More Like American Delinquents...
God Bless: 59 cent boba at Quickly’s
Feeling: I don’t think there’s a smiley for “Unproductive”
WARNING! i talk about the ending of the book, so please DO NOT READ ON unless you are a spineless masochist with no willpower and you absolutely want to ruin the ending for yourself!
I just finished reading American Son. Does everyone else’s book have 216 pages? Because I’m convinced I’m missing at least another chapter. That ending didn’t leave me very happy—there is so much left unresolved. Am I wrong? Or is Roley milking me for all it’s worth? Do I have to wait around for American Son: The Sequel (or better, Philippine Daughter: The Prequel) to find out what becomes of Tomas, Gabe, and company? Bah. No wonder my lola got hooked on Guiding Light—the relationships, the drama, the emotional investment…I just want to find out what happens next!
Will Tomas ever work off his debt for selling Buster? Will Gabe and Tomas ever have a healthy relationship with their mother, or with each other for that matter? At the end of the novel do they pull a Thelma and Louise and drive off a cliff (or at least an L.A. offramp)? Roley’s novel elicits conflicting emotions in me—I don’t necessarily like these characters, but I care for them.
For example, Tomas isn’t a particularly affable guy, but I am still curious as to whether his character will ever develop into something more than a violent, ethnically-homeless, bitter, criminal-waiting-to-happen, wannabe. In the same vein, I’m curious whether the mother will ever get a grip on her children. I found her passivity to be grating and obnoxious—to a degree that rivals Santos from Caps and Lower Case—particularly when she undermines Gabe’s efforts to stand up for her at the cosmetics counter. When I read the passage towards the end of the novel in which she confronts Tomas at the family party, I thought she was finally beginning to assert her authority over her son. I thought she was finally laying down a foundation to cultivate some mettle. But I was wrong. What follows is timidity before a melodramatic WASP in a Land Cruiser. English students call this juxtaposition. I call it anti-progress. But anyhoot, what happens to Gabe’s mother? Does she find peace in America? Is she a contented member of the Filipino Diaspora?
Clearly, the novel has many loose-ends.
But I think the lack of resolution in the novel adds a little something special. Memories, for instance, are inserted haphazardly into the narrative—memories of Gabe’s father, etc. I felt like I had to carry the weight of the characters’ emotional baggage while I read the rest of the novel. I guess the memories function as meaningful asides that provide insights into the motivating forces behind characters’ behaviors and actions.
On another note, I'm having trouble deciphering as to how Gabe and Tomas (perhaps more so) ended up so ethnically homeless. They vacationed in the Philippines, they attended family parties and mass, they were raised by a Filipino mother. But still, they fail to identify with the Filipino culture. How does that happen?
Questions about the novel:
What is the symbolic significance of the dogs?
What is the point of this novel? Themes?
Why does Roley choose not to use quotation marks in the dialogue?
What happened to the truck driver? Just kidding.
Feeling: I don’t think there’s a smiley for “Unproductive”
WARNING! i talk about the ending of the book, so please DO NOT READ ON unless you are a spineless masochist with no willpower and you absolutely want to ruin the ending for yourself!
I just finished reading American Son. Does everyone else’s book have 216 pages? Because I’m convinced I’m missing at least another chapter. That ending didn’t leave me very happy—there is so much left unresolved. Am I wrong? Or is Roley milking me for all it’s worth? Do I have to wait around for American Son: The Sequel (or better, Philippine Daughter: The Prequel) to find out what becomes of Tomas, Gabe, and company? Bah. No wonder my lola got hooked on Guiding Light—the relationships, the drama, the emotional investment…I just want to find out what happens next!
Will Tomas ever work off his debt for selling Buster? Will Gabe and Tomas ever have a healthy relationship with their mother, or with each other for that matter? At the end of the novel do they pull a Thelma and Louise and drive off a cliff (or at least an L.A. offramp)? Roley’s novel elicits conflicting emotions in me—I don’t necessarily like these characters, but I care for them.
For example, Tomas isn’t a particularly affable guy, but I am still curious as to whether his character will ever develop into something more than a violent, ethnically-homeless, bitter, criminal-waiting-to-happen, wannabe. In the same vein, I’m curious whether the mother will ever get a grip on her children. I found her passivity to be grating and obnoxious—to a degree that rivals Santos from Caps and Lower Case—particularly when she undermines Gabe’s efforts to stand up for her at the cosmetics counter. When I read the passage towards the end of the novel in which she confronts Tomas at the family party, I thought she was finally beginning to assert her authority over her son. I thought she was finally laying down a foundation to cultivate some mettle. But I was wrong. What follows is timidity before a melodramatic WASP in a Land Cruiser. English students call this juxtaposition. I call it anti-progress. But anyhoot, what happens to Gabe’s mother? Does she find peace in America? Is she a contented member of the Filipino Diaspora?
Clearly, the novel has many loose-ends.
But I think the lack of resolution in the novel adds a little something special. Memories, for instance, are inserted haphazardly into the narrative—memories of Gabe’s father, etc. I felt like I had to carry the weight of the characters’ emotional baggage while I read the rest of the novel. I guess the memories function as meaningful asides that provide insights into the motivating forces behind characters’ behaviors and actions.
On another note, I'm having trouble deciphering as to how Gabe and Tomas (perhaps more so) ended up so ethnically homeless. They vacationed in the Philippines, they attended family parties and mass, they were raised by a Filipino mother. But still, they fail to identify with the Filipino culture. How does that happen?
Questions about the novel:
What is the symbolic significance of the dogs?
What is the point of this novel? Themes?
Why does Roley choose not to use quotation marks in the dialogue?
What happened to the truck driver? Just kidding.
posted by The Kenneth @ 9:06 PM
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