IN THE COUNTRY
By Mia Alvar
I don’t often read short stories, and have read exactly zero books set in the Philippines, but I am extremely glad to have picked this one up! Each story centers around either a visitor to the Philippines, or a Philippino living abroad in places as far as Bahrain and as near (to us) as Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Alvar has the incredible ability to jump into her stories and make you feel as though you have had a 200-page intro to the characters and circumstances with which she presents you. Each life, each personality, each conflict is detailed and totally unique. I honestly felt, by the end, as though I had read nine complete novels.
One story that has stuck with me is about a young boy, bound by birth-defects to a wheelchair, navigating his way through middle school outside Manila. He meets a girl who is quite poor, and teased for her lack of hygiene. The two become friends, and life gets slightly better for both. But the beauty of this story comes from the unusual window into the boy’s mind and the scenarios and futures he is able to imagine.
Another story, set in Chestnut Hill, is about the wife and family of a former senator who has been exiled by Ferdinand Marcos. They have settled into life in America, but are constantly thrown into chaos by the father’s crazy schemes. At the end of the story he decides to return to the Philippines at great risk, and a faint bell rang in my head. Years ago I fell in love with the immersive musicalHere Lies Love, written by David Byrne of the Talking Heads and directed by Alex Timbers. The musical follows the life and career of First Lady Imelda Marcos from her poor upbringing to her Eva Peron-like status as the powerful wife of a powerful dictator. Her first love was a man named Ninoy Aquino, a senator who was exiled and then returned, only to be assassinated as he stepped off the plane. After a little Googling, I realized that was whom this story was about, and a lot of the political and historical details of the book started falling into place for me.
In The Country is incredibly well-written, engaging, and I strongly recommend it! (Lily)
