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gspiller's review against another edition
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
pwig's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
fast-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? Yes
2.5
marjandincharge's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
A challenging and heart-wrenching read, but well worth finishing! Carlos Bulosan's writing is poetically descriptive. I learned so much about America and myself while reading this book. Highly recommend this to any Filipino, but also to any American trying to better understand the country's history. Very Grapes of Wrath-eqsue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
Moderate: War, Violence, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Trafficking
agnesjlopez's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual assault, Grief, Hate crime, Racism, Classism, Colonisation, Sexism, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, and Kidnapping
Moderate: War
wesley_sq's review against another edition
4.0
4.5/5
Hits you right in the heart. Vividly captures life in the Philippines, poverty and being an immigrant.
This is not a love letter to any culture, It’s not a glorification of poverty either. Everyone and everything, even the author, are very much flawed. No one is a paragon of morality here, it’s just tragically filled with people.
As someone coming from a very similar background, minus the violence thankfully enough, this book is a new perspective. I’ve never been much informed about the specifics of violence and discrimination that my roots suffered and Bulosan gives a very personal and moving account on that. I’ve always only known the general and sweeping accounts from that era and so I became almost disconnected from it. But Bulosan puts you in the first person perspective, right in the moment with him. You feel the confusion, anger, disappointment, pity, serenity and peace right with him.
This is such an emotionally taxing and informative experience and would definitely delve more into the literature of that era.
Hits you right in the heart. Vividly captures life in the Philippines, poverty and being an immigrant.
This is not a love letter to any culture, It’s not a glorification of poverty either. Everyone and everything, even the author, are very much flawed. No one is a paragon of morality here, it’s just tragically filled with people.
As someone coming from a very similar background, minus the violence thankfully enough, this book is a new perspective. I’ve never been much informed about the specifics of violence and discrimination that my roots suffered and Bulosan gives a very personal and moving account on that. I’ve always only known the general and sweeping accounts from that era and so I became almost disconnected from it. But Bulosan puts you in the first person perspective, right in the moment with him. You feel the confusion, anger, disappointment, pity, serenity and peace right with him.
This is such an emotionally taxing and informative experience and would definitely delve more into the literature of that era.
monkeyjess's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
mandirigma's review against another edition
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 against another edition
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
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 against another edition
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)