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A review by cryscries
Chasing Pacquiao by Rod Pulido
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
fast-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? It's complicated
4.0
Do read the trigger warning list before picking up the book.
A queer ya story centering a Filipino boy navigating his way from being outed and honestly terrible bullies (reading it made me wince and I honestly felt for the character) and cute comic references.
I picked this up because as a filam I understood the shock of finding out about pacquiao’s beliefs about queer people. I may not have been a big boxing fan but he was basically every filam kids hero in a sense. The idea of finding out your idol ended up being terrible and no longer being there for you really interested me.
It mostly picks up in the third act and I wish I had more of the character working through it but the ending note on it still felt like a good way to end.
A queer ya story centering a Filipino boy navigating his way from being outed and honestly terrible bullies (reading it made me wince and I honestly felt for the character) and cute comic references.
I picked this up because as a filam I understood the shock of finding out about pacquiao’s beliefs about queer people. I may not have been a big boxing fan but he was basically every filam kids hero in a sense. The idea of finding out your idol ended up being terrible and no longer being there for you really interested me.
It mostly picks up in the third act and I wish I had more of the character working through it but the ending note on it still felt like a good way to end.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia and Violence
The bullies are very homophobic and constantly address the character with Filipino homophobic slurs and beating him up . It also does bring up what pacquiao said in his statement when in a Q&A about same sex marriage rights quoting bits of what he said.