Publisher's Synopsis
"An original, raw, and wild novel that has held its power and demands to be read." -Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer
Finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and Winner of the American Book Award
A classic and influential story-often considered "the quintessential Filipino American novel" (The Nation)-centered on the cultural and political stakes of life in Marcos-era Philippines
One of The Atlantic's Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years
Welcome to Manila in the turbulent period of the Philippines' late dictator. It is a world in which American pop culture and local Filipino tradition mix flamboyantly, and gossip, storytelling, and extravagant behavior thrive.
A wildly disparate group of characters-including movie stars and waiters, a young junkie and the richest man in the Philippines-becomes ensnared in a spiral of events culminating in a beauty pageant, a film festival, and an assassination. At the center of this maelstrom is Rio, a feisty schoolgirl who will grow up to live in America and look back with longing on the land of her youth.
