https://jurnal.ugm.ac.id/jurnal-humaniora HUMANIORA Vol. 31, No. 3 (October 2019) An adjective is needed to describe something to facilitate recognition. ‘Sophisticated’ becomes an adjective that appears when the book titled “Kura-kura Berjanggut” is read. Although the contents of this literary work are not linear with random time series, this story is indeed worthy of winning the Khatulistiwa Literary Award in 2018 as the best prose category. Azhari Aiyub, as a writer, and Yusi Avianto Pareanom as an editor completed this 921-page novel for 12 years. This literary work was developed from the short story “Hikayat Kura-kura Berjanggut” which was once rewarded as one of the 20 best Indonesian short stories in 2008. Some parts of this novel have also been written in a collection of short stories “Perempuan Pala” written by the same author with a diferent publisher. The development of a short story into a very thick book indicates how well organized between one story with another story in this book. The storyline with the background of the Lamuri/ Aceh Sultanate in the second half of the end of the 16th century contains a large number of characters as well as interrelated stories which then become the cause and efect of episodes. The fow back and forth can make the reader have difculty if they are not familiar with historical terms related to Lamuri and the countries in the Malacca Strait. Even so, Azhari Aiyub provides a glossary arranged alphabetically and explained with sentences that are easy to understand on the last pages. The main problem raised in this novel is international trade capitalism from a spice that was so prized in the 16th century namely pepper. The pepper trade monopoly by the trading company called Ikan Pari Itam, made the joint venture indirectly control the Lamuri sultanate including who would sit in the sultan’s seat. The friction between the Ikan Pari Itam Trading Corporation and the Lamuri Sultanate became the beginning of conficts that began from rebellion, adventure, as well as other stories. This book is divided into 4 parts, namely “The Book of the Ujud”, “Diary of Tobias Fuller: The Murderers of Lamuri”, “Worm Holes”, and “Bantaqiyah Woyla Notes”. “ The Book of the Ujud” makes up almost two-thirds of the entire book. This part is also the center of the story. Initially, the four parts do not appear to be related. However, after being read sequentially to the last part, the last three parts turned out to be a complement to the “ The Book of the Ujud “. All three fll the space left in the frst part of the story until the end of this book makes the reader feel empty because the amazing story has ended with many defeats from each character. Ujud sought revenge on the bastard of Sultan Lamuri for killing his whole family. The journey of Ujud is the beginning of a story flled with adventure. Ujud’s desire for revenge killed Sultan Nuruddin as a bastard became the central story. The writer then ran back and forth telling him why the bastard ended up being Sultan Lamuri. The Ikan Pari Itam trading corporation which controlled the pepper trade also controlled the Lamuri sultanate at the time. The Sultan who was ‘driven’ then began to realize it along with the presence of two women who later one of them became his wife and his advisor to carry out his sultanate’s duties. At that time the wife was already pregnant until the term of the illegitimate child appeared. The sultan’s awareness then made the Ikan Pari Itam trade corporation unhappy. The climax was the killing of the mother of sultan’s bastard named Ramla. After the death of Ramla, the sultan’s bastard was BOOK REVIEW Kura-kura Berjanggut Author: Azhari Aiyub Publisher: Banana Year of Publication: © 2018 ISBN 978-979-1079-64-8 Sani Asmi Ramdani Lestari Independent Writer, Indonesia Email: saniiramdanii@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.22146/jh.v31i3.49768 page 342—344