Book Review: ‘Forgiving Imelda Marcos,’ by Nathan Go; ‘Dreaming Home,’ by Lucian Childs; ‘A Quitter’s Paradise,’ by Elysha Chang
But throughout the book, a larger theme of forgiveness runs through, mainly regarding Rito’s father and the priest. Rito and Priest. Rito and his father.Rito’s son his father. “What does it mean to forgive someone?” Rito asks himself and analyzes the issue philosophically, theologically and politically. He may not find the exact answer, but his quest, articulated in Gor’s elegant and sharp prose, will forever fascinate.
Children can be cruel, but what if one afternoon he teases his little brother, causing the family to fall apart? by Lucien Childs DREAMING HOME (Biblioasis, 221 pages, paperback, $22.95) The story begins when 12-year-old Rachel finds her 15-year-old brother Kyle sketching for a gay porn magazine with her friend Tiana. They all live at Fort Hood Army Base in Texas. Rachel and Kyle’s father, a Vietnam War prisoner of war, is a strict disciplinarian, and Rachel struggles with how to respond to Kyle’s paintings. In between finds the courage to do the wrong thing. Thing: Tuttle. In response, Kyle’s father brutally beats him and then kicks him out for conversion therapy.
Written in a youth voice, the first two sections of the novel are very accomplished and often tasteful and enthralling. In the first chapter, when Tiana’s father asked Rachel to back his opinion that they were too young to date, Rachel thought, I’m a woman, hear me cryIn the second section, Kyle’s gay reeducation camp, psychological abuse is satirized, and the camp’s newlywed faith leader “gives me a natural affection for women” is largely thanked. And thanks to the chapter’s narrator (Kyle is another boy at the school). “We really want it, but it makes us kind of uncomfortable,” I take it seriously.
