REVIEW The Lonely Hearts Club

Buat penggemar The Beatles wajib baca buku ini. Mengapa? Pertama, dari judul buku ini kita dapat menebak bakal The Beatles banget: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Kedua, tokoh utama bernama Penny Lane. Yup, selain dirinya yang bernama persis seperti lagu The Beatles, kedua kakaknya juga bernama sesuai judul lagu The Beatles; Lucy in the Sky with Diamons dan Lovely Rita.

Cover versi Indonesia ini sebenarnya unyu banget, tapi versi aslinya lebih pas karena The Beatles banget, mirip cover album Abbey Road (1969):

Siapa pun yang pernah berpegangan pada lagu seperti rakit kehidupan musik pasti mengerti. Atau memutar lagu untuk membangkitkan perasaan atau kenangan. Atau mendengar soundtrack di otak ketika teringat suatu percakapan atau adegan. (hlm. 12)

Seperti ababil pada umumnya, Penny Lane mempunyai angan-angan manis yang sempurna: memiliki cowok idaman. Dan, kenyataan membuat mimpinya runtuh seketika. Nate, teman masa kecilnya ternyata tak sesempurna yang ia sangka. Berawal dari rasa sakit hati, dia mendirikan klub cewek jomblo: The Lonely Hearts Club! Bukan sekedar klub, bahkan ada peraturan dan panduannya loh… 😀

Dengan menjadi jomblo, bukan berarti tidak bisa bahagia. Itulah yang diharapkan Penny dengan merekrut cewek-cewek di sekolah. Seperti tagline di cover ini: Siapa bilang cewek enggak bisa eksis tanpa cowok? 😀

Cerita ini memang diperuntukkan untuk remaja yang masalahnya seputar PACAR atau PERSAHABATN. Mana yang akan dipilih Penny Lane?!? Kisah yang dikemas manis ini tidak hanya sekedar menghibur, juga memberikan petuah apa arti sebuah persahabatan. Lewat tangan Mbak Rini Nurul Badariah, terjemahannya pas sesuai bahasa abege dengan tidak menyimpang dari isi cerita; Iiish, bro, galau, so sweet, dan sebagainya.

Tidak semua cowok di planet ini mengerikan. Bagaimana dengan ayahmu? (hlm. 20)

Seorang cowok bisa mengencani dua cewek baik secara bersamaan, sedangkan kami para cewek bahkan sulit menemukan satu cowok yang pantas. (hlm. 32)

Kita semua pernah tersandung polisi tidur beberapa kali dalam perjalanan. (hlm. 11)

Berikut wawancara dengan penulisnya tentang buku The Lonely Hearts Club yang disadur dari:

http://www.thecompulsivereader.com/2009/12/lonely-hearts-club-by-elizabeth-eulberg_29.html

What sparked the idea for The Lonely Hearts Club? Was it a particularly bad boyfriend, or a culmination of them?

I did use a lot of not so pleasant experience with guys I’ve dated for the book (as well as stories from my friends). However, the idea for the book came from a night out with a friend who is that girl whose life always needs to revolve around a guy (we all know the type!). We were hanging out and she ignored me the second she got attention from a guy. Instead of throwing myself a pity party, I thought: You know what? I have so many amazing single girl friends. We should all go out on Saturday nights and celebrate our fabulous single lives. Then it hit me – THIS is what I should be writing about. Up until that time, I was working on a couple different ideas for a book, but they weren’t working. I knew that I could have a lot of fun with this idea.

It’s evident on nearly every page of the book that you like the Beatles, but are they the only musical group that influenced the book and/or your writing?

I LOVE music. I am always listening to music, even when I go to sleep. But for The Lonely Hearts Club, I only listened to The Beatles. It was weird when I started working on my next project to not listen to The Beatles while I write. I associate so many of their songs to the writing process for this book.

What was the hardest part about writing The Lonely Hearts Club? The easiest?

The hardest thing about writing The Lonely Hearts Club was finding the time to write. I have a pretty demanding job that sometimes requires me to travel for long stretches. So I would have to go months without being able to work on it. I also started writing without an outline, which I would not recommend doing. But once I got over those obstacles, I found slipping into Penny’s voice very easy. The other character which I really enjoyed writing was her best friend Tracy – she has some pretty funny, sarcastic lines that came out with too much ease at times!

My favorite part about The Lonely Hearts Club is (not to give anything away) how the book isn’t just about romantic relationships, but has a great message about friendship. Was that message something that revealed itself while you were writing the book, or was it something you thought about and intentionally wrote it?

I always knew that the Club would focus on girls putting themselves first before a romantic relationship. But as the book and characters took shape, the friendship between the characters became a lot stronger and I began to realize how much these girls could accomplish with such an amazing foundation. If there is one thing I would like people to take away from the book (besides having fun while reading) is for them to realize how important friendships are in life and to never compromise yourself for a guy.

Elizabeth Eulberg bisa dikunjungi di:

–          http://elizabetheulberg.com (websitenya manis, semanis orangnya :p)

–          @ElizEulberg

Keterangan Buku:

Judul                            : The Lonely  Hearts Club

Penulis                         : Elizabeth Eulberg

Penerjemah                : Rini Nurul Badariah

Penyunting                  : Dhewiberta, Dila Maretihaq Sari

Perancang sampul      : Itsna Hidayatun

Ilustrasi isi                   : Itsna Hidayatun

Pemeriksa aksara       : Intari Diah P., Pritameani, dan Nurani

Penata aksara             : Supardi

Penerbit                      : Bentang Belia

Terbit                          : 2012

Tebal                           : x + 282 hlm.

ISBN                             : 978-602-9397-00-0

Di mention donk ama penulisnya:

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