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A review by mandirigma
The Son of Good Fortune by Lysley Tenorio
4.0
The Son of Good Fortune tracks the life of Excel, a 19-year-old coming home to Colma (a small city famous for having within its limits more dead people than living) after nearly a year away in a desert town with his girlfriend. A life-altering thing happened in this desert town, and now he’s home to make ten thousand dollars to send back to his girlfriend. It’s a tough task made more difficult by the fact that he’s undocumented.
This was an excellent novel that really sunk into the normal aimlessness of any 19-year-old, the desire to be better than our circumstances, and the desperation and frustration of being undocumented. Neither Excel nor his mother, Maxima — a professional scammer, are perfect, but it’s easy to be sympathetic to their plight. They do what they can and will put up with what they have to to get by.
Reading this as a Filipino American who grew up around Tagalog, I really loved how Tenorio handled the language in this book. A lot was left untranslated but could be understood through context. It felt true to the Taglish our families actually speak, and while this book is timely and I feel it should be read by all young people, it felt like a book written for us and not something trying to cater to a wider audience.
This was heartbreaking at a few turns, but not melodramatic. The characters felt like real people and this was a very realistic look at the life of undocumented teens. It also pairs well with Jose Antonio Vargas’s Dear America.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was an excellent novel that really sunk into the normal aimlessness of any 19-year-old, the desire to be better than our circumstances, and the desperation and frustration of being undocumented. Neither Excel nor his mother, Maxima — a professional scammer, are perfect, but it’s easy to be sympathetic to their plight. They do what they can and will put up with what they have to to get by.
Reading this as a Filipino American who grew up around Tagalog, I really loved how Tenorio handled the language in this book. A lot was left untranslated but could be understood through context. It felt true to the Taglish our families actually speak, and while this book is timely and I feel it should be read by all young people, it felt like a book written for us and not something trying to cater to a wider audience.
This was heartbreaking at a few turns, but not melodramatic. The characters felt like real people and this was a very realistic look at the life of undocumented teens. It also pairs well with Jose Antonio Vargas’s Dear America.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.