Review

When LA-living Sharlot’s strict but loving Indonesian mum catches Sharlot in a compromising situation with her (now suddenly ex-) boyfriend, she whisks Sharlot off to Jakarta for the summer. Sharlot’s never been to Indonesia before — her mum doesn’t even like to talk about it — so it’s a huge culture shock. She’s never met her own cousins. And when her mum sets up a fake social media account for her and starts messaging a properly brought up Indonesian boy on her behalf about how much “she” loves cooking (not true) and has never had a boyfriend before (definitely not true), Sharlot loses it. And now she’s going to have to meet this loser guy, who apparently loves hard work and calculus? Worst. Summer. Ever.

George Clooney Tanuwijaya (yes, really) is the only boy in a mega-rich, super-prominent Chinese-Indonesian family, and he’s about to launch an app about toxic masculinity. Unfortunately, when his dad barges in on him, catching him in a compromising position with himself, he decides that his son and heir needs a good Indonesian girlfriend. And he finds one for him online! She’s great! She loves to cook and has never had a boyfriend! His dad messages back about how much “he” loves to do maths (no) and provide for his family (what?). They’re going to have a coffee date!

Sharlot and George, worn down by their families’ emotional blackmail, reluctantly meet up, and find each other physically attractive, but thanks to the awkwardness of the situations and their perceptions of each other’s goody-goody online personas, it’s not a success. Under pressure from family, business and media, they agree to fake date each other for a while, just until George’s app launches and everyone gets off their backs.

However, seeing beautiful Indonesia with George, on (family-chaperoned) dates and activities, Sharlot starts to catch feelings for Indonesia. And her family. And, well, maybe someone else as well…

*

I loved this fun, kooky, high-energy rom-com. Sutanto has a knack for screwball comedy and wacky, cartoonish family dynamics. The opening scenes are to die for, especially George’s, and the narrative zips along in Sharlot & George’s alternating first person perspectives. The vibe is very much Crazy Rich Asians, so if you enjoyed that, check this out. I started and finished it in one day. Yes: binge-reading, my favourite thing.

I was also very jazzed about the Indonesian setting (Sutanto is a Chinese-Indonesian writer), which is super prominent, as Sharlot has never been there before but comes to love it. I love painlessly learning about new cultures, especially ones so close to Australia. Also, my school teaches Indonesian, among a bunch of other languages, and I like to be able to represent all my school’s language options in our Languages Week display. Previously, I did not have very tempting options for Indonesia, but now I do (this book & the companion novel Didn’t See that Coming, which features Sharlot’s cousin Kiki). Look at the cover. It’s adorable! I will be hand-selling this novel like crazy.

Due to the very comedic but mildly risqué opening scenes & references, I will be putting this novel into senior fiction (Year 10 & up), although it’s probably fine for mature Year 9s. 384 pp.

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17 year old Sharlot decides to have sex with her American boyfriend – he unhooks her bra, but then she clasps it to herself because she changes her mind (at that point, her mum comes in); George is sprung masturbating to “vanilla” porn by his dad and sister (no on-page detail!) – he minimises the porn, leaving a gnome and badger on the screen, leaving him open to (comedically untrue) suspicions of unusual sexual tastes; comically overbearing but loving family dynamics; brief but generally comedic discussion of catfishing and how it’s not okay; brief mentions of toxic masculinity (not encouraged); some slut-shaming (not encouraged, and it ends happily); patriarchal norms in Indonesian society are seen but also discussed, with authorial disapproval of sexual double standards; brief discussion of LGBT discrimination in Indonesia; a couple of fairly chaste kisses; a sprinkling of swear words (f-words, s-words, a “c-u-next-Tuesday” & a sprinkling of other minor swears); very small amount of alcohol and a LOT of caffeine (did not know that Indonesia was so into coffee – educational); main romance is mlw; minor romance is wlw.

*

Sutanto, J. Q. (2022). Well, that was unexpected. HarperCollins.

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I read this novel for free thanks to a school library — support your school library by visiting & borrowing!