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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
dark
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
'America is in the Heart,' a memoir by Filipino-American laborer and activist Carlos Bulosan is very much a piece with similar memoirs and novels of its time.
The book starts with Bulosan's boyhood in the Philippines, takes us through his emigration to the America of the Great Depression. Bulosan, who came from crushing rural poverty, saw the U.S. as the "shining city on the hill" of Reagan-era rhetoric. His reality, one of brutal pogroms, police brutality, starvation, and exploitation, turned out to be very different from the idealized America of his youth. Nevertheless, he never loses sight of his vision of what America could be, would be, one day; one day when its actions would finally live up to its rhetoric.
So far, we're in the same territory as books such as 'Invisible Man,' 'The Jungle,' and 'The Grapes of Wrath.' One feels that this book could have been written by any member of the American underclass of that era, right down to its flirtation with a sanitized form of Marxim that, naively, overlooked the brutality of the Soviet Union while extolling the rights of the individual on American soil.
All of which leads to this question: is the book, y'know, good? I think it's of interest to students of early 20th Century class and economic structures, Filipino Americans, and historians of the American labor movement. However, I found the prose workmanlike - English was Bulosan's second language, learned relatively late in life. The story not markedly different from those of other oppressed groups throughout American history through the present day. I found 'America is the Heart' to be interesting and even moving. But your mileage may vary.
The book starts with Bulosan's boyhood in the Philippines, takes us through his emigration to the America of the Great Depression. Bulosan, who came from crushing rural poverty, saw the U.S. as the "shining city on the hill" of Reagan-era rhetoric. His reality, one of brutal pogroms, police brutality, starvation, and exploitation, turned out to be very different from the idealized America of his youth. Nevertheless, he never loses sight of his vision of what America could be, would be, one day; one day when its actions would finally live up to its rhetoric.
So far, we're in the same territory as books such as 'Invisible Man,' 'The Jungle,' and 'The Grapes of Wrath.' One feels that this book could have been written by any member of the American underclass of that era, right down to its flirtation with a sanitized form of Marxim that, naively, overlooked the brutality of the Soviet Union while extolling the rights of the individual on American soil.
All of which leads to this question: is the book, y'know, good? I think it's of interest to students of early 20th Century class and economic structures, Filipino Americans, and historians of the American labor movement. However, I found the prose workmanlike - English was Bulosan's second language, learned relatively late in life. The story not markedly different from those of other oppressed groups throughout American history through the present day. I found 'America is the Heart' to be interesting and even moving. But your mileage may vary.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Murder
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Certain times it slightly dragged but overall a fantastic book and look at 20th century USA from a Philippine perspective