First of all, Thank you to Waliyadi for sending me the book to read and to review (despite the fact I have told you, I will write my review honestly)
Without realizing his power, Yuda Hueber had turned his high school into a school full of forbidden passion and he had burned Bandung with passion and lust. He did it with his cookies and cakes.
When Yuda Hueber’s mom passed away, he inherited a Cake Shop in Bandung. The shop belonged to his late grandma whom he never met before. He went to SMA 3 Bandung (SMA = High School). He had new friends there and wanted to do some business by selling cakes and cookies. He started learning how to make cakes. Without proper training, he could make amazing cakes and cookies because he was born with that talent…that magic talent.
His cakes influenced everyone who had eaten them. When Yuda was happy, people who ate them also became happy, when he was sad it also made them sad.
…but then, he fell in love with someone and he also felt betrayed. These two events shaped him into both caring and scary person.
When I first read the first few pages of this book, I was instantly intrigued by it. Yuda Hueber was an interesting character. He was half German, but his family joined VOC and that’s why his family could be in Indonesia. His mother died inside their burning house and he never knew his grandma. He lived alone and tried to figure out everything by himself…no one guided him with his supernatural power.
I NEVER wrote a book review with spoiler before, however since this book is a self-published book and don’t know when it will be translated into English, so indulge myself with spoilers 😉
What I like the most about this book is the idea of making a cake that can change people’s feeling and Yuda himself (like I said before, he is an interesting character)…BUT I have hard time believing how it ends so stupidly.
As you all know (if you come to my blog so often), I am not a fans of romance and silly exaggerated love story…unfortunately this book offers silly exaggerated love story. It was fine to read about Yuda’s overwhelming feeling toward Cerry, his first love…but when Cerry broke up with him, he lingered in the pain so long. I can understand the feeling of hate toward her, what I don’t understand is why he suddenly refused to eat just because he wanted to see her again? And then there was Radine, the boy Cerry fell in over and cheated over Yuda, he died while searching for her…oh come on!!
Maybe I am a weird person, but cakes that can influence people is more believable for me than dying for love. Loosing spirit and the will to live on just because the one they loved left them is simply bullshit! When someone you loved no longer loves you…move on!! That has been my motto since birth, so the idea of living in hell because a lost love is just unthinkable for me. I know, this comment only applied to me, other might like it this kinda of love story.
Another thing that bugs me so much is how everyone here cared more about appearance, I meant Cherry was pretty and Huda was handsome and then when Cerry fell in love with Radine was also because Radine was gorgeous. And I still couldn’t figure out why she was so attached to Radine even though in the beginning she liked him because of the magic that hypnotized the most of the girls in Bandung.
Apart from that, the book (even with many typos and other mistakes – this is his first draft) is quite interesting. I also like the friendship in this book, totally represent Indonesian high school kids. I also like how Yuda got his power, it ran in the family. His grandma was a witch. Overall, I enjoyed the book and I honestly think that it’s a great book for a first book.
Good luck with your book Wali 🙂
Book Details:
Title: The Cookies of Life – The Last Hueber Schokolandenhersteller
Author: JT. waliyadi
Pages: 211 pages
Language: Indonesian Language
Rating: 
Review dalam bahasa Indonesia
Polychrome Interest 
This reminds me of one of Elvira Mistress of the Dark films where a recipe is made that makes all of them a bit naughty, the recipe is so good that everyone is licking the bowl afterwards 🙂 I like the idea of this book that you are reviewing Miss. Novia and I think that a lot of others will enjoy the reading of it 🙂 Have a lovely rest of weekend my sweet and great friend 🙂
Andro xxxx
Your brief description of the movie does sound similar to the book. But I am sure the whole story is different.
Have a nice weekend, Andro.
It sounds like a very good concept for a story, but maybe it needs a little more refinement. I would have to disagree with you and say I think some people can become very disheartened if they lose someone they truly love. Love drives many people to do crazy things, including suicide and murder.
I agree…it’s a good concept but it needs something more.
I did say that it’s just me…I never buy a story where people went crazy over love. Maybe it’s because of how I was brought up, I love my God more than anything and anyone…so I never loved anyone or anything more than my God hence the idea of going insane over a person is just unthinkable for me. I can understand more if the love is of a mother/father over her/his children but not of a lover. Feeling sad yes but not till the level of suicide, that’s just silly…FOR ME.
Everyone is different, of course. And some are of course much more emotional than others.
I know 🙂
The part about his feelings coming out in his cooking and the love and betrayal reminds me of Like Water For Chocolate.
Is that a book or a movie?
Hehehe!! This movie loving Catgirl can help you with that… It’s both!!
It’s a Mexican novel that later got made into a movie. I was reminded of it too when I read this.
Here’s a peek at the Trailer..
Yep. Both. And the book started a short publishing movement called “Magical Realism.” All the rage in the late 80’s.
The rage? meaning many people protested the book?
Thank you sooo much Miyuki 🙂
When I saw the trailer, it does have the same atmosphere as the book, even though it is in Spanish I can still figure out what it said.
That one is the grown up version while the book I read is the teenager version.
I’d love to see it but I can see a lot of nudity there and I am a bit not comfortable seeing too much nudity.
All-the-rage as in very popular. Kind of an old way of saying it.
The trailer included nearly every nude scene in the movie, but yeah, all the nudity made me squirm too. Some of the more passionate scenes in the movie made me wince. But still a good movie.
Ah…thank you for the new idiom/term/phrase 🙂
I bet it was good, but I think I’ll pass on this for now.
Sounds like a good start to his writing career.
I agree 🙂
That sounds like a very honest review. Not over enthusiastic but still with plenty of really positive impressions. The idea isn’t ntirely new. Aimee Bender had a huge success with a book in which the protagonist feels the feelings of others when she eats what they have cooked, i think. (The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake) is the title. I’ve read Like Water for Chocolate but wasn’t too impressed.
I did warn him that I won’t speak sweet of something not sweet 😉
I like the title, the particular sadness of lemon cake…it’s already made the story sounds like a good story.
Why didn’t it impress you?