Saturday, April 9, 2016

Book Review: The Alpha Girl's Guide by Henry Manampiring


the alpha girl's guide henry manampiring gagas media

Judul: THE ALPHA GIRL'S GUIDE
Penulis: Henry Manampiring
Penerbit: Gagas Media
Terbit: November 2015
Format: Paperback
Tebal: 253 halaman
ISBN: 9789797808488
Harga: Rp 65.000
Rating: 5/5 stars

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To be honest, aku belum pernah baca buku motivasi (kecuali kamu menganggap buku-buku Mitch Albom termasuk motivasi). Sebab, aku merasa buku motivasi itu membosankan dan kebanyakan menggurui. Siapa sih yang suka digurui? Apalagi anak zaman sekarang kan kritis banget. Mereka pasti punya jawaban untuk semua jawaban (entah benar atau salah). Tapi, saat baca buku Om Piring ini, aku sama sekali nggak merasa digurui. It's true. Aku mem-follow Om Piring di Ask.fm dan aku personally suka jawaban-jawabannya. Agak ''slengekan'' mungkin? Padahal Om Piring bukan generasi Z, tapi dia cool banget. Aku selalu rela stalking Ask.fm-nya setiap membuka aplikasi itu (kecuali jawaban tentang jam tangan ya). Well, enough praising, let's get to what's inside the book!

''Dalam hidup ini tidak ada yang pasti.'' [halaman 24]
Sepertinya quote itulah yang selalu aku iya-iya kan. Dalam The Alpha Girl's Guide, Om Piring ngasih banyak banget quote yang relatable. Thanks to his followers yang sering bertanya tentang kegalauan perempuan, Om Piring akhirnya bisa menulis buku yang berisi rangkuman jawaban dan sekaligus menjadi guide untuk menjadi seorang Alpha Female. Bukan guide yang paten sih. Tentu aku nggak bisa melaksanakan semua himbauan Om Piring dalam buku itu. Tapi, at least tulisannya bikin pikiranku terbuka (isn't that the book's goal?) dan introspeksi diri.

Mulai dari pentingnya pendidikan sampai pernikahan, semua dibahas tuntas. Oleh karena itu, kalau kamu jadi temanku di Goodreads (kalau belum, add ya!), kamu mungkin notice kalau aku mulai membaca buku ini sejak Januari. Wow, kok lama? Well, membaca buku ini memang harus diresapi (bagiku sih). Di awal buku, Om Piring juga menghimbau pembacanya buat kritis, nggak menelan mentah-mentah tulisannya. I did that dan hasilnya ya sekitar dua bulan proses membaca itu hehehe. Sering kali aku merasa, "Lho, nggak gini harusnya," atau "Ah, nggak juga." I don't blame him tho. Tapi, pengalaman membaca yang seperti itu ternyata sangat menarik. Biasanya kan pembaca cuma bisa fangirling tokoh utama atau nge-bully villain.

Selain itu, bahasa yang dipakai benar-benar enteng, tapi nggak picisan (tahu kan picisan itu yang gimana?). Waktu baca The Alpha Girl's Guide tuh kayak "duh, aku keren banget." Yap, kadang aku pernah merasa nggak pede menenteng kemana-mana buku yang harus aku baca. Sayangnya, buku ini bikin aku menoleh ke belakang. Mengingat-ingat kejadian yang sudah terjadi. Mulai dari alasanku nggak pernah mem-bully orang (berdasarkan fisik) sampai sikapku ke orang ketiga. That's why aku nggak mau terlalu panjang menulis review buku ini. Bawaannya pengin curhat, Sob!

Overall, aku sangat merekomendasikan buku ini buat semua orang yang mau membaca. Nggak cuma cewek ya. Buku ini mungkin bisa menginspirasi cowok-cowok juga (penulisnya aja cowok lho). Aku bersyukur bisa membahas buku ini di halaman DetEksi Jawa Pos (sekarang berubah nama jadi Zetizen) pada Desember tahun lalu. Aku berharap halaman itu menginspirasi banyak orang buat membaca sih. Pssst... Yang mau baca, coba check website BukaBuku. Lagi ada diskon besar tuh!

"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." - Henry Thomas Buckle [halaman 62] 

Book Review: Lucky Me by Saba Kapur

Lucky Me Saba Kapur
Title: LUCKY ME
Author: Saba Kapur
Publisher: Amberjack Publishing
Published: April 2016
Pages: 446
ISBN: 978-0-6925-3639-1
Price: $11.95 [Amazon]
Rating: 2/5 stars

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"A jealous boyfriend, a manipulative arch nemesis, a creepy stalker, and a frustratingly good-looking bodyguard. Throw in some pom poms and a stolen cheer routine, and I was the definition of cliche." - Chapter Two

I know, you might be wondering why did I choose this kind of book at the first place? Lucky Me is definitely not my cup of tea. Please don’t judge. I was trying to explore new things. People who like this kind of story might give this book more than two stars. So, if you’re a fan, stop reading and find the review somewhere else. If you’re omnireader, or you have the same taste as me, keep going. I’ll explain more about the book.

Lucky Me is about a spoiled girl named Gia Winters who lived in a big mansion with her celebrity dad, Harry, and her brother, Mike. She had her good reputation, coolest squad in school, and the perfect boyfriend, Brendan. Saba Kapur did a really good job in writing the opening, I guess. It was written in form of fairy tale because Gia’s life is like fairy tale in Hollywood version. Her mom was also a celebrity, but she lived in different city. So, you can imagine how glamorous her life was right? For me, it was like reading Legally Blonde’s story (except Gia wasn’t that smart).

After the short and refreshing opening, I was brought to the point of the story. Danger. Yep. On the first chapter, Harry told his children that they could have been in danger because of something. That was why he hired bodyguard for each of them. The bodyguard would follow them everywhere, including pretended to be cousin when they were at school. Can you guess what happen next? If you’re smart, you must know that Gia’s bodyguard turned out to be super hot, super handsome, and super mysterious. I was like, seriously??

‘‘...a young, blonde-haired guy who was standing only an inch away. His eyes were blue, but not piercing, and I was standing close enough to see tiny bits of grey in them. He was the kind of attractive that you don’t come across too often, the kind that makes you all excited. He was the type of guy who you’d tell your friends asked for your number at a bar, when really all he did was walk past you.’’ – Chapter One

Everything after was predicted. Super cheesy. With the love triangle between Brendan, Gia, and Jack the bodyguard, I don’t understand why Kapur bothered to add one more guy to make Gia’s heart complicated. It was the cutie police. I know that a story comes from writer’s imagination, but sometimes you have to keep it real in order to make the reader feel related. I got bored easily and tended to skim. Kapur also described too many things in details. It wasn’t the fantasy kind of world. Most readers know how Hollywood’s life looks like. I think Lucky Me becomes a really thick book with no reason (sorry to say).