SuitabookGrowing Up Filipino
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
- Reading
- Read one story at a time, pausing to compare its treatment of family, friendship or identity with another. Check in after stories involving angst or love rather than assuming the collection has one emotional tone.
- Themes
- Filipino identity and cultural belonging: The stories address what it means to be young and Filipino in the Philippines and the United States, while also depicting young adults across ethnic affiliations. The book?s stance on this remains unclear.
- Family, friendship and love: These are three of the five themes assigned to the stories, alongside angst and home. Relationships are central in the collection’s organisation, but their outcomes and the values attached to them remain unclear.
- Home and emotional experience: The collection uses home and angst as themes for stories about young people’s lives in the Philippines and the United States. The pairing suggests attention to place and inner experience, but it does not establish whether home is portrayed as secure, conflicted or changing.
- Worth knowing
- The book may suit shared reading or selective discussion, especially when comparing stories; the emotional weight and treatment of love, angst and family need to be discovered in the individual pieces.