This book was the only one I read in years that had a truly terrible middle. It started strong and ended strong, and the mess in the middle was the hardest part to get through. I wanted to love this book, and was thrilled to receive an ARC through Netgalley. However, despite featuring strong Filipina characters, and despite talking about delicious food on almost every page, the story wasn't as strong as I wanted it to be, although by the end I was mostly satisfied.

The story starts with a nice rhythm, a second person narration by Paz, a woman quickly running over her life to remember how she came to a place called America. This lyrical writing is interrupted with the third person narration of Hero, a recent arrival in California from the Philippines. She is coming to live with her beloved uncle Pol, and his family; his wife Paz, and his seven year old daughter Roni. To make herself useful to the family, Hero offers to drive Roni to and from school, and to take her to a local healer in hopes of helping her horrible eczema. Hero and Roni are both struggling to find their place in a world that isn't quite theirs. Together they find friends and purpose in the restaurant run by the healer, Adela.

Watching these two characters change and find their way is the slow burning beauty of this book. There are plenty of characters: Paz and Pol, Boy and Adela, Jaime and Roslyn, among many, many others. However, these characters seem very minor in comparison to Roni, and especially Hero. Hero struggles with memories of her past, and the life she left behind in the Philippines. It's hard to call her haunted, but she definitely has some complicated memories of her home country. She draws comfort from Roni's strong personality, and from her friendship with Roslyn. One of my complaints about this book was that it talked very little about Filipino history, although it alludes to a lot of it. The New People's Army is talked about a lot, but not really explained, although readers who know something about the recent political history of the Philippines will have an idea of what this book alludes to. Hero is in her head so much of the time remembering her life as the wealthy, privileged daughter of an Ilocano family, and then as a member of the NPA, but I was only able to piece together why these things caused her so much inner turmoil by looking at the story through her recollections, not through her traumas. In other words, I felt somewhat detached from her pain, which may have been why I found the middle of the story so boring.

There were things that were frustrating about this book. Roni's dislike of Paz's sister Gloria and her family was the number one complaint I had about this book. I so wanted this to be addressed, especially after the events toward the end. I was also confused by why this book randomly addressed some memories from some of the minor characters like Paz and Roslyn. I still have no idea why this title was chosen, and I'm a little annoyed that it references such a classic of Filipino-American literature when this book should stand on its own. However, there were plenty of great things, such as the depictions of the strong sense of family and celebrations is such a major part of Filipino culture. (I also loved that Hero reflects several times that the Filipino food she eats in the USA is the stuff she would only see at fancy parties and major celebrations in the Philippines.) As in The Leavers by Lisa Ko, the story is structured around the connections and communities formed by the immigrant community. Hierarchies are established, and I got a good feeling for how classes are carried over from the Philippines, and how favors are traded. I liked seeing how the friendship between Hero and Roslyn developes, and how Hero forms relationships with other members of Roslyn's group.

Seeing Hero grow was the high point of this book. Although this book would have been three stars for me, the skill of a writer who writes such an amazing Filipino woman, bumps it up to four stars.

AMERICA IS NOT THE HEART by Elaine Castillo is a debut novel that received starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. However, I found a sadness mired here, too, and I am honestly not sure that it will hold our students' interest due in part to the several languages and unusual tenses employed. Castillo begins the story in the Philippines and describes life for a young girl and eventual nurse trainee named Pacita/Paz, writing in second tense (e.g., "You think about ignoring him, ... You should ignore him, ... You don't know yet ...."). Next, the American Dream is explored as Castillo shifts the story to California when former political prisoner Hero arrives to stay with her uncle Pol, his now wife Paz and their young daughter, Roni. Perhaps try this challenging, new title with adult book groups; it offers potential for discussion and interpretation, plus perceptive observations: "Baggage means no matter how far you go, no matter how many times you immigrate, there are countries in you you'll never leave."

"I knew I could trust a gambler because I had been one of them." -Carlos Bulosan, America Is In the Heart

With this epigraph, Castillo begins her wonderful novel of the Filipino immigrant experience in America. I was intrigued by why she chose this quote, having read America Is In the Heart several years ago in grad school, and remembering the portrayal of how unjust and terrible life was for the characters in Bulosan's America. Would Castillo illustrate these same types of things, but without the optimistic and ironic love of America?

The answer is both yes and no. Life for the tight-knit Filipino community of Milpitas, California seems difficult but happy. Many of the families support each other, celebrating holidays, finding jobs for each other, lending money, and connecting immigrants still arriving from the Philippines. But this lifestyle necessitates an incredible amount of hard work, and the rewards sometimes seem to be few.

The book opens with the life of Paz, a hard-worker from a small village in the Philippines who arrives in California to work as a nurse. This section is the only part of the book where I think Castillo struggled- she gives us Paz's background and then suddenly transitions us to our true protagonist, Hero, who is related to Paz's husband, Pol. While this does give the reader an emotional tie to Paz, it is a rather abrupt transition to Hero, and means that it takes some time to understand who Hero is and why the reader should care.

However, once this is established, the book is wonderful. Hero becomes the caretaker of Paz and Pol's daughter, Roni, whose delightful personality was a joy to read, bringing light to both Hero and other friends in the Milpitas community. Castillo moves easily between Filipino dialects and English, a treat for even a reader with very limited knowledge of the Philippines. Hero's journey to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant, her past and its influence on her life, and her relationship with a woman in the Milpitas community are beautifully wrought. Not knowing much about Filipino history before reading this, I was interested in Hero's past as a member of the New People's Army, and her time spent in a prison camp before moving to the U.S. The Filipino history is included without it seeming like a history lesson, and was a great reason to spend some time on Wikipedia to learn more. Castillo's prose is also so effortless; I found myself highlighting so many passages. It is simple, straightforward prose with a big emotional punch.

Interestingly, Castillo's response to Bulosan's novel seems to be almost more optimistic. By the end of the 20th century, when this book is set, Filipinos have established themselves in California and are able to succeed without the excessive and constant racism and discrimination Bulosan illustrated. While this has not entirely gone away, as shown through comments made to Roni by some ignorant classmates, Castillo seems to have crafted a community where prosperity and joy are possible. Pol, who was a doctor in the Philippines, does miss the status he enjoyed in his home country as both a doctor and a son of a wealthy family, but I found the ending of the novel suggested a positive outlook even for Pol. America might not be the heart, but your heart can still be full in America.

I fell in love with the characters in this multi-generational family saga. The Filipino family at the heart of this novel has been scarred in many ways during their lives in the Philippines and in the US, but with resilience and hard work, they continue to rebuild themselves, their family and their community. Castillo’s debut novel richly details the cultural nuances of the South Bay Filipino immigrant experience.

Castillo's novel provides readers with an authentic voice about the immigrant experience several people from the Philippines who are living in the San Francisco East Bay Area. Initially, I wasn't sure about the novel because the first chapter was written in second person. Then I discovered the voice change with each new character, and I was intrigued by how the characters interacted, struggled, fell in love, out of love, and pursued the American Dream.

I tried to get into this book but it was confusing at the very start. I had difficulty with the characters and the lack of explanation of the culture.

AINTH takes you down a narrative course that is subversive in every corner.

In Geronimo's young life, she has already seen life in the Philippines from the countryside of Pangasinan, from the mountains of Baguio where she was slowly radicalized and inducted in the New People's Army during her years in college before dropping out, as a political recalcitrant serving as a medic, as a political prisoner for 2 years narrowly escaping death after a series of tortures, and having been estranged from her parents who rejected her for joining the NPA, now sees life as an American migrant.

Is home where you grew up, or is it where you became an adult? Is home with people who battled side by side with you, struggled with you; even bled with you? Is home your native country? Is home where you feel the most loved? Geronimo, affectionately referred to as Hero at times, Nimang at other times, carries her trauma with her as she migrates away from political persecution and family estrangement to America where she intends to restart, but is brought to a halt when she realizes that you can never completely run from your past, and that defining home is just as difficult for the Filipino American as it is for the Filipino.

To title this book as America is Not the Heart, I'm afraid, leads us back to the temptation to read the book from an America-centric perspective when it really should not be. AINTH explores the life of the socially and politically displaced. It explores the life of the refugee. It explores the life of the political prisoner who has endeavored against a dictatorial government. And then, it explores the possibility of a Filipino American's accessibility to the American economy and the American social fabric. After navigating through the lives of Hero's family in America, we see that defining home is not as formulaic for some as it may be for others. That the social and political identities follow you to diasporic communities post-migration. That new homes, and new identities, only bring new social and political complexities. That everyone has their dreams and their demons. But that in each of these places, new family and new loves may be able to free you.

3/4 of the way through, I felt like the repetition of Hero and Rosalyn's relationship made the book feel like slog. I think Castillo could have explored sexual identity more instead of bring a redundant reimagined scenes of Hero and Rosalyn's affair. But overall, I did enjoy the read.

Set in the unglamorous cities of San Francisco's East Bay, "America Is Not The Heart" follows Filipino immigrants as they dig in and take their place in their new country. It's the 1980s, and Paz uses her training as a nurse to leverage an escape from the poor rural Philippines. Her surgeon husband comes from a rich, corrupt family, but when he joins her in Milpitas, he becomes a security guard. They offer sanctuary to his niece, Hero, who has been rejected by her family after joining a revolutionary group as a doctor. She has been captured and tortured, and released suddenly with her thumbs broken and mind battered.

Hero's job is to help with Paz and Pol's daughter Roni, because the two of them work all hours of the day and night. With Roni, Hero begins to build relationships in her new world among East Bay Filipinos and Mexicans. Hero makes friends and ventures out. She loves to have sex with both men and women, but women are her favorites. How will that play in this conservative community?

"America Is Not The Heart" is fresh and compelling--why aren't there more novels about the Filipino experience?--and I would give it five stars except for the irritating amount of Tagalog and regional Philippine dialects that are poured into the text with no explanation. Since I read an e-review copy (thanks, Viking!) there may be a glossary in the hard copy, but most readers would be flipping back and forth so much that their reading pleasure would be badly compromised.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A poignant story about sacrificing for you family and losing yourself and them in the process. Specifically focuses on 3 women but the cast encompasses the entire extended families. In many ways, an immigrant/ mother-daughter story.

Paz works numerous nursing jobs to provide for her family and extended family. Having grown up poor, she never wants to live through that again and she doesn't want her family to have to live through that either. We look at how these actions have impacted her relationship with her family, specifically her daughter, and how a niece coming to live with them affects the situation.

It's a beautifully written story with shifting narratives. We switch between the past and the present from the points of views of a few characters. There's a lot of historical information about the Philippines thrown in throughout, and it shows how everything in the Philippines affected the lives of the characters and what they have become. This book also touches on the Filipino-American experience and the important role nursing played on immigration.

It goes into great length depicting how and why characters are the way they are, and the interactions that really helped "make" the person they become. You slowly see characters come to harsh realizations (or gentle understandings) of themselves and those around them.

I do think some of the ping ponging in terms of time lines and story telling lead to some confusion for me. But America is not the Heart has a lot of heart and is well worth a read.

When an audience is not represented in the universe of books being published, coming across a book like this was like trying to drink water after being dehydrated, desperately trying to take in more even though reading it too fast almost hurts. The stories branching off from Paz, Hero, Roni, and Rosalyn's experiences were expertly laid out. Even Hero's flashbacks (after her storyline started in media res, refreshing after the Paz backstory introduction) didn't distract from the "present day" timeline and gave us her story in amuse bouche sizes. Starting the book with Paz's backstory and having her be a background character seemed even more emblematic of how she has lost touch with herself; she's some high powered nursing machine having lost touch with her own self through being a workaholic by some undeserved martyrdom. The cultures, depictions of social lives pre-Internet, and social cliques within immigrant groups illustrated things vividly in my mind as I read it. I hope to read more of this author's books in the future.

If you are not Filipino or Filipino-American and are concerned about how you can keep up with the other languages in this book, you'll be fine. There's more than enough translated lines and context for you to get by, perhaps easier than reading a Junot Diaz book.