Book Review: INSURRECTO by Gina Apostol

Insurrecto by Gina Apostol

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"Maybe it is enough to know it, the past. Maybe change lies outside the story, in the countries we are still making up. I mean, can the exchange of our stories be a way of redemption?"

FINALLY got around to reading "Insurrecto," the novel with BenCab's "Woman with Fan" on the cover that everyone's been talking about!

It does, indeed, tell a story worth re-telling, and despite the return of the Balangiga bells only this past December, we still need to tell the story of the titular character, Casiana Nacionales. Samar's Gabriela Silang, the true-to-life heroine who was one of the leaders of the uprising against American conquerors.

It is NOT an easy read. And it is the difficulty of the prose that made me subtract a star. I'm someone who believes the best stories are the ones told simply. Although whether this is the author's unique voice or a style especially chosen to tell this particularly complex narrative is a mystery to me, as it is my first Apostol novel. It won't be the last.

What fascinates me the most about the book is Casiana Nacionales, whom I wouldn't have heard of had it not been for this novel. Her name was not written in history books, she was discovered only through the oral histories!! This fact highlights the importance of story-telling, in all its forms.

I won't go into the whole literariness of the novel, but suffice it to say that if you should undertake reading this, you better have access to a dictionary. Ahaha.

I do have so much awe for the sheer skill, the craftsmanship it took, to weave together three? four? different timelines, to skillfully portray the interweaving of past and present, to highlight the importance of keeping history and memory alive in today's age of fake news and historical revisionism, throwing in quotes from Shakespeare and Walter Scott and Chekhov along the way.

The passage that struck me the most was this:

"The pictures have no captions. Women cradling their naked babies at their breasts... A dead child sprawled in the middle of a road. A naked girl running toward the viewer in a field, her arms outstretched, as if waving. A beheaded, naked body splayed against a bamboo fence. A child's arms spread out on the ground, in the shape of a cross. A woman holding the body of her dead husband, in the pose of the Pieta."

Whether we are in Trang Bang in 1972, or Balangiga in 1901, or modern-day Manila, Apostol's message of keeping history alive reverberates urgently.



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Book Review: SENLIN ASCENDS (THE BOOKS OF BABEL # 1) by Josiah Bancroft

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"She had to leave and go someplace where she did not know every chasm and every foothold and leap. She had to rediscover fear and, tucked somewhere inside that fear, life."

I'd like to think that I don't judge a book ENTIRELY by its cover, but when the cover is THIS interesting and when it has a quote by Mark Lawrence saying that it is "One of my favorite books of all time," then I'd like to think I wouldn't be the only one buying it on the spot!

What a happy surprise to find out that it is the first in a series of four books, and that books 2 and 3 are available on the market!

Tom Senlin, idealist and teacher, loses his wife on their honeymoon trip to the Tower of Babel, and must find her, though he must scour the bottom of Hell itself as he faces the grime and dirt of real life away from his idyllic classroom.

The basic plot is simple enough. But the Tower and its inhabitants are described so well, it's almost like being there yourself!

Usually, in other epic fantasy works, a list of characters is needed, helpfully put at the beginning or the end of the book. But Bancroft's characters come alive, there is absolutely no need for additional aid in remembering them because they're like flesh and blood to me. That alone is a sign of a good author!

And what a tale he tells, I don't think I've ever read anything like it! It's about the everyman who starts off as a naive idealist, who meets with misfortune but chooses to press on out of love. By the end of the book he has become someone else, and changes his name accordingly. I can't wait to get to the next books, to see how his story unfolds, to see how much more he will change.


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Book Review: DEATH ON THE NILE by Agatha Christie

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"Do not open your heart to evil... Because—if you do—evil will come…It will enter in and make its home within you, and after a little while it will no longer be possible to drive it out."

Read this wonderful novel during a bus ride home, and there's nothing quite like the adrenaline rush you get when you're trying to finish the book before you get to the bus station 😂 Luckily I succeeded!

Classic Christie! It stands out for a particular reason, which I can't share because to do so would be to spoil the story. If you liked "Murder on the Orient Express," you will love this one.

Take a pack of seeming strangers, put them on a boat and sail them up the Nile... What could possibly go wrong on a vacation cruise? Apparently, a lot!

I like how every Christie novel is very similar and yet also very different from the others. Always, the piercing psychological insight and characterization of the cast is half the fun. (The other half is in madly flipping back and forth pages, rereading for clues when you finally find out whodunit) 😂

Can't wait to see a movie version of this!



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Book Review: SOLAR by Ian McEwan

Solar by Ian McEwan

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Was greatly disappointed in this one... And this is the first time I've said this of an Ian McEwan novel. I loved his previous works but this one was 283 pages worth of a brilliant author telling a very depressing tale that could have been told in 150 pages or less.

Others might find the Rabelasian mix of intellect and bodily functions funny, but I didn't enjoy the story of a brilliant intellectual bereft of morality at all.

Don't get me wrong. I am and will always be a fan of McEwan's. This book ought to be considered an anomaly.



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Book Review: THRONE OF GLASS by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"She slowly raised her face to look at him. She found the rolling earthen hills of the north in his eyes. It was a sense of loyalty to his country that went beyond the man seated at the table. Far inside of her, she found a golden chain that bound them together."

Formulaic as heck but hey, the formula works. Ahahaha. In Filipino we say, "Kinilig ako!“ (I got the chills from being romantically thrilled) ❤️

The heroine is beautiful, deadly, strong, and loves to read books. She needs to choose between the captain of the guard and the prince of the realm... Both of whom happen to fall madly in love with her. (Oh, and they also love to read books.) Add a pinch of magic, a dash of social injustice, and a whole lot of good writing and you get a formulaic story that delivers the goods.

Went down easily during a three hour stay at the airport. Delayed flight? No problem!
Formulas work!!! Now where can I get Book 2??!!



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Book Review (ARC): PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING by Randy Ribay

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"It strikes me that I cannot claim this country's serence coves and sun-soaked beaches without also claiming its poverty, its problems, its history. To say that any aspect of it is a part of me is to say that all of it is a part of me."

I can't thank Honey enough for gifting us with an ARC of this book. What a treat!!! Randy Ribay's powerful prose packs so much emotion in simple, easy-to-understand language.. . A winning combination for YA! He makes the familiar unfamiliar, and talks lovingly of both the good and the bad in today's Philippines.

This book is necessary reading because of its subject matter (the EJK's and the drug war) . But also, it's very pleasurable, too, when you have a writer this good. There were moments I laughed out loud, like when he observed how Filipino drivers used honking for echolocation, but towards the end I was just weeping silently as he concluded the story of a Fil-Am's search for the truth behind his Filipino cousin's death and the subsequent cover up.

It is so easy to fall into despair when thinking of the current situation, but Ribay's novel shines light on the way forward, full of hope and love and the belief in the intrinsic goodness of humanity, despite our flaws.



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Book Review: A DUTERTE READER edited by Nicole Curato

A Duterte Reader: Critical Essays On Rodrigo Duterte's Early Presidency by Nicole Curato

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"Perhaps we should first ask, how can the world pay better attention? To effectively condemn, it is first important to listen."

Written 6 months into the presidency, this important book is a collection of essays looking at the historical and social contexts that allowed our President's rise to power.

I once heard it said that "everything is political," and this book perfectly exemplifies this.

From Teehankee's situating Duterte's rise against past presidential regimes, to Evangelista's analysis of the President as merely a symptom of the problem that is the hetero-patriarchal social structure... From Arguelles' indictment of a mnemonic regime socializing us to forget Marcos atrocities to serve a sinister political purpose, to Lamchek's disturbing analysis of public support legitimizing a mandate for mass killings of our countrymen...from Coronel's depiction of murder for police profit to Quimpo's assertion of the hyped up mass hysteria over a "narco state" despite evidence to the contrary...

Even though the book is written in layman - friendly language, it still makes for disturbing reading. But it is important we do so, if only to answer the burning question, "Why?“

In these divided times, when emotions run high and one can never be too sure whether one is engaging a real person or a troll in debate, these articles written by rational minds are all the more welcome as they invite the public to understand that this country's ills will not be solved (and cannot be blamed) on a single leader.



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