{"id":22284,"date":"2024-03-25T12:29:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T22:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/?p=22284"},"modified":"2024-03-25T12:29:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T22:29:04","slug":"book-review-bibliolepsy-a-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/2024\/03\/25\/book-review-bibliolepsy-a-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"BOOK REVIEW: Bibliolepsy, A Novel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

by Rose Cruz Churma<\/em>

The author, Gina Apostol, is the latest (Spring 2024)\u00a0Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals\u00a0at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. She is the second person of Filipino ancestry to be selected\u2014the first was Antonio A. Oposa Jr. in 2015.

The Inouye Chair\u2019s goal is to draw leading intellectuals, artists, and other public figures to Hawai’i to educate students and the greater community by sharing their work. By staying in Hawai’i for a semester, they in turn, can be inspired by Hawaii\u2019s unique ambiance.

To date, the author has written five novels, the first of which is\u00a0Bibliolepsy<\/em>written in 1997 which won in the Philippines\u2019 National Book Awards of 1998. This book was reissued in 2022 by Soho Press\u2014with a preface added, and a new cover design.

The main protagonist is Primi Perigrino, and like the author, grew up in Leyte or thereabouts, and eventually pursued higher education in the big city.

The narrative is from Primi\u2019s perspective and describes her affliction for the written word\u2014thus the title of the book\u2014a made-up name\u00a0with a mix of Latin and Greek roots that loosely mean the\u00a0desire for books and words.

From Primi\u2019s written monologues, she sounds like a self-absorbed eccentric whose lifeline is books and the written word\u2014and the folks who authored these.

In the first part of the book, eight-year-old Primi\u2019s parents disappear mysteriously from an inter-island ferry.

Her father was a graphic artist\/underground political cartoonist (circa 1972 when Martial Law was declared in the Philippines) while her mother was a \u201ccrazy\u201d but beautiful taxidermist\u2014and their deaths leave Primi and her older sister Anna in the care of their weird grandmother they call\u00a0abuelita.<\/em>

Primi is considered a reading prodigy and swoons over the written text and seduces the authors she admires, while her sister Anna is a mystic who believes that positive energy will oust the dictator\u2014since the second part is set amidst\u00a0the backdrop of mid-80s Philippines, toward the end of Marcos regime, a time of censorship, political protest, and civil unrest.

Unlike the other books describing the mid-80s era, the author has her own unique style in describing those days.

\u201cCNN had cornered the market on the street revolt: \u00a0I look at the onscreen crowds. \u00a0The country has emerged as kitsch of the day, a panorama of many divisible scenes shot up as one gigantic yellow mushroom you could chew, and psychedelia\u00a0followed.”

It is an unusual take on living through political turmoil, eloquent but also disturbing. Sometimes funny but always provoking.\u00a0Despite these\u2014I think reading one of her books is enough for my lifetime.

To those who are intrigued by her writing, she has four other published books.

Her latest is La Tercera,<\/em>published in 2023. <\/em><\/strong>She plans to read from this latest novel at her scheduled talk on April 5, Friday 5:30 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Makiki.

Her talk entitled \u201cIstorya<\/em>:\u00a0Weaving Personal Stories into Fiction<\/em>\u201d is about how researching and exploring family history opened links to Philippine revolutionary history and the anti-colonial legacy of Rizal and others. \u00a0It should be a memorable evening.

For those interested in attending, please send an email to\u00a0kalamansibooks@gmail.com<\/a>. \u00a0Or contact its sponsors\u2014the Filipino Association of University Women (FAUW), UP Alumni Association of Hawaii (UPAAH), and the Knights of Rizal\u2014Hawaii and Aloha chapters.

Get the latest stories from Hawaii Filipino Chronicle straight to your inbox! Subscribe to\u00a0<\/em>our FREE newsletter here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>

ROSE CRUZ CHURMA\u00a0<\/strong>established\u00a0Kalamansi Books & Things\u00a0three decades ago. It has\u00a0evolved from a mail-order bookstore into an online advocacy with the intent of helping global Pinoys discover their heritage by promoting books of value from the\u00a0Philippines\u00a0and those\u00a0written by Filipinos in the Diaspora. We can be reached at\u00a0<\/em>kalamansibooks@gmail.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rose Cruz Churma The author, Gina Apostol, is the latest (Spring 2024)\u00a0Dan and Maggie…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?fit=844%2C1268&ssl=1",844,1268,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1",200,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?fit=640%2C962&ssl=1",640,962,true],"large":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?fit=640%2C961&ssl=1",640,961,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?fit=844%2C1268&ssl=1",844,1268,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?fit=844%2C1268&ssl=1",844,1268,true],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?resize=844%2C800&ssl=1",844,800,true],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?resize=844%2C570&ssl=1",844,570,true],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?resize=600%2C900&ssl=1",600,900,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1",600,600,true],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?resize=592%2C715&ssl=1",592,715,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?resize=470%2C500&ssl=1",470,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?fit=844%2C1268&ssl=1",844,1268,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?resize=540%2C285&ssl=1",540,285,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?resize=375%2C250&ssl=1",375,250,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Features<\/a> Philippines<\/a>","tag_info":"Philippines","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/BR-Bibliolepsy-color_03232024.jpg?fit=844%2C1268&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22285,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22284\/revisions\/22285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}