All That Is Gone

Many of the stories in this volume are based on Pramoedya's own childhood and depict children struggling to make sense of adult motives and behavior. A boy bursts into uncontrollable tears when his father, who always tucks him in bed, doesn't come home one night and his mother cannot offer him a reasonable explanation. An eight-year-old girl, who is soon to be married off by her parents for money, brags to her playmate about the pretty clothes and makeup she will acquire. And a child's heart pounds in terror as he awaits his ritual circumcision, but he remains determined to do what it takes to become a true Muslim.
Other stories portray the disillusionments of adulthood, in particular the brutality of war and the uneasiness of peace. An idealistic young soldier witnesses the barbaric beating of a man accused of being a spy. A blind paraplegic, a veteran of the war against the colonial government unleashes his rage and frustration on his mother. And a middle-aged patriot is left with no choice but to comply when Communist troops knock on his door and take him away.

Pramoedya Ananta Toer is the author of more than thirty books, including The Fugitive, The Mute's Soliloquy, and The Girl from the Coast, and is published in more than thirty countries. He has been called "Indonesia's Albert Camus" (San Francisco Chronicle). The Los Angeles Times compared him to James Baldwin and Dashiell Hammett. And he is listed in the updated edition of the classic Lifetime Reading Plan among the likes of Bertolt Brecht, Graham Greene, and John Steinbeck as one of 100 authors everyone should read. He has been profiled in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and other major publications around the world. He is the recipient of numerous international literary awards (such as France's Chevalier award and the highest award in Asian letters, the Magsaysay award) and freedom-of-speech awards (such as the PEN Freedom-to-Write award and the Hellman-Hammett award). He lives outside Jakarta.