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mandirigma's review
4.0
3.5/5 stars, rounded up for its place in history.
America Is In The Heart tells the important and often overlooked story of the Manong generation — the first wave of Filipino immigrants who mainly worked as migrant workers in America — and their role in the labor movement. Bulosan details the abhorrent working conditions and horrifying racial violence that Filipinos endured in America, and the difficulty they faced in organizing and gaining rights and being seen as fully human. This is crucial reading for understanding the full view of Filipino American history, and I think it’s important that every Asian American read it.
That said, as a work of fiction, it’s not without its issues. It seems like it was written as memoir/autobiography but technically falls under fiction, and this is probably because it must have been impossible to fact-check.
For one, it spans nearly Bulosan’s entire life, including his childhood in the Philippines, and all of his travels up and down the west coast of America. The pacing throughout the book is uneven and it can be difficult to track the passage of time. Sometimes he spends a single paragraph talking about two months he spent in a particular city, other times two months can span a few chapters. He also meets a million characters in his travels — often they’ll only show up for a paragraph or a page, but then he happens to bump into them at other random times in his life (it is honestly astounding how often this happens in the book, and in big cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco). And sometimes these characters are friends-turned-enemies, or enemies-turned-friends, which makes it all the more difficult trying to keep track of who’s who.
Finally, be warned that this book is bleak. There is little to no hope for any of the characters for most of the book, and I thought the ending was an odd place (and an odd point in history) to be hopeful.
Still, it's an easily accessible and important read for a slice of history that's too often ignored.
America Is In The Heart tells the important and often overlooked story of the Manong generation — the first wave of Filipino immigrants who mainly worked as migrant workers in America — and their role in the labor movement. Bulosan details the abhorrent working conditions and horrifying racial violence that Filipinos endured in America, and the difficulty they faced in organizing and gaining rights and being seen as fully human. This is crucial reading for understanding the full view of Filipino American history, and I think it’s important that every Asian American read it.
That said, as a work of fiction, it’s not without its issues. It seems like it was written as memoir/autobiography but technically falls under fiction, and this is probably because it must have been impossible to fact-check.
For one, it spans nearly Bulosan’s entire life, including his childhood in the Philippines, and all of his travels up and down the west coast of America. The pacing throughout the book is uneven and it can be difficult to track the passage of time. Sometimes he spends a single paragraph talking about two months he spent in a particular city, other times two months can span a few chapters. He also meets a million characters in his travels — often they’ll only show up for a paragraph or a page, but then he happens to bump into them at other random times in his life (it is honestly astounding how often this happens in the book, and in big cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco). And sometimes these characters are friends-turned-enemies, or enemies-turned-friends, which makes it all the more difficult trying to keep track of who’s who.
Finally, be warned that this book is bleak. There is little to no hope for any of the characters for most of the book, and I thought the ending was an odd place (and an odd point in history) to be hopeful.
Still, it's an easily accessible and important read for a slice of history that's too often ignored.
ayumi_can_read's review
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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? No
3.75
Heartbreaking yet inspiring, I’m not the biggest fan of older american literary styles but this book is one that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Death of parent, War, Alcohol, Colonisation, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Racial slurs, Chronic illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse
mofoemari's review against another edition
5.0
Although I had to read this book for an American Literature class, the book shows the struggles of Asian immigrants and the xenophobia many American had against them. As an Asian American myself, it baffles me that we hardly talk about the racism against Asians during the time periods in the American education system.
Allos came to America in hopes to see the freedom all immigrants think the country is at first glance. They fail to see in the end that the American Dream is just a nightmare. He tries to see the benefits of America, but upon arrival, he experiences the worst.
Allos came to America in hopes to see the freedom all immigrants think the country is at first glance. They fail to see in the end that the American Dream is just a nightmare. He tries to see the benefits of America, but upon arrival, he experiences the worst.
bentohbox's review
3.0
I would rate this more of a 3.5 than 3 but.. Goodreads doesn't really allow for that nuance.
In any case, America Is in the Heart was a tough read for a couple of reasons. First, the novel was an odd combination of critical Asian American history from the perspective of a Southeast Asian immigrant in a critical time (the tail-end of the Spanish-American War and World War I, then mixed with the beginnings of World War II. not to mention the Great Depression and European political turmoil during the 1930s), personal narrative from an immigrant, and inklings of Blood Meridian, or otherwise Cormac McCarthy-esque dystopian imagery. This made the novel interesting, but ultimately difficult to read, with a great number of details that I found did not contribute significantly to the plot or message of the overall novel.
Second, The fact that America Is in the Heart is described as a semi-autobiographical novel made reading a bit more confusing as it was difficult to discern what could be real and what could be adapted. Nonetheless, I found the second half of the novel far more engaging thanks to its dive into Filipino worker unionizing, white supremacist terrorism of farm laborers, and the methods by which immigrants of different ethnicities were forced into situations that pitted them against each other rather than the oppression of white society. However, the cycling of characters and returning of certain plot points in particular became repetitive and difficult to find believable, as does the alacrity with with Carlos meets new people. Maybe this is simply a product of modern life.
In the end, there's a tragedy in the transience of lives that Bulosan and the other main characters encounter. They live in fear of death but not mortality, experience loss at each turn, and continue onwards often without knowing where they're headed. Partially, this reminds us that in our lives and the lives of others intersect as quickly as they disperse. Partially, it reminds us that life is, if nothing else, an ebb and flow of ups and downs to which no one is immune. And partially, it reminds us that fearing our own mortality remains a foolish dedication that limits our potential - rather than fear, we ought to ensure that our names are written in the history books and etched in the memories of others, which only we ourselves have the power to affirm.
The notes / take-aways I have for this novel -
1. Violence has always been a strategy of upholding white-dominated society, but more often than not, particularly in the eras when it was politically feasible, far greater long-term damage was done through creating structures that would force people of color to compete against each other
2. Through the eyes of Bulosan, I can see the transformation of an immigrant into someone who disdains their own community. There can arise a belief that those who look like you are holding you back through no fault of your own, and an anger that can turn you against those who would serve as your best allies.
3. "America is in the hearts of men that died for freedom; it is also in the eyes of men that are building a new world." (191)
In any case, America Is in the Heart was a tough read for a couple of reasons. First, the novel was an odd combination of critical Asian American history from the perspective of a Southeast Asian immigrant in a critical time (the tail-end of the Spanish-American War and World War I, then mixed with the beginnings of World War II. not to mention the Great Depression and European political turmoil during the 1930s), personal narrative from an immigrant, and inklings of Blood Meridian, or otherwise Cormac McCarthy-esque dystopian imagery. This made the novel interesting, but ultimately difficult to read, with a great number of details that I found did not contribute significantly to the plot or message of the overall novel.
Second, The fact that America Is in the Heart is described as a semi-autobiographical novel made reading a bit more confusing as it was difficult to discern what could be real and what could be adapted. Nonetheless, I found the second half of the novel far more engaging thanks to its dive into Filipino worker unionizing, white supremacist terrorism of farm laborers, and the methods by which immigrants of different ethnicities were forced into situations that pitted them against each other rather than the oppression of white society. However, the cycling of characters and returning of certain plot points in particular became repetitive and difficult to find believable, as does the alacrity with with Carlos meets new people. Maybe this is simply a product of modern life.
In the end, there's a tragedy in the transience of lives that Bulosan and the other main characters encounter. They live in fear of death but not mortality, experience loss at each turn, and continue onwards often without knowing where they're headed. Partially, this reminds us that in our lives and the lives of others intersect as quickly as they disperse. Partially, it reminds us that life is, if nothing else, an ebb and flow of ups and downs to which no one is immune. And partially, it reminds us that fearing our own mortality remains a foolish dedication that limits our potential - rather than fear, we ought to ensure that our names are written in the history books and etched in the memories of others, which only we ourselves have the power to affirm.
The notes / take-aways I have for this novel -
1. Violence has always been a strategy of upholding white-dominated society, but more often than not, particularly in the eras when it was politically feasible, far greater long-term damage was done through creating structures that would force people of color to compete against each other
2. Through the eyes of Bulosan, I can see the transformation of an immigrant into someone who disdains their own community. There can arise a belief that those who look like you are holding you back through no fault of your own, and an anger that can turn you against those who would serve as your best allies.
3. "America is in the hearts of men that died for freedom; it is also in the eyes of men that are building a new world." (191)
luisasm's review
3.0
Really, really interesting. It's definitely long and at times hard to sift through and a bit rambling, but important to keep in mind who Bulosan was and when it was written. He's a really interesting guy, and although we know that parts of this book aren't necessarily taken from his own life (he borrowed from the experiences of his friends and family) it's still a really good insight into this time period and the experience of Filipinos in the United States, a group that doesn't always have its story told as many times as others. The narration can be inconsistent, and sometimes things are really hard to keep track of, but knowing the overarching plot line and journey isn't really as important as the experiences and thoughts on being in America. There are a few really wonderful passages. Bulosan's language can be really beautiful and poetic and those sections are the most powerful, especially the sequence which references the title.
sfujii's review
2.0
Very glad to be done with this one. (you can tell it was a bit of a struggle because of how long it took me to read it)
The book started out strong - I found the history very interesting and informative, and the overall narrative well put together. The background of Filipinos to America is a narrative that isn't told nearly as often as some of the other minority narratives, and yet, it played just as significant a role in the development of our state, and nation.
As the book progressed, though, I found it lost focus, jumped all over and was really difficult to follow. I think that many of the anecdotes could have been eliminated to make for a more coherent and clearly focused story. It is a non fiction book, but one can still have a solid narrative or flow within that genre, and it was really lacking here. I found the last 1/2 of the book really frustrating - he alternates focus between giving long lists of books he reads and finds inspirational, talking about meeting up with people he met earlier in the story and drinking/planning labor union moves, and being frustrated with American life.
There are moments of amazing insight, but they were too few and far between. For historical interest, I give it a 3.5, for how it's all packaged and put together - a 2. So overall, a 2.5 stars, but brought down by my frustration with its flow/purpose/focus :(
The book started out strong - I found the history very interesting and informative, and the overall narrative well put together. The background of Filipinos to America is a narrative that isn't told nearly as often as some of the other minority narratives, and yet, it played just as significant a role in the development of our state, and nation.
As the book progressed, though, I found it lost focus, jumped all over and was really difficult to follow. I think that many of the anecdotes could have been eliminated to make for a more coherent and clearly focused story. It is a non fiction book, but one can still have a solid narrative or flow within that genre, and it was really lacking here. I found the last 1/2 of the book really frustrating - he alternates focus between giving long lists of books he reads and finds inspirational, talking about meeting up with people he met earlier in the story and drinking/planning labor union moves, and being frustrated with American life.
There are moments of amazing insight, but they were too few and far between. For historical interest, I give it a 3.5, for how it's all packaged and put together - a 2. So overall, a 2.5 stars, but brought down by my frustration with its flow/purpose/focus :(
abraveowl's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
Reading this book was the first time I felt some sense of pride in America and myself as an American. This book showed me that America is not a nation. It is an unfinished poem that each American attempts to finish in the course of the living of their lives. Most heroes are not remembered, just as most poets are not. I was happy to remember Carlos Bulosan and keep him alive as I read his memoir, America is the Heart. As a precious piece of America, this book now lives in my heart as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Racial slurs, and Racism
lorayne's review
3.0
This book is powerful in that it chronicles the extreme racism that the Filipinx community experienced in the U.S. during the early part of the 1900s. I also learned so much about their efforts community organizing done to unionize the farm workers. Carlos Bulosan obviously shares his personal experience, which brings to light how traumatic the oppression and racism is from day to day.
My big critique has to do with the style of writing. It took me a long time to read because the writing was monotonous and included trivial (in my opinion) details. Bulosan used “And then” as a sentence starter sooooo much. He would also include details, such as transitions or daily routine tasks, that did not advance the plot at all; they were just filler information.
Bottom line: I’m very glad I got through it because it shed light on a blind spot for me related to the farm workers movement and unionizing efforts of the Great Depression and early stages of the WWII eras.
My big critique has to do with the style of writing. It took me a long time to read because the writing was monotonous and included trivial (in my opinion) details. Bulosan used “And then” as a sentence starter sooooo much. He would also include details, such as transitions or daily routine tasks, that did not advance the plot at all; they were just filler information.
Bottom line: I’m very glad I got through it because it shed light on a blind spot for me related to the farm workers movement and unionizing efforts of the Great Depression and early stages of the WWII eras.
matchamama's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0