A Soliloquy

When I looked at the title, I had this feeling of low interest because I thought I was too old to read this? Guess, who ended up buying this anyway. I still remember when I looked upon Shopee, one of the e commerce’s, I had a confusion about choosing another book to buy. I finally bought Little Women after thinking for such a long time to buy the Indonesian version or the English version. However, buying one book will be cost more than two books in one shipment in order to cover the shipping fee, right?

For me the title is self is too straightforward but thankfully the book cover is pretty cute. When I first read chapter one, typical, it was talking about a dream in which many writers of self-development books usually write. I feel more interested in the next chapter though. This book guides us to be “successfully managing life at 20ish” starts from the very basic and important thing that, perhaps, we usually forget of how important it is. Let’s say about time. I really love how the writer highlights the importance of being on time. As someone who is always on time and hate making people wait, I whole heartedly wish Indonesian people READ this. Being on time doesn’t mean that we have MUCH time but because we RESPECT others. Please, know the difference.

In the next chapters, I start feeling this book quite interesting. I used to think this book will talk mostly about the steps and the skills (technical factors) of the youth for this era but it turns out that this is giving insights about how the habit shapes us, especially for the youth. The writer, Juhyung Kim, says to build a habit in the age of 20 ish other than 3 (?) years old or the kid’s age. I totally agree? I mean, people often say we have to build the habit since the kids but how do we know that our habit is aligned with our future if we haven’t even known what our dream is? Also, Juhyung Kim, reminds us about how the importance of managing the relationship with family & friends, constantly making me look miserable of how incapable am I in maintaining the relationship, even with myself?

Who thought I would be impressed with the content? You Guys out there, reading this book will not make you automatically successful but rather than that, it makes you appreciate your youth by doing the best. At least, you will not have a regretful feeling in the future, in the worst scenario that you do not make it. The quotes here ARE TRULY relatable. I read many quotes from the self-development book but the quotes here really makes me thinking and contemplating. However, I still do not like the title (7,5/10). 

 Pic source: here

After watching the movie adaption, I had this tendency to read the book version, especially after watching the bad review of the film which at first, I found a weird thing at the fact that the majority of the film critics are mostly good. I had this hard time choosing between the English version or the Indonesian version due to these reasons:

1. This is a classic novel means it has some hard vocabulary. Back in 2020 when I purchased Oliver Twist (a classic novel), I gave up after some pages just because it stressed me out to understand each sentence. 

2. If I buy the Indonesian version, I have to prepare the feeling of the bit forces between the casual and formal language. Not to mention the misspelled. 

However, after thinking for a long time, I finally chose the Indonesian version one :) Yeay

This book is talking about a March family with four daughters in which each of the girls has a different personality that could complement each other. Meg, the oldest is described as the beauty in the family, has fair skin, and has this willingness to be a lady surrounded by luxury goods, and she loves attending the party. Joe, the second is described as brave, stubborn, smart, tomboyish, and not your typical type of girl in that era but she cares and willing to sacrifice for her family (somehow, I mistook Joe as the oldest. Sorry Meg). Beth, the third is described as the musical girl who loves to take care of the dolls, and very very shy. She is closed to Joe the most. And Amy, the youngest is described as an artist, annoying, talkative, and loves jewelry. They live with Marmee (their mother) and Hanna (the keeper). 

The early chapter is highlighting the characters and relationship of each figure. You will not find any complicated plot as this is basically talking about the daily lives of commoners. The pace is slow and I always try to find the early problem as I think the plot is very flat. Even it has a slow pace, I kind of enjoy it as I imagine how to live with many girls in a house with no man. However, I could not stand the chapter that shows the drama description. I think it is too long, more than three pages that I found boring. In almost the end chapter, I finally found the problem that makes me more interested. My favorite chapter is chapter eight when Joe regretted her action that almost makes Amy killed. The scene between Marmee and Joe is very beautiful when Marmee told Joe that she has the same characters to control the emotion as Joe but slowly she could eliminate it for almost 40 years. Everything takes to process and time :( I feel so related and it reminds me of how my characters also developed progressively. 

I used to think, "Why I do not find the problem almost in the mid of the pages," that I just found out it has two volumes, the first is Little Women and the second is the Good Wives. I feel so dumb, if only I knew earlier, I would buy the second book as well :/ 

Overall, I enjoy reading this book but I can not lie that the Indonesian translation is so hung up like the translator could not determine the language style. And so many misspelled that I really disappointed. This makes me want to buy the English version, though. If you want to read a book with a kind of flat plot with focuses more on the characters and relationships within the family, this is the book (8/10).

Onward, another typical of Disney x Pixar movie that showcases the relationship within the characters. The scene was opened with a brief history of the magic world that was slowly forgotten by people due to the advance of technology. There is a family that consists of three people, the mother, the first son (Barley), and the youngest (Ian). Barley, a careless, noisy, and short thinking kind of brother while Ian is constrained, careful, and tend to think a lot. They obviously have quite opposite characters.   

On Ian's 16 birthday, he gets a present from his father who had passed away. Surprisingly, the present is a magic stick (with the diamond?) that should be cast to awake his dead father for 24 hours. Due to the lack of magic knowledge, Ian only could awake the lower part (the legs and hip) of his father's body. So instead, he has to find a way aka look for the diamond. The adventure begins. My favorite scene is when Ian crosses the invisible bridge roped off by Barley to assure his safety to not fall but it breaks without Ian's concern in the second half. Such a tense scene, I love how it shows the trust of each other and how Barley overcome his worries without showing it to Ian. It is not easy, I guess. There is also one scene when Ian let Barley replace him to talk to his father before him gone. The emotions and sincerity of Ian hit me hard. We know he really wants to meet or just even stare at his father for a moment, knowing that he never interacted before. Instead, he let Barley who basically had known and felt the warmness of his childhood with him. I cried so much because of this scene. 

This movie may not be having a really high score or even many of the reviewers feel a bit disappointed knowing the fact that they always compare to Coco or Inside Out. I agree, this movie is not as good as Coco but I still feel enjoying it so much.

a. Animations, I would give 8 as for Pixar standard, I know it could be better. 

b. Storyline, I would give 7,8. It's very enjoyable but there are some missing points. Also, the transition from the real world that changed to the magical world is a bit rushy. 

c. Characters, I would give 8. It's typical, unsurprising, but it's still given me the feeling. I just really love the character's development of both Ian and Barley. 

d. Screenplay, I would give 7. Disney x Pixar has a slightly different type of screenplay while Pixar is more matured, I guess. 

e. Music, I would give 7. It's good but forgettable. 

Pixar never failed to make me cry, no exception for Onward. I started crying when Barley sacrifices his beloved car crashed to save both of them and how Ian let Barley meet their father for the last time. It's a pure brotherhood love.