Thursday, April 14, 2016

The Filipino Diaspora: Mia Alvar's In the Country

A really powerful collection of short stories recounting such a wide breadth of experiences of the Filipino diaspora. Ranging from the poverty filled lives of the Manila slums, to a love affair between a cleaner and a married banker killed in the 9-11 attacks, to the Boston exile of the Aquinos in the early 1980s, and concluding with the title story of a pair who are punished by the Marcos regime for the husbands activities as a rebel journalist. For a first published work, Alvar story-telling is beautiful, and subtle. Short story collections can often be uneven, but every story in this anthology rises to the occasion. One of the better reviewed works of 2015, I look forward to future Mia Alvar works

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