velazco's review
challenging
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
archytas's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I know you would never predict this from the awful cover, but in a year of pretty outstanding reads*, this one is among the top. This is going a long, gushing review with many quotes because this book is just that, that good. It hits all my triple threat - very, very funny; touching and rich in social and political commentary.
Syjuco tells the story through 24 stream-of-consciousness transcripts, covering 13 characters. At the centre is Vita Nova, a celebrity who has hired a journalist to ghostwrite her bio. Twelve of the interviews are hers, the other 12 are with her exes, a litany of characters allowing Syjuco to comment on, well, almost everything. In contrast to the kind of vapid biography everyone is expecting, the narrative is wide-ranging, sharp and, for satire, remarkably nuanced (while allowing plenty of room for very broad humour).
One of the many things the book gets very right is Vita. Who quickly establishes herself as many things, none of them vapid. The book's narrative structure moves us simultaneously backwards (the interviews are structured to delve further into her past with each instalment) and forward (each interview starts with a discussion about the unfolding political crisis that starts (or does it) with her releasing secret tapes of presidential corruption. As both stories unfurl, we see how Vita juggles her ambition, altruism and survival. Vita likes a good party for sure - and she is unapologetic about her quest for fame and fun - but she, like us, harbours her own fury at the state of her country. As she has reason, Syjaco shows us, to think she could lead better.
" Dance the Mr. Sexy-Sexy all you wish, but support the Reproductive Rights Bill and your career gets boycotted to oblivion"
The other thing Syjuco gets right here is his portrayal of systemic sexism. Bucking a stereotype, Vita's relations with women are largely supportive - one summarised by how her friend supports her social media posts with "clapping-hands emojis for every lowkey flex". In contrast, her lovers largely view her as props for them, representatives of their ideas. As much as most still lust for her, they mostly (nothing is without exception) fail to understand what she wanted from them.
And some of the one-liners here feel impossibly sharp:
"So I listened, like I do, and Rolex talked, like he loves to. He thinks his entire life’s a teachable moment. "
Vita's not above shaping details for her own gain (and another fabulous aspect to the book is the way it explores writing, storytelling and responsibility) but we can also see her perspective on why. As the book wends into how she has created her myths, we understand both why she has done so, and where some of her fury comes from. As she sadly tells the recorder "all I’ve ever wanted is to make a world where these stories aren’t so predictable."
And my gosh, the number of stories. This is a satire, so Syjuco doesn't need to make it realistic. Interviewees range from neo-fascists to ageing leftists; warlords and politicians to rich kids and (frankly evil) priests, Chinese-Pinoys and African Americans. They have survived torture and committed it. Obviously, central to the novel is a critique of Duterte and his massacres dressed in a drug war, but he also squeezes in critique of far, far more. Syjuco, raised as part of the elite he is satirising (and as far as I could tell, his critique is more about the state of things than the causes), has a sharp eye but also puts into Vita's mouth, and in the acknowledgements, his own, an admission about the impossibility of seeing things through others eyes.
But this is anything but dour. The book is peppered with one-liners, in-jokes and just extended funny writing. One of the lovers is an appalling Australian party boy. The chapter moves things forward, but also indulges, in the best way, in side-aching send up of Aussie slang and bigotry- "That ..bender’s always banging on about every Joe Blogs deserving a fair suck at the sauce bottle. Tell him he’s dreaming, mate. No wonder them Taswegian woolie woofter and his Seppo hubbie got beheaded." and "I reckon the second strangest thing about your country is your pollies, mate. Their song and dance actually includes singing and dancing. … You might see ScoMo taking it up the bum from the miners and smiling, but I reckon that’s nobody’s idea of entertainment. Except Tony Abbott’s, probs."
There is also a pork barrelling joke that goes for three increasingly hilarious pages; a corrupt governor posing as a folk hero who cannot stop calling for increasingly ridiculous food, an extended sequence categorising the president's farts "some just punctuation, others with personality: the thunderclap, the wilting rosebud, the razz, the stutter, the silent but violent, the punctured trike muffler, the concerning squish" and this description of young 90ss love "the priciest thing he ever got me: a nonpirated version of Microsoft Excel, for Valentine’s—us tumbling into bed after, to make sweet, sweet sums on practice spreadsheets on his laptop, teaching me the pleasures of conditional formatting."
The book is fun, and thought provoking, and no doubt I missed an enormous number of references, and I've covered only a tiny bit of how much is in here in this overly wrong review. It certainly isn't perfect, it is messy and clumsy and sometimes will do anything for a laugh. It won't be for everyone, but if you've made it through the whole review, it might just be for you.
"She can shift who she is, to flourish in any situation. The grateful giver for her fans. …The woketivist swinging statistics, as if they’re the whole story. And the orphan girl when it’s just you and her. Even that name—“Vita Nova”—she says it’s real, but it reeks of a plan."
"I won’t be some two-bit part in the background of someone’s novel, even if I’ll always be a hella flawed protagonist, the product of blind imaginings—even our own, made from fantasies and fears, from misconceptions and misunderstandings. But I know who I am, I’ll have you know: I’m all that, and more than you can ever know—a Filipina first, a Filipino second, a leader of one, a follower of many. All yours, baby, at your service; but always all mine, darling—more than everyone thinks, more than anyone can fathom: more than a feed on a screen, or a face on a meme, more than a character in a tell-all, and much more than the president’s mistress. I can see you eye to eye. I can look myself in the mirror. I can do all that I’m here for. And I can say, for what it’s worth (coz to me it’s worth everything)—I am Vita Nova."
*Including Alexis Wright's Praiseworthy, Han Kang's Human Acts and freaking Ulysses.
Syjuco tells the story through 24 stream-of-consciousness transcripts, covering 13 characters. At the centre is Vita Nova, a celebrity who has hired a journalist to ghostwrite her bio. Twelve of the interviews are hers, the other 12 are with her exes, a litany of characters allowing Syjuco to comment on, well, almost everything. In contrast to the kind of vapid biography everyone is expecting, the narrative is wide-ranging, sharp and, for satire, remarkably nuanced (while allowing plenty of room for very broad humour).
One of the many things the book gets very right is Vita. Who quickly establishes herself as many things, none of them vapid. The book's narrative structure moves us simultaneously backwards (the interviews are structured to delve further into her past with each instalment) and forward (each interview starts with a discussion about the unfolding political crisis that starts (or does it) with her releasing secret tapes of presidential corruption. As both stories unfurl, we see how Vita juggles her ambition, altruism and survival. Vita likes a good party for sure - and she is unapologetic about her quest for fame and fun - but she, like us, harbours her own fury at the state of her country. As she has reason, Syjaco shows us, to think she could lead better.
" Dance the Mr. Sexy-Sexy all you wish, but support the Reproductive Rights Bill and your career gets boycotted to oblivion"
The other thing Syjuco gets right here is his portrayal of systemic sexism. Bucking a stereotype, Vita's relations with women are largely supportive - one summarised by how her friend supports her social media posts with "clapping-hands emojis for every lowkey flex". In contrast, her lovers largely view her as props for them, representatives of their ideas. As much as most still lust for her, they mostly (nothing is without exception) fail to understand what she wanted from them.
And some of the one-liners here feel impossibly sharp:
"So I listened, like I do, and Rolex talked, like he loves to. He thinks his entire life’s a teachable moment. "
Vita's not above shaping details for her own gain (and another fabulous aspect to the book is the way it explores writing, storytelling and responsibility) but we can also see her perspective on why. As the book wends into how she has created her myths, we understand both why she has done so, and where some of her fury comes from. As she sadly tells the recorder "all I’ve ever wanted is to make a world where these stories aren’t so predictable."
And my gosh, the number of stories. This is a satire, so Syjuco doesn't need to make it realistic. Interviewees range from neo-fascists to ageing leftists; warlords and politicians to rich kids and (frankly evil) priests, Chinese-Pinoys and African Americans. They have survived torture and committed it. Obviously, central to the novel is a critique of Duterte and his massacres dressed in a drug war, but he also squeezes in critique of far, far more. Syjuco, raised as part of the elite he is satirising (and as far as I could tell, his critique is more about the state of things than the causes), has a sharp eye but also puts into Vita's mouth, and in the acknowledgements, his own, an admission about the impossibility of seeing things through others eyes.
But this is anything but dour. The book is peppered with one-liners, in-jokes and just extended funny writing. One of the lovers is an appalling Australian party boy. The chapter moves things forward, but also indulges, in the best way, in side-aching send up of Aussie slang and bigotry- "That ..bender’s always banging on about every Joe Blogs deserving a fair suck at the sauce bottle. Tell him he’s dreaming, mate. No wonder them Taswegian woolie woofter and his Seppo hubbie got beheaded." and "I reckon the second strangest thing about your country is your pollies, mate. Their song and dance actually includes singing and dancing. … You might see ScoMo taking it up the bum from the miners and smiling, but I reckon that’s nobody’s idea of entertainment. Except Tony Abbott’s, probs."
There is also a pork barrelling joke that goes for three increasingly hilarious pages; a corrupt governor posing as a folk hero who cannot stop calling for increasingly ridiculous food, an extended sequence categorising the president's farts "some just punctuation, others with personality: the thunderclap, the wilting rosebud, the razz, the stutter, the silent but violent, the punctured trike muffler, the concerning squish" and this description of young 90ss love "the priciest thing he ever got me: a nonpirated version of Microsoft Excel, for Valentine’s—us tumbling into bed after, to make sweet, sweet sums on practice spreadsheets on his laptop, teaching me the pleasures of conditional formatting."
The book is fun, and thought provoking, and no doubt I missed an enormous number of references, and I've covered only a tiny bit of how much is in here in this overly wrong review. It certainly isn't perfect, it is messy and clumsy and sometimes will do anything for a laugh. It won't be for everyone, but if you've made it through the whole review, it might just be for you.
"She can shift who she is, to flourish in any situation. The grateful giver for her fans. …The woketivist swinging statistics, as if they’re the whole story. And the orphan girl when it’s just you and her. Even that name—“Vita Nova”—she says it’s real, but it reeks of a plan."
"I won’t be some two-bit part in the background of someone’s novel, even if I’ll always be a hella flawed protagonist, the product of blind imaginings—even our own, made from fantasies and fears, from misconceptions and misunderstandings. But I know who I am, I’ll have you know: I’m all that, and more than you can ever know—a Filipina first, a Filipino second, a leader of one, a follower of many. All yours, baby, at your service; but always all mine, darling—more than everyone thinks, more than anyone can fathom: more than a feed on a screen, or a face on a meme, more than a character in a tell-all, and much more than the president’s mistress. I can see you eye to eye. I can look myself in the mirror. I can do all that I’m here for. And I can say, for what it’s worth (coz to me it’s worth everything)—I am Vita Nova."
*Including Alexis Wright's Praiseworthy, Han Kang's Human Acts and freaking Ulysses.
punkweed's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
what a snooze
sgs's review
I couldn’t do it. So slow. The pages have no breaks; paragraphs, dialogue, nothing. The writing is rambling and confusing. I had high hopes, but I couldn’t muscle through.
fruity999's review
I found it interesting but struggled with the style of transcripts and struggled to move forward with the story.
nathansnook's review
2.0
READING VLOG
A laborious dive into the social-political minutia of the Filipino government and social and class structures where the female body of our protagonist Vita Nova masqueraded as feminism is used to propel narrative. Miguel drags the female body through aimless characterization with the use of cringe irony and flat humor in 100 pages to actually get to setting and atmosphere for the novel's landscape. Because the story is told in transcripts, we are dealt an interesting form in how to tell stories. Think of the Watergate Tapes or the Mueller
Report as novel - the greatest form of political art you can create. But here, Miguel struggles to keep anyone's attention as the story derails in trite details.
In a talk at the Radcliffe Institute, Miguel admits that when he first read his own first draft, he fell asleep. He called his own work BORING. I'm not sure how you edit boring down to interesting, but if you start with boring, you don't end up with much by the last empty pages conjured for audience interpretation. Thus, the novel has a pale pay-off and leaves you with one big heap of MEH.
What I will say is that this book may be of interest to Filipino readers as there are fun linguistic word plays and tricks that Miguel uses to keep voice light, buoyant, and fast-paced.
Thus one should read the novel for voice, and voice alone, and nothing else.
A laborious dive into the social-political minutia of the Filipino government and social and class structures where the female body of our protagonist Vita Nova masqueraded as feminism is used to propel narrative. Miguel drags the female body through aimless characterization with the use of cringe irony and flat humor in 100 pages to actually get to setting and atmosphere for the novel's landscape. Because the story is told in transcripts, we are dealt an interesting form in how to tell stories. Think of the Watergate Tapes or the Mueller
Report as novel - the greatest form of political art you can create. But here, Miguel struggles to keep anyone's attention as the story derails in trite details.
In a talk at the Radcliffe Institute, Miguel admits that when he first read his own first draft, he fell asleep. He called his own work BORING. I'm not sure how you edit boring down to interesting, but if you start with boring, you don't end up with much by the last empty pages conjured for audience interpretation. Thus, the novel has a pale pay-off and leaves you with one big heap of MEH.
What I will say is that this book may be of interest to Filipino readers as there are fun linguistic word plays and tricks that Miguel uses to keep voice light, buoyant, and fast-paced.
Thus one should read the novel for voice, and voice alone, and nothing else.
coolgalreading's review
I feel like this had a lot of potential but the execution wasn’t working for me. I may come back to this another time
angelinereads's review
Interesting concept but without the paragraph line breaks, it was a bit difficult to read
svmreads's review
I would have enjoyed this book more if I was listening to it as an audiobook. The premise is fantastic but the experience of reading this book physically was D E N S E.
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