All That Is Gone Book

This collection of semi-autobiographical short stories is set in a small rural town in Indonesia. The book begins with some coming-of-age stories of a young man, but most of the action takes place during WW II. Recall that Indonesia was a Dutch colony. (Even today that connection persists: if you've cruised on Holland America, the ship is staffed by Indonesians; the Netherlands houses 400,000 Indonesian immigrants.)

During WW II the Japanese invaded the island nation and displaced the Dutch. At first, some locals were pleased to replace European masters with their Asian kinsmen. That attitude didn't last long. After the War the Dutch returned and the Communists rose to throw out the Dutch colonizers again. Meanwhile an anti-Communist Republican movement formed. A nasty quirk of fate placed this particular region in a strategic location, so wave after wave of competing armies took over the town, retaliating against those whom they saw as having helped the previous occupiers. Even pre-teen girls were forced into military service. Several stories follow one family as parents and older children are conscripted or killed. The oldest child left behind assumes the head of household position and tries to keep the family together during a time of starvation and privation.

To say that war is hell trivializes the situation these folks endured. It is fitting that Toer memorialized these events and the lives of these individuals during times that tested the limits of human endurance. Toer (1925-2006) is a classic nationalistic writer and the book is translated from the Indonesian.