Reviews with content warning for Child death - Smaller and Smaller Circles

The author mentioned that she wrote this book feeling angry at the justice system and corruptness present in all Philippine bureaucratic and civil systems. I can feel it, and I can understand it.

What's worse is that though this book was written in the 90s, edited in 2013, and I've read it in 2022, this could have very well been a contemporary novel still set in my current time, or perhaps even in my grandchildren's time. It is the first time I've seen priests being involved investigators in crime novels instead of just witnesses.

Every single character in this book is dealing with decades of moral muck and personal issues and I don't have any poetic words for it. This is a situation that happens every day and I'm too familiar with the helpless, bleak feeling of the Philippines' extrajudicial system to even be surprised at it.

Very honest portrait.

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eliseraine's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.0

Binasa ko ito sa panahon ng pandemya kung saan mas napapansin at nabibigyang liwanag ang mga isyung tinalakay sa nobelang ito.

Bilang isang Pilipino, masasabi kong totoong-totoo ang mga mensaheng gustong iparating ni F.H. Batacan sa kaniyang nobela. Nakakalungkot isipin na lahat ng aking nabasa ay nangyari at nangyayari sa aking bansa.

Hindi ko ito binigyang ng perpek na marka dahil sa tingin ko ay mas mailalahad pa nang mas maayos at nakakaintriga ang mga pangyayari.

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itskayleighlove's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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imperialarchive's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

To kickstart my goal of reading more books written by Filipino authors, I finally finished F.H. Batacan's Smaller and Smaller Circles. After stumbling upon the movie adaptation on Netflix, I immediately got a copy and began reading right away without knowing what to expect aside from the movie's short synopsis. I fell into a reading slump in the middle of reading it, mostly because I've been busy with my oathtaking and getting my license, until I managed to flip through the last pages after a little over a month.

All I needed were "priests", "solve murders", and "serial killer" to get me on board with this book. I love how Batacan writes in detail, especially with the laboratory and dump site settings, making the scene alive and easy to visualize. Each character, major and minor, was well-introduced, even including a short background on them. For the most part, I genuinely love her writing style.

However, even if the build up was good, I feel like the second half of it was rushed. Batacan took her time setting everything up for the big reveal but there was this one part where I felt like all the necessary information was just suddenly dumped for the backstory to make sense.

Still, it was a great attempt on tackling social issues and mental health. The dynamics between the Church and the law enforcement was something to look forward to. The reality of how the government and the Church work was well-executed. Being able to relate to the topic and the overall setting makes it much more interesting.

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seeshelf's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

It is such a well written crime novel. Fast paced and strong from start to finish. Each page grabs your attention and never lets go, before you know it you’re halfway through the book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can imagine myself rereading this many times in the future. This deserves nothing less than five stars for me.

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dgrachel's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad

3.0

A good mystery and I appreciated that it was set in a country I usually don't read about. It is a sad tale, though, and graphic, so pay attention to the trigger warnings. I do wish I'd read it in print instead of listening to the audio, because while the audio narrator was good, I think the story would have been more immersive in print and I'm sure there are details I missed that would have made the experience richer.

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