Reviews

Insurrecto by Gina Apostol

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sensormellow's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

wombatjenni's review against another edition

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5.0

"The Philippine-American war is unremembered," concludes the story, and that was the unexpected, weightiest takeaway for me for reading this novel that is simultaneously hilarious, deliciously written, yet heartbreaking in so many ways. I borrowed this from the library, and it's going to be one of those rare books I buy a copy of, because I need to read this again - it is not a great read for when you're at all distracted due to what at first seem like flashbacks but are actually, to boil it down to a very simple description, two different stories written by two women working together on a film project, tied into the Balangiga Massacre. In addition to tying the bloody history of the Philippines to its modern day police brutality, Apostol manages to also address how it feels like to find yourself living between cultures and being able to look at your home from an outsider's perspective, while still having insider knowledge that very few seem to care about.
Because I am not just a person who unremembers the Philippine-American war but someone who has been blissfully ignorant of it and never heard of the Balangiga Massacre, I ended up looking up information online while I was reading (yet another distraction from the novel, but worthy of it!) because my ignorance couldn't tell me what was fact, and what was part of historical fiction that the two fictional characters in the novel were spinning.
Not only did Insurrecto entertain in the best way a novel can by engaging the reader in joys, tears, guffaws, and overall incredulity at the world, it also educated me.

matthewmansell's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

‘She does not go home for her mother’s funeral because the prospect of return - the mournful winding road out of metropolitan Manila through the wastes of Luzon into the Bicol peninsula, then on the Samar’s powerful desolation and across the strait into Leyte’s monotonous green - gives her insomnia. She splurges on a coat from Miu Miu instead.’

bethnellvaccaro's review against another edition

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2.0

I think I have reached a time in my life when I don’t have the energy to work this hard to understand what is happening in a book. I bet it is really good. I would need to be assigned it for a class for me to get through it, though.

nouveau's review against another edition

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challenging slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

lauren_endnotes's review against another edition

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4.0

"The story Magsalin wishes to tell is about loss. Any emblem will do: a French-Tunisian with an unfinished manuscript, an American obsessed with a Filipino war, a filmmaker’s possible murder, a wife’s sadness. An abaca weave, a warp and weft of numbers, is measured but invisible in the plot. Chapter numbers double up. Puzzle pieces scramble. Points of view will multiply."

From INSURRECTO by Gina Apostol // 2018, Soho Press

I finished this book 2 days ago, and I'm still piecing it all together in my mind. What Apostol does in this novel is nothing short of remarkable - but it's also difficult to describe. Kaleidoscopic, multilayered - these are the words that come to mind first. It's a meta-analysis of colonialism as it took place and is it continues to take place. How history is revised, written over by the victors, and/or kept hidden over decades.

Events occur in several time periods, but Apostol's lynchpin moments are in Balangiga, East Samar province in 1901, part of the Philippine-American War, AND Duterte's Philippines in the 2010s.

What was clear - even in a story that skips through time and space - is Apostol's use of language and cultural references. Her writing style is highly intellectual, but still accessible.

She references traditional Filipino weaving several times in the text, and this allusion continues in her story's structure - the warp and weft crossing and skipping over each other, colors changing, shifting, and a resulting tapestry.

If you like metafiction, historical narratives, and critical theory this one is definitely worth checking out. Elements of Calvino and Cortázar, with playful and clever language.

I have a feeling this one will be even more meaningful with a reread. Still pondering, and very interested to read more Filipino literature and history.