2 minute read
BOOK ALL MY LONELY ISLANDS
BY HEZRON G. PIOS
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“One crisp March evening, Crisanta and Ferdinand arrive on the remote Batanes islands for a mission: locate Graciella, whose son, Stevan, they saw die in a tragic accident a decade ago. But they need to confess something to her: Stevan’s death is not all what it seems. Oppressed by a decade of painful memories, Crisanta and Ferdinand must race against time—from the wild swamplands of the Sundarban forest in Bangladesh to the back alleys of Manila to the savage cliffs of Batanes—to offer Graciella the truth that they themselves cannot bear to face.”
All My Lonely Islands (AMLI) by Victorette Joy “VJ” Campilan swashes with undeniable grace. Its contained use of geography, biblical references, and Filipino traditions coalesce with the polished narrative flow and thematic framework. At times, the reader reminisces his own version of religious education. Other times, the reader queries with scrutiny about stock knowledge pertaining to continents, local slangs, and superstitious views.
Although AMLI presents its protagonist Crisanta as a typical, struggling writer— what with the harsh realities a writer ventures with—her humanity remains an intact element. Crisanta, and her personal truths, do not overshadow other truths displayed. Instead, hers acts as a unifying platform and supplies often unprecedented and deconstructed truths.
Upon closer look, the book almost brims with a memoir-like structure and edgy personal accounts. Perhaps if this were not penned into a fictional work, this could have been passed as creative nonfiction. Nonetheless, this testifies Campilan’s forte in weaving expositories with such poignancy.
To add, it's charming how the plot was written. It orbits Crisanta’s recollection of life from childhood up to her teenage years in Dhaka, and the instances that transitioned between the past and the present times, jiving with the reader witnessing Crisanta’s reconciliation with her inner demons. Furthermore, Batanes, Dhaka and Sundarban have also been depicted with certain imagery and impressive eloquence.
Campilan also illustrated these settings with no sugarcoating gimmick. The realism she conjures contribute to the overall beauty of the book, thus highlighting several Filipino ways of living despite the book being fleshed out in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Without a doubt, it exhibits the haunting beauty of the Philippines and its multifaceted inhabitants.
The somber tone of the book really mimics a burnt-out soul looking for forgiveness or redemption. This places Crisanta in an introspective standpoint. The story cuts between the past and present Crisanta who “hate each other.”
For a careless reader,
what really occurred was just some incident like a high school urban legend, but for the ones involved— Crisanta, Ferdinand, and Graciella—it’s a shocking turning point turned gloom turned personal tragedy that lingers. Ergo, their grief and guilt reverberate with a crystal clear message: sorrow is relative. The reader, then, is no longer displaced as the pages go by.
To spill more details would be a shame for All My Lonely Islands. This book deserves a week’s worth of sitting and attention. This book deserves its 2015 Carlos Palanca Grand Prize award. This book is doubtlessly astounding. S
