Saya merinding membacanya. Tersayat. Pedih. Melebihi apa yang pernah saya rasakan sebelumnya ketika membaca laporan panjang John Hersey dalam "Hiroshima" di The New Yorker. Sebagai penulis, keduanya telah sampai pada tingkatan mumpuni. "Writing an exact", kata Francis Bacon dalam esainya "Of Studies".
Riset mendalam. Mewawancarai banyak orang. Ditambah kejelian memilih angle. Menjadikan Alexievich punya bahan yang cukup untuk menggambarkan suasana kebatinan yang
terjadi saat itu. Bagaimana rasanya kehilangan. Sekaligus mengajak kita bagaimana mesti menyikapinya. Seribu orang mati itu statistik. Tapi bicara kematian seseorang adalah tragedi. Its keywords.
I don't know what I should talk about—about death or about love? Or are they the same? Which one should I talk about?
We were newlyweds. We still walked around holding hands, even if we were just going to the store. I would say to him, "I love you."
But I didn't know then how much. I had no idea . . .
We lived in the dormitory of the fire station where he worked. On the second floor. There were three other young couples, we all shared a kitchen. On the first floor they kept the trucks. The red fire trucks. That was his job. I always knew what was happening — where he was, how he was.
Di sini dua emosi bisa saja dimuntahkan bersamaan: happiness n sadness. Such is the power good writing. Bagaimana menurutmu?
#EdisiTanpaKata
