 Some Western critics, including Dutch critic A. Teeuw and writer A. H. Johns, consider it to be the first true Indonesian novel, as opposed to "Azab dan Sengsara", which was less developed in its theme of forced marriage and the negative aspects of "adat".Teeuw wrote that the moral messages and sentimentality in "Sitti Nurbaya" are overdone, similar to "Azab dan Sengsara".However, he considers the plot of "Sitti Nurbaya" more interesting for a reader from a Western background than the older novel.