A Whiff of Truth

Despite boasting perennial nobel candidate and literary giant Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Indonesia's best-known cultural stars tend to spring from the small screen. So when a 27-year-old with a keen eye and quick wit penned a devastating examination of some of the country's most taboo subjects, it wasn't just the critics who were amazed. The only thing rarer than a female author in Indonesia is a best-selling one, a distinction Ayu Utami earned after the 1998 release of her first novel, Saman . The book, which has sold more than 100,000 copies and been reprinted 34 times, has made Utami the leading light...