a voice through journal entries from her early twenties, as well as through newspaper coverage of her attack and its victims.

The story touches on many themes, but naturally focuses most strongly on the impact of a suicide attack on the surviving family members of the perpetrator. This is by far the most unusual and compelling aspect of the novel. The author deals unflinchingly with the search for causes and explanations, gradually bringing home the idea that ultimately nothing can warrant or adequately explain an act such as this.

Within this, there is a great deal about family relationships, the importance of family, and the possibility of personal growth once one begins confronting the emotional baggage families place on one's shoulders. The role of women is also prominent and explored from numerous angles within a paternalistic hierarchy, across generations, social roles, and family relationships.

I also liked the way the author tackles queer life and what queer individuals sometimes have to go through in order to survive and thrive, as well as the possibility of doing so regardless of religiosity. We see what it means to be trans or lesbian within these environments, and how profoundly the denial of one's identity can damage the possibility of happiness.

I found the writing compelling as well. The book was difficult to put down, and I enjoyed it tremendously, both because of the quality of the writing and because of the plot, which functions almost as a mystery. The sisters search for an answer to a riddle, gathering clues and uncovering more about themselves in the process, even if Annisa's ultimate motivations remain elusive.

The book is excellent, and yet something prevents me from giving it full marks. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what that is: the writing, character development, pacing, and themes are all strong. Perhaps it is the language, which occasionally leaves something to be desired (in translation, of course). Or perhaps it is simply too polished, creating a little too much distance between the author (and therefore the reader) and the emotional rollercoaster the novel depicts. Somehow, it often feels as though one is reading about these emotions rather than experiencing them oneself.

Either way, this is an excellent novel, and I hope to read more by this author. It has echoes of Tanizaki's "The Makioka Sisters", Chekhov's "Three Sisters", and, to some extent, Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov", drawing on similar ideas of sibling relationships, family expectations, guilt, and moral responsibility while using them to create something distinctly its own.

4.5* rounded up.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.