Scan barcode
A review by mandirigma
Somewhere in the Middle: A Journey to the Philippines in Search of Roots, Belonging, and Identity by Deborah Francisco Douglas
3.0
Admittedly I err on the side of generous with my star reviews, but I really had a lot of trouble connecting to this book.
The book is about the author's experience serving in the Peace Corps in the Philippines, the country her father came from. I appreciate and acknowledge that this was about an experience that is different from my own (I'm not biracial and I never had the opportunity to spend an extended period of time in the Philippines), but as a Filipino American, parts of the book bothered me that I think could've been worked out by a few beta readers.
Mostly, I got the feeling that she was annoyed constantly by the whole experience, by the people, the weather, the place she lived, the questions, the cultural norms, etc. And I really think it's because each chapter was basically a vignette of a thing that happened on her trip, that needed more weight and interrogation and perspective.
The thing is, I'm certain that if I could spend just a few years living in the Philippines (and thus, without the all the history and context of spending my whole life there), I'd probably be annoyed by all the same things, but what would that say about me? What would it say about the culture that was lost, or morphed when my parents moved to America? I think I was hoping for her to contextualize those experiences more.
The book is about the author's experience serving in the Peace Corps in the Philippines, the country her father came from. I appreciate and acknowledge that this was about an experience that is different from my own (I'm not biracial and I never had the opportunity to spend an extended period of time in the Philippines), but as a Filipino American, parts of the book bothered me that I think could've been worked out by a few beta readers.
Mostly, I got the feeling that she was annoyed constantly by the whole experience, by the people, the weather, the place she lived, the questions, the cultural norms, etc. And I really think it's because each chapter was basically a vignette of a thing that happened on her trip, that needed more weight and interrogation and perspective.
The thing is, I'm certain that if I could spend just a few years living in the Philippines (and thus, without the all the history and context of spending my whole life there), I'd probably be annoyed by all the same things, but what would that say about me? What would it say about the culture that was lost, or morphed when my parents moved to America? I think I was hoping for her to contextualize those experiences more.