History YMMV / BuruQuartet

* BadassDecay: A lot of characters from the first book get hit with this as the series progressed, especially by the time ''Child of All Nations'' rolls around. It's worse to note that the trope occurs the most in [[UnfortunateImplications female characters]].

* BrokenBase While ''Bunga Penutup Abad'' is not without its own flaws, a huge majority of the Pramoedya's fans adored it; the 2019 [[TheFilmOfTheBook movie adaptation]], however, pretty much awakened the relatively-dormant fandom to a chaotic FlameWar between people who think the film has done a great service to the novel's profound complexity and those who think it's a [[AdaptationDecay dumbed down theme-park version]] of an epic literary masterpiece, with many complaining about its inappropriate emphasis on [[RomanticPlotTumor the romance between Minke and Annelies]] as well as its HollywoodHistory reinterpretation (despite the source material's otherwise being very [[ShownTheirWork intricately researched]]) as its biggest letdowns.

* RomanticPlotTumor: Minke's constant pining for Annelies in ''This Earth of Mankind'' is often criticized to be one of the book's most negatively distracting points, and Annelies' generally [[FlatCharacter rather unremarkable]] characterization as well as her [[SatelliteLoveInterest most defining role]] certainly don't help at all, especially when compared to [[IronLady her mother]].

* CompleteMonster: Robert Suurhof, who is gradually revealed to be one of the book's most perfect example of a HateSink. He had a brief, misleading HeelFaceTurn during the BreatherEpisode of the first book only to come back to square one when [[spoiler: the colonial government caught up to him overseas and sentenced him to hard labor]] in ''Child of All Nations''. He had pretty much gone off the deep end when Minke encountered him again in ''Footsteps'', filled with so much IrrationalHatred towards him and [[BoomerangBigot indigenous people]], and depending on how you read the scene [[spoiler: and perceive whether he really was the Indo thug [[DiabolusExMachina who suddenly popped up]] in ''House of Glass'' ' penultimate section only to make the [[HeroicBSOD already-depressed Minke]] die faster]], had horribly crossed [[MoralEventHorizon the line]] [[spoiler: by physically threatening the perfectly capable doctor who was supposed to treat his treatable illness.]]

* ToughActToFollow: A lot of fans who have watched ''Bunga Penutup Abad'' think the 2019 movie is this compared to it, whom they regard as a superior adaptation that managed to capture the postcolonial spirit of the quartet more successfully even with a far more limited budget and cast.

** Miriam Delacroix [[spoiler: later Frischboten]] has lost all of her biting wit and capability as an observant intellectual critic [[spoiler: by the time she reappears in ''Footsteps'', in which her character is [[CharacterDerailment unfairly reduced]] to that of a [[MyBiologicalClockIsTicking baby-obsessed harpy]]]] and is only central to the book's whole [[spoiler: MamasBabyPapasMaybe soap-opera subplot.]]

* BaseBreaker: While ''Bunga Penutup Abad'' is not without its own flaws, a huge majority of the Pramoedya's fans adored it; the 2019 [[TheFilmOfTheBook movie adaptation]], however, pretty much awakened the relatively-dormant fandom to a chaotic FlameWar between people who think the film has done a great service to the novel's profound complexity and those who think it's a [[AdaptationDecay dumbed down theme-park version]] of an epic literary masterpiece, with many complaining about its inappropriate emphasis on [[RomanticPlotTumor the romance between Minke and Annelies]] as well as its HollywoodHistory reinterpretation (despite the source material's otherwise being very [[ShownTheirWork intricately researched]]) as its biggest letdowns.

** Poor Annelies Mellema, who gets introduced as a [[WiseBeyondTheirYears remarkably talented, intelligent teenage businesswoman]] yet gradually dwindles down to a [[WomanChild childlike]] DamselInDistress the more the plot [[BreakTheCutie breaks her down]]. [[spoiler: Even worse, she gets a sudden BusCrash, like, 10 minutes into the second book and the characters cope with it later by ''trying to not mention her in conversations''.]] Not that the degradation of her mental and physical state isn't entirely unjustifiable, given [[{{Melodrama}} the tone]] of the series' [[DeusAngstMachina plot]].

* BrokenBase: While ''Bunga Penutup Abad'' is not without its own flaws, the 2019 [[TheFilmOfTheBook adaptation]] of ''This Earth of Mankind'' pretty much awakened the relatively-dormant fandom to a chaotic FlameWar between people who think the film has done a great service to the novel's profound complexity and those who think it's a [[AdaptationDecay dumbed down theme-park version]] of an epic literary masterpiece, with many complaining about its inappropriate emphasis on [[RomanticPlotTumor the romance between Minke and Annelies]] as well as its HollywoodHistory reinterpretation despite the book otherwise being very [[ShownTheirWork intricately researched]] as its biggest letdowns.

* SpotlightStealingCharacter: Annelies is Minke's most famous LoveInterest at the expense of his other arguably more solidly-written wives.

** Juffrouw Magda Peters, Minke's [[EccentricMentor eccentric]], but exceptionally inspirational teacher, gets [[spoiler: DemotedToExtra]] following her [[spoiler: [[PutOnABus deportation to the Netherlands]]]] and pretty much quickly [[spoiler: ''[[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome disappears]]'']] from the subsequent three books.

* BadassDecay: A lot of characters from the first book get hit with this as the series progressed, especially by the time ''Child of All Nations'' rolls around. It's worse to note that the trope happens the most to [[UnfortunateImplications female characters]].

* BadassDecay: A lot of characters from the first book get hit with this, especially by the time ''Child of All Nations'' rolls around. Many of them are [[UnfortunateImplications women]].

* BaseBreaker: While ''Bunga Penutup Abad'' is not without its own flaws, the 2019 [[TheFilmOfTheBook adaptation]] of ''This Earth of Mankind'' pretty much awakened the relatively-dormant fandom to a chaotic FlameWar between people who think the film has done a great service to the novel's profound complexity and those who think it's a [[AdaptationDecay dumbed down theme-park version]] of an epic literary masterpiece, with many complaining about its inappropriate emphasis on [[RomanticPlotTumor the romance between Minke and Annelies]] as well as its HollywoodHistory reinterpretation despite the book otherwise being very [[ShownTheirWork intricately researched]] as its biggest letdowns.

* FandomBerserkButton: Expect to have a few, if not outright ''many'', devoted fans of the books march at you with torches and pitchforks for daring to argue that the entire bulk of ''This Earth of Mankind'' can be boiled down to a [[RomanceNovel tragic love story]] between Minke and Annelies. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Let's just say that]] Hanung Bramantyo triggered this button much to the... [[{{Understatement}} chagrin of Pramoedya's fans]].

** Poor Annelies Mellema, who gets introduced as a [[WiseBeyondTheirYears remarkably talented, intelligent teenage businesswoman]] yet gradually dwindles down to a [[WomanChild a childlike]] DamselInDistress the more the plot [[BreakTheCutie breaks her down]]. [[spoiler: Even worse, she gets a sudden BusCrash, like, 10 minutes into the second book and the characters cope with it later by ''trying to not mention her in conversations''.]] Not that the degradation of her mental and physical state isn't entirely unjustifiable, given [[{{Melodrama}} the tone]] of the series' [[DeusAngstMachina plot]].

** Miriam Delacroix, [[spoiler: later Frischboten,]] lost all of her biting wit and capability as an observant intellectual critic [[spoiler: by the time she reappears in ''Footsteps'', in which her character is [[CharacterDerailment unfairly reduced]] to that of a [[MyBiologicalClockIsTicking baby-obsessed harpy]]]] and is only central to the book's whole [[spoiler: MamasBabyPapasMaybe soap-opera subplot.]]

** Poor Annelies Mellema, who gets introduced as a [[WiseBeyondTheirYears remarkably talented]], intelligent teenage businesswoman yet gradually dwindles down to a [[WomanChild a childlike]] DamselInDistress the more the plot [[BreakTheCutie breaks her down]]. [[spoiler: Even worse, she gets a sudden BusCrash, like, 10 minutes into the second book and the characters cope with it later by ''trying to not mention her in conversations''.]] Not that the degradation of her mental and physical state isn't entirely unjustifiable, given [[{{Melodrama}} the tone]] of the series' [[DeusAngstMachina plot]].

* BadassDecay: A lot of characters from the first book get hit with this, especially by the time ''Child of All Nations'' rolls around, with many of them being [[UnfortunateImplications women]].

** Juffrouw Magda Peters, Minke's [[EccentricMentor eccentric]], but exceptionally inspirational teacher, gets [[spoiler: DemotedToExtra]] following her [[spoiler: [[PutOnABus deportation to the Netherlands]]]] and pretty much quickly [[spoiler: ''disappears'']] in the subsequent three books.

** Poor Annelies Mellema, who gets introduced as a [[WiseBeyondTheirYears remarkably talented]], intelligent teenage businesswoman yet gradually dwindles down to a [[WomanChild a childlike]] DamselInDistress the more the plot [[BreakTheCutie breaks her down]]. [[spoiler: Even worse, she gets a sudden BusCrash in the prologue of the second book and the characters cope with it later by ''trying to not mention her in conversations''.]] Not that the degradation of her mental and physical state isn't entirely unjustifiable, given [[{{Melodrama}} the tone]] of the series' [[DeusAngstMachina plot]].

** Poor Annelies Mellema, who gets introduced as a [[WiseBeyondTheirYears remarkably talented]], intelligent teenage businesswoman and gradually dwindles down to a [[WomanChild a childlike]] DamselInDistress the more the plot [[BreakTheCutie breaks her down]]. [[spoiler: Even worse, she gets a sudden BusCrash in the prologue of the second book and the characters cope with it later by ''trying to not mention her in conversations''.]] Not that the degradation of her mental and physical state isn't entirely unjustifiable, given [[{{Melodrama}} the tone]] of the series' [[DeusAngstMachina plot]].

** Prinses van Kasiruta, Minke's [[spoiler: [[LadyOfWar fearsome, gun-toting]]]] last wife, [[spoiler: who, like Magda Peters, virtually disappears from ''Footsteps'' following her attempted murder of Suurhof's Indo-European [[TheKlan anti-indigenous hate-group]]]] and only [[spoiler: reappears in ''House of Glass'' to have Pangemanann [[KickTheDog hand her]] [[PluckyGirl persistent ass]] a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown]]. She promptly got [[spoiler: dragged stage left, destination Bacan, after the beating and is never seen again.]]

** Prinses van Kasiruta, Minke's [[spoiler: [[LadyOfWar fearsome, gun-toting]] last wife, [[spoiler: who, like Magda Peters, virtually disappears from ''Footsteps'' following her attempted murder of Suurhof's Indo-European [[TheKlan anti-indigenous hate-group]]]] and only [[spoiler: reappears in ''House of Glass'' to have Pangemanann [[KickTheDog hand her]] [[PluckyGirl persistent ass]] a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown]]. She promptly got [[spoiler: dragged stage left, destination Bacan, after the beating and is never seen again.]]

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Concerns regarding the state of literacy in Indonesia are apparently not entirely unfounded.