3.5 stars

Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash is the third novel by award-winning Indonesian author, Eka Kurniawan to be translated into English. In his early teens, Ajo Kawir witnesses a vicious assault which renders him impotent. Thereafter, he takes out his frustrations on anyone nearby who’s willing to fight. When he happens on Iteung, a tough fighter who is also a beautiful girl, his life changes: he’s fallen in love. But surely Iteung will not want an impotent husband?

Fast forward eleven years, and Ajo the ex-con is driving trucks for a living, avoiding all fighting and living a peaceful life. His kenek, a kid called Gaptooth Mono, has other ideas, however. And the stowaway in his truck, Jelita, there’s something about her…

Kurniawan gives the reader an original plot while managing to include a good helping of black humour, plenty of irony, corruption and a man who talks to his penis (which occasionally answers him). He easily conveys the Javanese village, the truck stop, and the male teen mindset. Readers should be aware that there is quite a lot of explicit sex as well as a surfeit of violent fights and dangerous truck driving and the plot necessitates frank discussion of genital organs. Some readers may find the erratic punctuation (quote marks often present for dialogue, but not always), and the switches between time periods, irritating. It is flawlessly translated from Indonesian by Annie Tucker. Funny and a bit crazy.