Horrible realization: I'm getting too old for Josei. I'm identifying pretty well with Deborah until she's hit with the epiphany that she's in love with the ML; then she's from another dimension.
How. Why. What you doing, woman.
idk wht kind of idea you have for indonesia, but no white girl would be treated so poorly by the authorities. Other than tht i do agree w ur thoughts on the ML. Somehow he does seem like yout typical STEM major tho lmao
I haven't been to Indonesia since 1996, and I didn't have any conflict with the authorities in the short time I spent there. My opinion is probably coloured by reports of what happened to Michelle Leslie in 2005, and the fact that the Human Rights Watch said that it was far better to be in prison than in police custody in Indonesia. As to whether being white would matter for treatment by the authorities, I really hate that idea. I'm a caucasian male and I find it obscene that people who aren't are treated differently under the law. Main point is that he was a royal SOB for threatening her with law and incarceration (for something that was no fault of her own) if she didn't fall in with his stupid and cowardly plan. If he'd tried that on a male (assuming something other than pretending to be a wife), he would expect to have his teeth shoved down his throat. My poiint: He's a cowardly, misogynistic douche bag.
you, my dude, give me faith in humanity (＾◡＾)
Ansh999: Thank you for your reply. I'm a 63 year old cis-male feminist. I'm also a retired US Marine, whose wife of 37 years and whose sister are both former Marines. None of us play that patriarchal crap, nor am I pushed into any kind of "all males are scum" from living with three very intelligent women (my niece included). I'm a romantic who reads Jane Austin, Georgette Heyer, and Dorothy Sayers and love their works. I'm as about as incel as St. Francis of Assisi, and (as I've said before on various forums), I both love and like women.
I also hate and despise the idea that "white is right." My white parents taught me a great deal better than that. Both gone, I regard them as the greatest examples about how I should think and act toward everyone, regardless of colour or ethnicity. 22 years in the Marine Corps also gave me the incredible priviege of meeting many people of colour, including Terrance Jackson, Elzie Jefferson, Rodney Roberson, SSgt Ferrel, SgtMaj Hunter, Mathias Grey, and a real host of others, both male and female. I also met many people with Islamic, Asiatic, and Hispanic names and backgrounds. Many of them are what make the United States great. Some others make their own nations, Jordan, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Oman really great.
I feel so incredibly privileged to have met all of these people, and I want the United States to be the place that nurtures this kind of meeting. We aren't perfect, but the beliefs I was brought up with and also given by the U.S. Military (not just Marines, but Navy, Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard) have given me the beliefs I hold dear to this day.
You make points I had not even thought of while reading it. And I cannot disagree with you about any of them...
I liked her quite a lot. As to the ML:
1. He blackmailed a girl who had her luggage and passport stolen by threatening to report her to the Indonesian authorities, where she could be held ad infinitum in jail and possibly starved and raped there.
2. He spent most of their time together telling her how unattractive and useless she was.
3. He still let the other woman (Sylvie) lead him around by the nose while acting like a jealous pre-pubescent teenager every time anyone male spoke to his (fake) wife.
4. To sum up my opinion: He was a pretentious butthead, with as much right to the title of Gentleman as I do to the title of His Holiness the Pope.