Philippines, Drug Traffick, Murder, Cousins
323 pages
Ages 14+
Lexile 840L
Description
When seventeen-year-old Jay Reguero learns his Filipino cousin and former best friend, Jun, was murdered as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, he flies to the Philippines to learn more.
Booklist starred (May 1, 2019 (Vol. 115, No. 17))
Grades 10-12. After finding out about his cousin Jun’s violent death, Jay Reguero travels from America to the Philippines to uncover how such a gentle person met such a grim end. He finds that the place that he remembers—the place of his birth—has changed in the face of a sweeping drug war initiated by President Rodrigo Duterte, a war that Jun’s father, Tito Maning, enthusiastically endorses. Jay digs into the circumstances of Jun’s death, while navigating the sinuous history between family members, including the schism created by his own father's decision to raise his children in America. Jay’s investigations are an intriguing setup for what is actually a deep, nuanced, and painfully real family drama. Jay himself is a relatable character for biracial readers straddling two different cultures. This dynamic comes into play both when he tries to convey his feelings to his American friends and when he travels abroad and is treated like an outsider by other Filipinos despite looking the same. Ribay’s focus, however, is on showing the current-day war on drugs ravaging Filipino society, characterized by extrajudicial vigilante killings endorsed by the highest levels of government. By deftly weaving key details into Jay’s quest for the truth, Ribay provides a much-needed window for young people of the West to better understand the Filipino history of colonization, occupation, and revolution.
My Comments
Powerful read. It is in a sense, a coming-of-age story in which Jay begins to understand the complexity of another culture and with that understanding, compassion.
No comments:
Post a Comment