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nuhafariha's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to Harper Collins & NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available July 7th 2020
In Lysley Tenorio's lively "Monstress", anything goes from Beatles kitsch to homeless drag queens. Each short story is filled with a flair for the dramatic and a love for the Filipino diaspora. It is often the intricate details, the slow anger of a sibling toward another or the quiet, gentle love of an older man, that give these stories their power. Admist the craziness, Tenorio manages to find sanity and rich character details.
Available July 7th 2020
In Lysley Tenorio's lively "Monstress", anything goes from Beatles kitsch to homeless drag queens. Each short story is filled with a flair for the dramatic and a love for the Filipino diaspora. It is often the intricate details, the slow anger of a sibling toward another or the quiet, gentle love of an older man, that give these stories their power. Admist the craziness, Tenorio manages to find sanity and rich character details.
nuhafariha's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to Harper Collins & NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available July 7th 2020
In Lysley Tenorio's lively "Monstress", anything goes from Beatles kitsch to homeless drag queens. Each short story is filled with a flair for the dramatic and a love for the Filipino diaspora. It is often the intricate details, the slow anger of a sibling toward another or the quiet, gentle love of an older man, that give these stories their power. Admist the craziness, Tenorio manages to find sanity and rich character details.
Available July 7th 2020
In Lysley Tenorio's lively "Monstress", anything goes from Beatles kitsch to homeless drag queens. Each short story is filled with a flair for the dramatic and a love for the Filipino diaspora. It is often the intricate details, the slow anger of a sibling toward another or the quiet, gentle love of an older man, that give these stories their power. Admist the craziness, Tenorio manages to find sanity and rich character details.
princesstempura's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
paracosm's review against another edition
3.0
This was mid. Can't think of anything else to say besides that.
lucrezi's review against another edition
4.0
Monstress reminds me a lot of Anaïs Nin’s collections; they don’t feel like whole stories and rather feel like vignettes, glimpses into the lives of different people instead of having a definite point or character development.
The premises of all of these stories were very interesting, taking inspiration from the realities our countrymen faced those times. They all had Filipino flavors of different intensities, some delivered with the subtlest hand and some with a clear voice saying, “This is the American experience unique to the immigrant (or wishful immigrant) Filipino.”
Lysley Tenorio had placed his strongest stories first: Monstress, The Brothers, and Felix Starro. The rest weren’t as strong, but the penultimate “Save the I-Hotel” stood out. I still liked the other stories despite the high expectations those first three stories set. Tenorio is obviously a very talented writer who practices restraint well, which is a trait I’ve come to value in storytelling. Would recommend.
The premises of all of these stories were very interesting, taking inspiration from the realities our countrymen faced those times. They all had Filipino flavors of different intensities, some delivered with the subtlest hand and some with a clear voice saying, “This is the American experience unique to the immigrant (or wishful immigrant) Filipino.”
Lysley Tenorio had placed his strongest stories first: Monstress, The Brothers, and Felix Starro. The rest weren’t as strong, but the penultimate “Save the I-Hotel” stood out. I still liked the other stories despite the high expectations those first three stories set. Tenorio is obviously a very talented writer who practices restraint well, which is a trait I’ve come to value in storytelling. Would recommend.
jenlabrador's review against another edition
4.0
Tenorio's stories each leave you with that hollow feeling of loneliness and almost remorse or regret over a missed opportunity you wish was there but never was. Like somehow life should have been different but because of the Philippines' disjointed history and Filipinos' fragmented sense of family and self, this was always how life had to be. Every story ached with that feeling of wanting to belong--to someone, to some place. I loved it.
laurennporter's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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