The Rush Of The River

By Lilia Hernandez Chung

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0533147069
• ISBN13: 9780533147069
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Vantage Pr
• Length: 317 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

"Upstairs, Downstairs" in the Philippines

This book is composed of seven extended stories, each centered around a person living in the Philippines during the first three quarters of the 20th century. Some of the stories focus on members of the privileged, land-owning Graciela family, some on the family's servants and employees. All of the characters are believable, well-rounded individuals. I found their stories to be fascinating. But the remarkable thing about the book is how well it paints a picture of the larger society. The various individuals' stories show us the land, its people and their culture from both the aristocrats' and the peasants' perspectives. The stories also show us a society changing over the generations -- slowly before the war, then suddenly and traumatically during the Japanese occupation. Dr. Chung introduces each of her stories with a short fable because, as she explains, "Some truths are best expressed in a fable; some circumstances demand explanations and give birth to stories." This book does an excellent job of expressing the truths and explaining the circumstances of its characters' world. Reading the book was both an education and a pleasure.

History, as Portrayed by a Family

Here is a novel which proves history is the story of lives and how they functioned within the context of their own times. The Rush of the River is a slice of Philippine history poignantly woven and the stories of each succeeding generational offshoot of Don Gracielo and his family. Their lives beautifully told, reveal the cultural marks of Spanish, American, and even the short-lived Japanese occupation of the Philippines. Chung fuses their personal lives into interesting story vignettes. History in such manner told, was palatably read. /Ophie Lopez

A rare novel on a place and period often overlooked.

This novel should interest those interested in World War II, and offers a very unique view (in fiction) of it: by focussing on the Japanese occupation of the Phillippines and its affects on the life of a family and its social circle, low and high.