A review by inksploration
The '70s (Dekada '70, English Edition) by Lualhati Bautista

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Lualhati Bautista is a known artist and activist during the Martial Law era, in fact she experienced tortures herself. Reading her work is great, somehow I felt closer to the cause of the people.
 
Reading the book was a challenge since I’m not fluent in written Filipino but I knew I had to read it in its original text in order to fully immerse myself with thoughts that Lualhati wanted to convey. Going in, I am aware of what the book is about since I’ve watched the movie adaptation of it beforehand. However, I was not aware, or perhaps the movie did not focus on it, of how the story telling went. It’s a story of a woman from a middle class family who was forced to wake up from the realities of life. 
 
Amanda is a typical woman from the 60s who was born and raised to be a mother and a wife, however there was something in her that yearned for something more – a sense of purpose. There is this thirst for more in her life, she wanted to be more than just a mother and a wife. Throughout the book the internal struggle of Amanda is apparent, from what she was raised to be – a subservient wife and the perfect mother, and what she wants to be – someone with a purpose. She would always have this internal debate of wanting to know more and learn about the world around her yet she wants to fulfill the role she was raised to have. 
 
This story is a testament to the fact that privilege may and should be used to not just amplify the oppressor’s voices but also to help them, that bursting the bubble of the privileged is necessary to fully emphatize with the people and cause around you. Just because you are not directly affected by atrocities does not mean that it did not happen. Just because you did not experience oppression does not mean that it does not exist. 
 
Lualhati’s words are crafted with a level of genuineness and smartness, you can feel the emotions in every sentence she wrote. You can feel the passion to not just illustrate but to also educate. 
 
It has been an immense pleasure to read her work. I am looking forward to dive more into her works.