Reviews with content warning for Confinement - America Is Not the Heart

That was excellent.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Donnabella Mortel and that may be the best decision I make all year! She’s fantastic, I love the way she’s able to change her voice for each character. It really came across in the end as a full cast and each character so recognizable and fleshed-out. Also, if you’re like me and are very unfamiliar with Tagalog and Ilocano, Martel’s pronunciation is really helpful in following the story. I’d still love to get a print copy so I can look up the words I don’t know but there’s enough to go on in context that you shouldn’t have any trouble if you don’t know these languages.

I’m also unfamiliar with the history of the Philippines so there was a lot of new, horrific, information in this book, though if you do know this history you’ll likely know what’s coming. Much of the book is set in America after Hero arrives from the Philippines and stays with her uncle and his family but there are many flashbacks of her and Paz’, her uncle’s wife, life in the Philippines, the losses they endured, and what ultimately brought them to the States. This is an incredibly heavy book and the author doesn’t shy away from the torture and abuse some of the characters faced in the past so please be mindful going in. I have more information on content warnings above.

While Hero is the main character, the prologue is actually from the perspective of a different character and in the audiobook it was an hour long! I’ve never read a prologue that long before but from that point on I was hooked. It’s such a gripping start to the story and I wanted to know everything there was to know about these characters.

The ending was beautiful and funny and a little painful, and just, what a good read.

Content Warnings

rieviolet's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really do not think that I am the target audience for this book, and that is perfectly fine but it just means that it was a bit difficult for me personally to really get the story in all its nuances and complexities. I really do not know how to explain it, it felt a bit like always being a step behind and not really being able to catch up and that might be completely intentional on the author's part but it just made for a bit of an unbalanced reading experience.

For the most part I liked the writing style and there were some passages/reflections that really stood out to me, but other times I struggled a bit with it (for example, sometimes I found the sentences either too long-wided and confusing or a bit too flat).
Since the narration moves between different timelines, at certain points I got a bit lost and forgot what and how much we as readers already knew about a certain event. Also, I'm not sure that I appreciated the shifts in point of view, I guess that I just liked certain narrators more than others.

All in all, it was a bit of an up and down reading experience for me. I got on better with the beginning and the final sections, but I found harder to get through the middle part of the story and also struggled with the more explict parts because they are really not my cup of tea.
Also, I don't really think that I understood the very final scene of the novel, its meaning or what it stood for went right over my head.
I didn't like the book as much as I'd hoped but I'm sure it'll work better for other readers.

Content Warnings

enjoyjournaling's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I enjoyed the feeling of being immersed in Filipino culture in America, the different dialects used without explanation, the bits of history sprinkled throughout, the deep characters and relationships, and ALL THE FOOD.

Content Warnings

knkoch's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was so good! I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, especially the characters and the changing structure. It was a little hard to get into at first (the first chapter/prologue is in second person), but once I got to the main narrative I was hooked. The setting is so strongly realized, and the characters are so distinct and well drawn that it's very easy to move from recollections of the past to the present. This was a window for me into a culture and language I knew very little about before this, and truly expanded my perspective. I wish I could sound less vague! But the joy in this novel is in discovering the characters, their developing relationships, and all the personal history that contributes to who they are and what they want to be (or not be).

Very interesting book and one of the better ones I read this year! It stands above many.

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