Ilustrado: A Novel

By Miguel Syjuco

Book Overview

Garnering international prizes and acclaim before its publication, Ilustrado has been called "brilliantly conceived and stylishly executed . . .It is also ceaselessly entertaining, frequently raunchy, and effervescent with humor" (2008 Man Asian Literary Prize panel of judges). It begins with a body. On a clear day in winter, the battered corpse of Crispin Salvador is pulled from the Hudson River-taken from the world is the controversial lion of Philippine literature. Gone, too, is the only manuscript of his final book, a work meant to rescue him from obscurity by exposing the crimes of the Filipino ruling families. Miguel, his student and only remaining friend, sets out for Manila to investigate. To understand the death, Miguel scours the life, piecing together Salvador's story through his poetry, interviews, novels, polemics, and memoirs. The result is a rich and dramatic family saga of four generations, tracing 150 years of Philippine history forged under the Spanish, the Americans, and the Filipinos themselves. Finally, we are surprised to learn that this story belongs to young Miguel as much as to his lost mentor, and we are treated to an unhindered view of a society caught between reckless decay and hopeful progress. Exuberant and wise, wildly funny and deeply moving, Ilustrado explores the hidden truths that haunt every family. It is a daring and inventive debut by a new writer of astonishing talent.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374174784
• ISBN13: 9780374174781
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.2" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Hard to Follow

I so wanted to like this, I really did. It's plot sounded incredibly intriguing and the brush of Filippino history was effortless, but I was 100 pages in and had no idea what was happening. Syjuco uses multiple writing styles, tenses, and threads to connect the overall plot, but the problem is all the threads are so abrupt it never really connects. One minute the narrator is reminiscing about his life, the next you're reading the murder victims journal, and the next you're reading a newspaper article. And there is absolutely no transition or rhyme or reason to the jump. It's not a new chapter. It's not a transition. It's just so extremely abrupt and jarring that I kept getting taken out of the plot.

Nice

Nice