Description of book
The charismatic god-king Sukarno has brought Indonesia to the edge of chaos - to an abortive revolution that will leave half a million dead. For the Western correspondents here, this gathering apocalypse is their story and their drug, while the sufferings of the Indonesian people are scarcely real: a shadow play.
Working at the eye of the storm are television correspondent Guy Hamilton and his eccentric dwarf cameraman Billy Kwan. In Kwan's secret fantasy life, both Sukarno and Hamilton are heroes. But his heroes betray him, and Billy is driven to desperate action. As the Indonesian shadow play erupts into terrible reality, a complex personal tragedy of love, obsession and betrayal comes to its climax.
Reviews
'A very fine example of what Australian fiction can do. It is intelligent, compassionate, flavoursome, convincing, and well constructed . . . In Billy Kwan Mr Koch has created one of the most memorable characters of recent fiction.'
Anthony Burgess, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
'The characterisation is subtle and strong. The device of the wayang puppets is fiendishly clever.' IRISH TIMES
'An unusually mature work of fiction - well conceived and beautifully executed. Mr Koch has always been a substantial talent; here his talent attains its full growth.'
Larry McMurtry, THE WASHINGTON STAR
'Everywhere, it glows with the lucidity of very mature art. It is a profound and beautiful book, symphonic in its structure and recurrences.'
Les Murray, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
'A sensitive and profound book, beautifully written and painstakingly researched.'
Laurie Oakes, THE AGE, Melbourne
'Chris Koch has written an historical novel that plays no tricks with the key personalities . . . and is as rich in insights as it is in the characterisation of Billy Kwan - and Sukarno.'
Denis Warner, SUNDAY TIMES,
'Koch writes brilliantly and sympathetically through his characters of the political figures of the time . . .
He also unfailingly conjures up the atmosphere of Indonesia.'
Mike MacLachlan, FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW