Lead Review

• Book: Love and Death in Bali
• Location: Bali
• Author: Vicky Baum

Village life is described in exquisite detail by Baum, as are all the customs and rites. She’s really captured the essence of the Balinese way of doing things, their sense of ethics. My only problem was on the factual side, specifically how much of it was fact and how much was the fancy of an outsider? The puputan at the end is horrific, but only briefly touched on, as if she was shying away from the awfulness of the event.

Back to book