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dlrosebyh's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Filipino men are either of the two Ts: trash or treasure. And while this is cliché, Filipinos take this very seriously, hence why Smaller and Smaller Circles didn’t feel fiction at all while reading this.
If you’re familiar with Philippines politics, every element in the novel shouldn’t surprise you. Yup, priests can be corrupt, can be evil, and it happens more regularly than expected. But what’s so groundbreaking about this book is that it breaks the conservatism of our country in some sort of way.
Growing up as a Filipino in a conservative Catholic household, I've always been told to not do certain things, and consuming media against the 5th commandment (AKA: thou shalt not kill) is extremely prohibited. Smaller and Smaller Circles winning as a Philippine National Book Award sure stirred a lot of conversation, but it was deserving of the attention.
One thing Filipino authors never fail to do is to bring up the social issues in our country. In this book, we can see that with the underlying child labor plot, where children are forced to work because they’re in poverty.
While, yes, I know that the book is something not new or has been done before, I also really enjoyed reading it. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m Filipino, but this book felt somehow like home. It was easy to read, to digest, and you don’t need a lot of brainpowers unlike a majority of crime/mystery novels.
Overall, I believe that Smaller and Smaller Circles might be cliché, but it’s an eye-opening novel about the things happening in the Philippines, a third-world country who do not have the privileges first-world & second-world countries have.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, and Rape
Minor: Police brutality
andievillegas's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse
ravenph's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Sexual harassment
gellyreads's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape
unidentifiedfilipinoobject's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
bookishxintrovert's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
ps_stillreading's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Quezon City, 1997. A pre-teen boy is found dead at a Payatas dump site, his body and face mutilated. He is the latest victim in a string of killings--the victims all boys who come from low-income families, trying to earn a living as scavengers in the dump site.
We follow two Jesuit priests as they provide their services at the request of the National Bureau of Investigation. Father Gus Saenz is a forensic anthropologist and Father Jerome Lucero, his protégé, is a clinical psychologist. Together, they work to find out the identity of the killer in order to bring him to justice.
We have an inadequate investigation --these kids are poor, there isn't enough evidence, the police have come to a dead end. We have power hungry government officials whose only goal is to keep climbing up the political ladder, so they only care about the big flashy cases. We have a hasty and highly publicized arrest, complete with a press conference and congratulations all around, until another dead boy turns up while the supposed perpetrator is in custody.
And through it all, the parents of the dead boys suffer in silence because they don't know where to turn to for help. They have lost faith in the police and in the system that clearly does not work for them.
But Father Saenz and Father Lucero care about these boys whose lives have been violently cut short. They work diligently, despite experiencing friction as "outsiders" to the NBI force. They also employ the help of reporter Joanna Bonifacio, sharing information that ultimately led to solving the case.
The book gives a social commentary on the state of the justice system, on how the poor are often left behind. But it also tackles a different kind of injustice: an abusive priest and the rich and powerful people who protect him. Father Saenz has been building a case against a Father Ramirez, who abuses his young wards at the charitable shelter he runs. But as far as the Church is concerned, the matter has been investigated and the case is closed. Even though several people voiced their concerns, even though victims came forward and made official statements, the Church does nothing.
Father Saenz never gave up. Even though in the end this matter was only resolved when it was revealed that huge sums of money were stolen from the charity. People in power only cared because there was money involved. How typical.
I first read this back when I was about 12 years old, reading the original novella version. I may have been too young for the themes and graphic content in this book, but this was also the age I started watching CSI and Criminal Minds, so crime was a genre I was already interested in anyway. This book opened my eyes to a reality that I was too young to be aware of. Then, and now, I felt frustrated at how the authorities didn't really care about the deaths of these boys. The matter of abuse within the Church shocked and upset me when I was 12, I couldn't believe such as thing was possible. Older me knows better though.
Smaller and Smaller Circles was written in 1996, published in 2002, and expanded into a longer novel in 2015. The book is 20 years old, and it still (unfortunately) feels like an accurate reflection of the Philippine justice and political system and the inequality still prevalent in Philippine society today.
We follow two Jesuit priests as they provide their services at the request of the National Bureau of Investigation. Father Gus Saenz is a forensic anthropologist and Father Jerome Lucero, his protégé, is a clinical psychologist. Together, they work to find out the identity of the killer in order to bring him to justice.
We have an inadequate investigation --these kids are poor, there isn't enough evidence, the police have come to a dead end. We have power hungry government officials whose only goal is to keep climbing up the political ladder, so they only care about the big flashy cases. We have a hasty and highly publicized arrest, complete with a press conference and congratulations all around, until another dead boy turns up while the supposed perpetrator is in custody.
And through it all, the parents of the dead boys suffer in silence because they don't know where to turn to for help. They have lost faith in the police and in the system that clearly does not work for them.
But Father Saenz and Father Lucero care about these boys whose lives have been violently cut short. They work diligently, despite experiencing friction as "outsiders" to the NBI force. They also employ the help of reporter Joanna Bonifacio, sharing information that ultimately led to solving the case.
The book gives a social commentary on the state of the justice system, on how the poor are often left behind. But it also tackles a different kind of injustice: an abusive priest and the rich and powerful people who protect him. Father Saenz has been building a case against a Father Ramirez, who abuses his young wards at the charitable shelter he runs. But as far as the Church is concerned, the matter has been investigated and the case is closed. Even though several people voiced their concerns, even though victims came forward and made official statements, the Church does nothing.
Father Saenz never gave up. Even though in the end this matter was only resolved when it was revealed that huge sums of money were stolen from the charity. People in power only cared because there was money involved. How typical.
I first read this back when I was about 12 years old, reading the original novella version. I may have been too young for the themes and graphic content in this book, but this was also the age I started watching CSI and Criminal Minds, so crime was a genre I was already interested in anyway. This book opened my eyes to a reality that I was too young to be aware of. Then, and now, I felt frustrated at how the authorities didn't really care about the deaths of these boys. The matter of abuse within the Church shocked and upset me when I was 12, I couldn't believe such as thing was possible. Older me knows better though.
Smaller and Smaller Circles was written in 1996, published in 2002, and expanded into a longer novel in 2015. The book is 20 years old, and it still (unfortunately) feels like an accurate reflection of the Philippine justice and political system and the inequality still prevalent in Philippine society today.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
asti_64's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Rape
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Police brutality
itzjez's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Pedophilia and Kidnapping
Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault
helliepad's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, and Murder
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism