Book Review : Dear Nathan by Erisca Febriani

 

Lately, a lot of works by local authors have been adapted from Wattpad with a book cover that reads "Has been read a million times". Maybe it's to attract readers, right? The impression is that if it has been read a million times, it means that the work is good and must be read.

As an alumnus of Wattpad readers, I was interested and ended up buying the novel entitled Dear Nathan because all the MEGA BESTSELLER taglines on the cover are quite eye-catching.

Yep. This time I want to review the novel "Dear, Nathan" by Erisca Febriani. This novel is a romance fiction genre. But, it's not just love. To be honest, this novel is more to value friendship and family things. There are 520 pages divided into 31 chapters.

 

It all started when Salma moved from Bandung to Jakarta. In Bandung, all of Salma's friends were good maybe some of them were nerd. 180 degrees different from the reality she faces at her new school. In Jakarta, this very innocent girl attends Garuda High School, one of the favorite high schools in Jakarta. Garuda High School can be said to be the school that changed Salma's life, because the majority of its students are students who like to start a fight like a normal high school student.

One day, Salma came late to school. And that's something he's never done before. Salma was very scared and confused about what she was going to do. That's where he met Nathan for the first time. The bad boy in school. It was from that meeting that it all started. Salma's peaceful life slowly change

Nathan never expect that he will fall in love with Salma, a new student who never dated before. Nathan whos known as a bad boy eventually fall for salma's innocentness. He is badboy, but he's not a playboy. Many girls being crazy about Nathan. But, unfortunately, the innocent Salma never realized that it made Nathan start to feel bored to chase. He thought he was pushing Salma too hard. Until finally Nathan decided to keep his distance from Salma.

“Dan seandainya pemilik hati kamu adalah saya, ke mana pun kamu pergi, hati itu pasti akan balik kepemilik sejati dan Tuhan punya seribu satu cara untuk mendekatkan kita lagi. Tapi kalau bukan milik saya? Tuhan juga punya banyak cara untuk nemuin kamu dengan yang lain." - Nathan 

"And if the owner of your heart is me, wherever you go, that heart will surely return to its true owner and God has a thousand and one ways to bring us closer. But if not mine? God also has many ways to find you with others" - Nathan.

Turns out that behind Nathan's sneaky behavior, there are many big secrets hidden. Nathan has complicated family problems. Conflict with his father, his mother who is desperate because his son (Nathan's twin, Daniel) died, and his best friend who left.

 

I really like this novel and I'm amazed by Erisca who can make me fall in love with Nathan. I even imagined that there was a figure of Nathan in the real world ehehe. The story is packaged crisply so it makes you want to read every page. At first I thought the main character would be Salma, but it turns out that Nathan is the source of the story. Nathan, who is still in tenth grade, is a person with principles and really respects women. Even though he's have a bad behavior, in my opinion it's still a reasonable limit for a young boy. In fact, it will be really bored if high school kids just stay calm.

I can learn a lot from this story. Like, we can't just judge people. Even though he's a bad boy, we have to understand why he acts like that, because I think there are many factors that cause it. And we can't immediately block the person without getting to know them first. If this story is told, it's like the character Nathan who looks jerk but has principles and is what he is. Even he is rich,but not arrogant. Handsome, not a playboy either. Not like Aldo, the student president who looks like the ideal high school girl guy (smart, friendly, wise, etc.) but turns out to be able to do eww things in the student room.  

 

I really like Nathan's character. Even though he's a bad boy, he's not picky, he's very humble. He can be friends and be friendly with abang ketoprak (he's not ashamed to eat on the side of the road, even though he's also rich). Something like this deserves to be an example (in my opinion). Because not many people want to be down to earth. It's too compartmentalized caste like that.

In this story we can also learn how to appreciate what we have. In fact, Nathan only lived alone at home with his maid. His twin died while following him in a fight and that made his mother insane. Under these conditions, his father chose to exile his mother to a pavilion with only a nurse. And his father decided to remarry and live in a different house with Nathan. However, in the end Nathan and his father realized that they only had each other. Forgiving each other is the key to harmony so that the two of them can be reunited.

Overall, this novel is highly recommended. I like the flow, what makes it not quite right is the grammar. There are some things that don't suit me. It's like the way Nathan and Salma talk 'saya-kamu' is just weird. Why not 'aku-kamu' is more hearable. Then there are also some that don't connect like the reverse of the language. It's a shame, even though the story is already good and the characters are also strong.

Okey, that's all from me, see u on my next blog peeps!<3