![]() ![]() Throughout, Castillo employs English, a smattering of Spanish and three of the native languages of the Philippines: Tagalog, Pangasinan and Ilocano. ![]() The texture and complexity of this community are represented in part by the number of languages that flit across the page. Castillo respects the right of these characters to have a present as important as their pasts. Her aunt grew up poor and hungry, yet now she is the one who sends money back. Hero’s hands were broken by her past, but the most important thing is what she does with them now. Yet the emphasis of the narrative is in Milpitas. Castillo etches in the class stratifications, civil strife and divide between rich and poor. We are given just enough detail to see how that time led to this one. The sections set in the Philippines are fragmentary. ![]() Castillo makes this small suburb feel vast, even overwhelming. Castillo gives us hardworking nurses, snooty upper-class mothers, faith healers and restaurant workers as Hero navigates a web of relationships, some tracing back to grand mansions in the Philippines, others formed in the parking lots and hair salons of Milpitas. The US portions of the book focus on the intricacies of Filipino-American society. ![]()
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