A review by ps_stillreading
But for the Lovers by Wilfrido D. Nolledo

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

In her foreword for this edition of But for the Lovers, Gina Apostol writes that this book “...was about words—the play with words, the chutzpah with words, the sheer romance with words,” and now that I’ve finally finished reading But for the Lovers, I understand what she meant. 

Wilfrido Nolledo has a way with words, of that there is no doubt. In But for the Lovers, Nolledo takes you on a journey to Japanese-occupied Manila. We mainly follow Hiladgo de Anuncio, a semi-retired Spanish vaudevillian, Molave Amoran, a thief and his roommate, and a young girl whose past is unknown. But Nolledo doesn’t make it easy for us. Aside from these three, the book features many more characters, each one with pasts, stories, and motivations of their own. And the story is never really presented in a straightforward way either. Nolledo plays around with words, pushing us along a meandering path, showing us all these sights in rich detail, but I find that I’m never completely sure if any of it is real, if they are in the past or in the present.

You have an old man’s fevered ramblings, his nostalgia of Spanish grandeur and elegance, and how he is dying along with it. You have a revolutionary’s preaching, heard by everyone but seemingly directed at one person in particular. You have a landlady housing misfits, and hungry for payment in whatever form. A thief that provides. A Japanese Major, cruel and kind, violent and generous. And the girl. The mysterious girl that everyone wants but no one can figure out. We follow these characters in the final days of the Japanese occupation, leading up to the Battle of Manila and the arrival of the Americans, our so-called “liberators”.

Nolledo also has a way with names, a tongue-in-cheek way to describe the characters, but also as a way of making them an archetype or a composite character, although they do still stand on their own. It’s a delicate balance really, one that is artfully achieved. Hidalgo de Anuncio, hidalgo or gentleman, the Spaniard longing for the glory days of Spanish Manila. Molave Amoran, named after a tree that is a symbol of strength and resilience, qualities he must possess in his role of thief/provider of food and protector to the girl. Zerrado Susi (sarado: closed, susi: key), a locksmith who is locked out of his wife’s heart (and body). And the girl, Alma, soul. There might have been more that I missed, I don’t think I am clever enough (yet) to find all the (other) Easter eggs in this book.

This reading experience felt so different compared to all others I have had before. This book. This author. The writing is beautiful. Strange. Vivid. Playful. Serious. Tongue-in-cheek. Dense. Decadent. Singular. I enjoyed But for the Lovers, despite finding it difficult and confusing at times (most of the time?) Continuous discovery is the name of the game. I would read one long seemingly convoluted passage, only to realize its full significance later in the chapter or in the next one. Or maybe I remain confused, but I power through anyway.

This book will demand your undivided attention, and make you work hard to fully grasp what it’s trying to say. And if you’re up for that kind of commitment, then give this book a go.