A review by fuuchsia
Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
this is a cozy mystery, but I’d say the real subject of this book is the food and the large, warm family of Filipina women and the nice community of the town who are there for each other.
I am so glad to see representation—it’s a huge part of what I liked about this book—but there was too much focus on ‘explaining’ things such that it ended up feeling unnatural. e.g. there’s a vegetarian character and a couple paragraphs are spent when the MC makes sure her aunt is not using meat, aunt explains how she’s using a substitute, and after the meal someone exclaims, “Wow, that was meatless?” and the moment really did not have to be that long; pointing it out this much feels ‘othering,’ which is opposite the point of normalizing diversity.
the mystery was lacking and dragged on for too long. this book also paints moving away from your small hometown to a (nearby) big city as selfish, and tries to humanize some people who have done horrible things ().
anyway the descriptions of food were mouthwatering, I learned of so many new things I wanna try—esp those ube crinkles and ginataang bilo-bilo so good it killed a man—and helpfully there are recipes in the back of the book!
I am so glad to see representation—it’s a huge part of what I liked about this book—but there was too much focus on ‘explaining’ things such that it ended up feeling unnatural. e.g. there’s a vegetarian character and a couple paragraphs are spent when the MC makes sure her aunt is not using meat, aunt explains how she’s using a substitute, and after the meal someone exclaims, “Wow, that was meatless?” and the moment really did not have to be that long; pointing it out this much feels ‘othering,’ which is opposite the point of normalizing diversity.
the mystery was lacking and dragged on for too long. this book also paints moving away from your small hometown to a (nearby) big city as selfish, and tries to humanize some people who have done horrible things (
Spoiler
machinate a drug ring & defraud peopleanyway the descriptions of food were mouthwatering, I learned of so many new things I wanna try—esp those ube crinkles and ginataang bilo-bilo so good it killed a man—and helpfully there are recipes in the back of the book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Drug abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Body shaming, and Infidelity
Minor: Domestic abuse