America Is Not the Heart

An excellent novel about immigration, family, love, romance, deceit, kindness, culture, and lives chosen.

Hero dropped out of medical school to join a revolutionary group in her native Philippines. Ten years later she is captured and jailed for two years. Upon her release she is disowned by her upper-class parents. Shortly after she is sent (illegally) to live with her favorite uncle and his family in Milpitas. And thus begins her third life. In the American suburbs, in a house, running mundane errands with her 8-year-old cousin, finally meeting friends and a girlfriend, hanging out, eating the same food and speaking the same languages she always has. It is comfortable and also fairly odd, as she constantly wonders about her show more co-revolutionaries, her parents, her aunt--how are they, where are they, what are they doing now?

Castillo does a great job illustrating suburban San Jose in the 1990s. Strip malls that are all the same yet so different to those that hang out or work at their particular strip mall. The hours of work put in by those trying to support so many people in different countries, the loss of job status among immigrants, the trying to do more so your children can have more. Is it all worth it?

This may be the first of a trilogy. I hope so. show less

Elaine Castillo has written a sprawling contemporary saga about family, love, friendship, culture, sex, and food—the very things that make life fun and interesting. Perhaps most impressively, she’s written this novel about a strong community of Filipino-Americans in the Bay Area, shedding light on the complexity and diversity within Pinoy culture.

The novel features a cast of interesting and multi-dimensional characters; the protagonist is Hero (short for Geronima), a 30something undocumented immigrant from the Philippines who flees her unsupportive parents after being released from government captivity due to her involvement with the New People’s Army, a revolutionary group. Hobbled by fractured thumbs—a lasting reminder of her show more torture while in captivity—Hero arrives in Milpitas to live with her uncle (a former M.D. who also fled the Philippines), his wife, and their 8-year-old daughter, Roni. Feeling like an outsider, Hero finds acceptance with a group of young Filipinos, especially Rosalyn, a boisterous and energetic woman in her 20s who develops a crush on Hero.

The narrative focuses on the growing relationship between Hero and Rosalyn—along with the ensuing complications it causes—as well as the problems caused by socioeconomic difficulties and fears of deportation. Castillo balances these very real and urgent issues with strong doses of familial love, celebrations of food and friendship, and the impenetrable bonds the characters form. The lack of quotation marks indicating dialogue can be a bit disorienting at first, and the frequent use of Tagalog and Ilocano might challenge some readers, but these quirks can be easily overcome with the use of online translations, and I found myself enjoying the incidental education in Filipino language and culture (especially as a resident of San Francisco).

An enjoyable and unexpectedly engaging read, America Is Not The Heart will entertain and educate you. show less

This feels to me like a first novel in the best way - like it's a story that Castillo had to tell that comes straight from the heart. Not neccessarily that the plot or characters come from her life, but that they represent a world and a culture that she wants to share with the world. I appreciated the way she continually uses words and phrases in Tagalog, Pangasinan, Ilocano without explaining them to the reader - you're immersed in Filipino immigrant life and learn by watching, not by being told.

This book focuses on three generations of Filipino immigrants in the Bay Area. The book opens (extremely compellingly) by focusing on Paz and her immigration , and then we turn to focus on her niece and daughter, both named Geronima (but with different nicknames, Hero and Roni). Hero, ultimately the main character, had joined the New People's Army in the Philippines in the 1970s and, after two years of imprisonment and torture, joined her aunt and their family in the US in the early 90s. The book follows the family and traces their joys and sorrows after Hero's arrival.

I really like this and think that it was really well done. I've read a lot of reviews complaining that the initial second-person prologue with Paz's story is more show more narratively compelling than the later sections; while I'd agree that that's true, the rest is stilly really well done. There are a lot of flashbacks to Hero's earlier years that were definitely confusing at first, though I think they started to make more sense later. Another thing that I really liked about this book was the use of language. Tagalog (and, occasionally, Pangasinense and Ilocano) is used pretty often throughout this book in recounting dialogue, and probably about half of it is translated--not being able to understand it was definitely a surprising reading experience, but I think it worked really well. I'd definitely recommend this one! show less

I had high hopes for this one. A couple/few segments were impactful. Overall, though, I thought it was exceedingly long without being particularly engaging. I didn't connect with or like any of the characters. There's a lot of discussion about food and sex, but nothing especially deep or emotional. If the parts that mattered (their experiences) were developed more, I think it could have been stunning.

2019 TOB--Another less than stellar entry into the TOB. It's been a disappointing year. People have criticized this book for not having a glossary or more explanation over all the foreign words. That didn't bother me as much the slow pace of the book. The plot was okay but it didn't need several sections. The section was Rosalyn and Hero finally got together went on way too long. I found the book boring to read and didn't really like anyone in the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story of love, hardships, and family of three Filipino women, one actually being a very precocious child, Roni, she was quite a treat.