On a basic level, the simple and somewhat graceless prose deadens the scenes, contributing to the atmospheric effect. However, this choice matches and benefits the story’s development. Goenawan will throw in a sentence revealing important emotions: “I wished everything that had brought me here had been a dream.” From there, Ren will immediately launch into thinking about the “prominent politician” Mr.

Some of Goenawan’s prose reads awkwardly throughout the text, especially in her descriptions that clearly lack any sort of imagery.

Characters explore faulty relationships in distinct ways, showing Goenawan’s compelling thoughts in different areas. Furthermore, she discusses relationships between different characters by carrying themes between them. Ren has faults-Goenawan makes him human and presents him exactly how he is.

She explores the deep thoughts of multiple characters within single chapters, giving the reader multiple perspectives of similar events. Through the mixing of timelines, Goenawan also manages to interweave distinct lives and experiences into a single entity. The format that Goenawan chooses takes apart the standard novel structure and replaces it with a thrilling unraveling of a single, complex mystery. The connections between his memories and his present experiences are so strong that the pair buoy each other to benefit the overall plot. Instead, current events in Ren’s life trigger memories of Keiko that slowly unfold to piece together her story. She avoids revealing details about Keiko and her murder in the typical murder-mystery format. Goenawan writes achronological sequences that are both easy to follow, yet fascinating to experience. Goenawan uses her experiences as a short story writer to her advantage, weaving together a complex string of events that are seemingly unrelated, yet mesh perfectly. Ren makes realizations as the novel unravels the burgeoning secrets that Keiko concealed from Ren. The novel portrays different periods of Ren’s life, shifting between present day and various snippets of past experiences with Keiko. Her shocking death makes him question his understanding of her as an innocent girl. The novel begins with Ren learning of his sister’s murder. In her debut novel “Rainbirds,” Clarissa Goenawan explores the relationship between Ren Ishida, a Japanese graduate student, and his sister, Keiko.

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