A review by dlrosebyh
Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan

dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Filipino men are either of the two Ts: trash or treasure. And while this is cliché, Filipinos take this very seriously, hence why Smaller and Smaller Circles didn’t feel fiction at all while reading this. 
 
If you’re familiar with Philippines politics, every element in the novel shouldn’t surprise you. Yup, priests can be corrupt, can be evil, and it happens more regularly than expected. But what’s so groundbreaking about this book is that it breaks the conservatism of our country in some sort of way. 
 
Growing up as a Filipino in a conservative Catholic household, I've always been told to not do certain things, and consuming media against the 5th commandment (AKA: thou shalt not kill) is extremely prohibited. Smaller and Smaller Circles winning as a Philippine National Book Award sure stirred a lot of conversation, but it was deserving of the attention. 
 
One thing Filipino authors never fail to do is to bring up the social issues in our country. In this book, we can see that with the underlying child labor plot, where children are forced to work because they’re in poverty. 
 
While, yes, I know that the book is something not new or has been done before, I also really enjoyed reading it. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m Filipino, but this book felt somehow like home. It was easy to read, to digest, and you don’t need a lot of brainpowers unlike a majority of crime/mystery novels. 
 
Overall, I believe that Smaller and Smaller Circles might be cliché, but it’s an eye-opening novel about the things happening in the Philippines, a third-world country who do not have the privileges first-world & second-world countries have. 
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