Recently, i have read a book made by Pramoedya Ananta Toer called "Bumi Manusia". In it there are a lot of characters, but, there are 3 main characters that keep appearing. Which are: Minke, he is the main character, he is an 18 year old Indonesian native. Nyai Ontosoroh/ Sanikem, is the mother of Annelies  Mellema and husband of Herman Mellema. Annelies Melllema, she is the daughter of Sanikem, and the wife of Minke, Annnelies also has a brother, called Robert Mellema. This book has 20 chapters and 538 pages. And is set to be in the old Dutch indies.
To me, this book is very good, but the story is also very tragic. In the end, Annelies was sent to Amsterdam, the place of Herman Mellema's real wife, and son is (yes, sanikem isn't Mr. Mellema's real wife). Then Minke and Annelies's marriage was all for nothing. And Sanikem lost both of her children (Robert left recently).
The story goes like this:
Minke is a student in the H.B.S Dutch school in Wonokromo, Surabaya, and lives at the 'Telinga residence, owned by Mr and Mrs 'Telinga (they are not his real parents, his real parents are just keeping him there so he can go to school). Minke can go to school because his dad is the mayor of .B. (i the book, it doesn't specify what town it is, and its referred to, as .B.). That's why he is staying with Mr and Mrs 'Telinga.
The Mellema's own a company called boerderij buitezorg, and that's where Minke met Annelies. He went there with his friend (later in the story his enemy) Robert Suurhof. Robert Suurhof wanted to meet Robert Mellema. There he met Annelies, and she introduced him to nyai Ontosoroh/Sanikem. A year later, Sanikem wanted Minke to stay with them, because Ann, grew affectionate over Minke, but, Robert Suurhof was angry at Minke, because he also loved Ann, so he started spreading rumours about Minke. Now, Minke declined a couple of times, but eventually decided to stay with them.
Fast forward a year or two, Minke was called by his father because, he needed him as a translator at a party, cause he can speak Indonesian and Dutch (and his dad was also angry at him, because he was involved with a nyai). But all is forgiven when at the party, the assistant director was impressed with his ability, and even invited him to his house. Minke is also a writer his, alias is Max Tolenaar.
Fast forward two or three years, the death of Herman Mellema caused many-many problems for Minke, nyai, and Annelies. The real son and wife of Herman Mellema (Amelia Mellema Hammers, and Ir. Maurits Mellema) claimed 15/16 of the land and treasure of boerderij buitezorg and only giving Annelies and Robert 1/16 of the land and treasure. But, with Robert missing, the land is to be held by Ir. Maurits Mellema, until Robert is found. Because Annelies has no admitted mother, she was sent to Amsterdam, to be taken care of by Ir. Maurits Mellema. Then Minke and Sanikem said they're last goodbyes.
Basically, that is how the book ends, and, i closed the first book from Pramoedya Ananta Toer's roman tetralogy (tetra means 4). Honestly, it is amazing, but tragic. And Pramoedya Ananta Toer is one of my idols, heck, I'm even named after him! This basically ends this essay. And i apologize for any spelling mistakes and misinformation. For further information you can read the book, or an E-book. His writing is really-really good. I also sort of hate the fact that he spent most of his life i jail because his books go against the norm at the time. Anyways, that concludes number 21, or 20 for the ones who don't know.
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