Fierceland

Omar Musa’s second novel, Fierceland, begins with a familiar domestic scenario in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. Two children, Rozana and Harun, desperately want their father, Yusuf, to buy them a new video game, The Legend of Zelda. Brother and sister are united in their fixation and agree that this is the best video game ever, even though neither of them have ever played it. This is not some pipe dream; Yusuf is a wealthy businessman – owner of Italian silk ties and sports cars – who has the means to buy his children whatever they want.

Yusuf is in the vanguard of Malaysia’s economic boom and when he takes Roz and Harun on a business expedition deep into the jungles of Borneo, we begin to discover the dark side of his wealth – the destruction of ancient trees and ecosystems to make way for monolithic palm plantations. As Roz and Harun reckon with this shocking truth, their relationship begins to splinter and their lives take divergent turns, sending them to different parts of the globe. A family tragedy sends them back to Borneo and forces them to confront their complicity in the environmental destruction of their homeland.

Kaleidoscopic in narrative scope and form, Musa traverses the jungles of Borneo, elite Sydney boarding schools, the glass-making workshops of Murano and Nigerian palm oil laboratories. While the focus of the story is on Roz and Harun, the novel is told from the perspectives of many different characters, jumping between the years, decades and centuries. While Musa propels the story forward with more straightforward narrative prose, the chapters are interwoven with poetry and verse. Musa started out as a poet and performer and there is real lyric beauty and rhythm in this writing.

This is an ambitious and important novel that interweaves Malaysian history, environmental degradation, cultural heritage, artistic endeavours and fucked-up families. And that description doesn’t even scratch the surface. Highly recommended.