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A Review

Project in Creative Writing IV

Mariel Guerra Alog
Batangas Province High School for Culture and Arts

Ms. Babyruth Vicencio
August 27,2010

I. Introduction

This review explains the structure and features of a novel entitled as Soledad’s Sister which has been written by Jose Dalisay. It follows a format in order to present the work of literature clearly and logically. Jose Dalisay, known as Butch Dalisay is a Filipino columnist, poet, writer, teacher and playwright. He has authored more than 15 books since 1984.He teaches English and has some administrative duties as a director of the University of the Philippines Institute of Creative Writing. Soledad’s Sister was his second novel after Killing Time in A Warm Place with the help of a David T.K. Wong fellowship at the University of East and Anglia and a Rockefeller grant in Bellagio, Italy. Soledad’s Sister is the story of a Filipina woman who suffered abuses in foreign countries. It is about the reuniting task of two sisters (Aurora and Soledad Cabahug) and the grieving family which falls to SPO2 Walter G. Zamora, a Filipino cop in the novel,the absurdity of everyday life in the face of countless deaths as the consequence of resilience and other doomed choices people make and the story that deals on the physical world of a man and his personal encounters with man in general and himself. It tackles domestic issues, the current life of many people especially the life of Filipino migrant workers. In his book launch/Dalisay’s lecture, he implied that Soledad’s Sister is open-ended or a story without having any resolution to the issues or problems that has been brought by the life circumstances of each characters. The story was told by many flashbacks of the character’s lives. As he wrote this novel, it pushed him to imagine more of people’s existence in the physical world and their deep feelings or sentiments. With it’s illusions of quick employment and easy money, it is the city that has lured millions of Filipinos out of a small town like Paez. The title itself is an articulation of the story’s problem. This book is an extended argument wherein readers can truly see the interaction of the past and present in Dalisay’s work. His technique plays as strong as the actions of the characters do because the novel’s themes are more than its subject matter. Some general readers will be immensely satisfied by the different discoveries in the novel while writers or students who are doing their review will do well to note them or at least to learn what separates the truly meaningful story from an ordinary one and what distinguishes the writer who is being true to himself from any other writers. This book is addressed to those people who are dreaming to work abroad despite the fact that life is a gamble and to Filipinos who are willing to take risks and gamble on though they didn’t know where their fate and dreams would lead them and most especially, to readers who are suffering from misunderstanding for Dalisay wanted them to realize that it’s better to be resolved right away than to become a big problem which will more complicate the situation. It’s best seen that one of the major themes that has been given emphasis or highlighted in the whole novel, from the beginning to the end is the death. It gives way to the underlying meaning of man’s existence and has emerged for such revelations. This novel, Soledad’s Sister was shortlisted on The Man Asian Literary Prize last 2007 which proves that it’s an essential or critical reading based on the reference itself or the primary text---Dalisay,Jose.Soledad’s Sister.

II.Evaluation

Writers, readers especially the one who’s doing a review for this particular field can easily adopt to this kind of writing. It only shows that this novel was clearly written and that Jose Dalisay truly focused on exploring ideas and doesn’t limit his thinking. Like many writers, he doesn’t stop to evaluate and brainstorm with his own. Words, words and more words are the tools he used to consider in doing his novel. He has achieved his goal for the novel has stated what he’s trying to point out and leaves very uplifting and unusual messages among those people who have read the book. He has turned the readers’ imagination up, side and down from what’s being expected to happen until to the series of events that was really fascinated and to the unordinary flow of the story itself which has been told through flashback techniques. Dalisay also brought us to his sharp observations of the bright and dark city of Manila itself. The author most important point in the novel is that sometimes there’s no good effect, upshot or cause in going to other countries or working abroad. But it also depends on the person whether he/she really wanted to go that far for some opportunities or for his needs, goals and ambitions in life. The beginning of the novel shows the negative side of a family who doesn’t care and disrespect things here in our cocoon Earth, things which are very traditional or has been a tradition to many Filipinos and that’s to grieve or to mourn for the dead as a sign of our respect. But on the contrary, after the mistake that has been committed by Al Viduya,a NAIA security guard who told them to get the body of one Filemon Catabay who’s beheaded in Saudi, they just go to mall, took some relaxations and then never pay attention to the next happenings. This book tells us that despite different problems and obstacles that life brings, we should always be aware, conscious and should always see things in its bright side and to look forward with hope everytime. It also tells us that problems are not hindrance in achieving such goals in life and it’s better to open our eyes and minds to the realities that are happening today and will happen tomorrow. Like the flow of the story in the novel, my life has been once, twice, thrice complicated because of the problems that I didn’t expect to come up and to arise. As a teenager, I have already experienced life’s biggest mistake. In my young mind, there are those of the sorrowful and unhappy moments that I’m always trying to forget but I can’t because I am always feeding them with memories. Like Rory, one of the characters in the novel, I have experienced the feeling of being alone, of being left by many of my loved ones, my relatives and many other people who has touched and helped me to stand with my life. Like her, I am always waiting for some great opportunities that this life may offer. And like her, I always wanted to achieve my dreams, goals and ambitions in life. Truly, I appreciated the book, how the story swings into it and the different messages that have been conveyed in the novel. I like how it flows just like the human interest because I have been carried away for it really fits to such Filipinos especially to many OFWs. But, I thought that there are so many characters which has been added and added and that’s one thing which has to be taken away from this novel because not all the characters are interesting though they all have their own angst form their past experiences.

III.Conclusion

Jose Dalisay has been different from many other Filipino writers for he didn’t follow most of the techniques, skill and arts of writing that their local stories contain. He has his own way which can be seen in his clearest; most precise chosen words in order to make his ideas stand out. He likes books that are not easy to read but definitely worth buying and worth reading which every word and turn of phrase seems to have deliberately thought out and chosen and there’s a complex uniformity or perhaps a uniform complexity in the way everyone speaks. In his site, PENMANILA, he said that he wanted the readers to take away from Soledad’s Sister is the thought that through understanding, one can learn to forgive and of course, to love.. To sum it up, there is clever blending of different genres-there are ideal/classic, mystery and drama. There are also romance, horror and comedy. It has tons of realistic details many of which were appealingly familiar to a typical Filipino. But one thing I wanted to know about this is that where is the ending because this novel just ends with its last three words “Just like that”. It just ends without clearing anything up. So, there’s practically no resolution whatsoever because in the end/in the last chapter of this novel, the major characters just have started to resolve each of their self-conflict. But, there is a nice fact that they have arrived fully-developed. Nevertheless, it stands firm, true and quite well. It made me see the power of English language as it portrays Philippines’ social sensibilities. It leaves a bright, humorous touch with both humor and heart. I still consider that it is an essential reading and I believe that this story needs a very good kind of ending which will really widen the readers’ imagination and which will truly open their eyes to the realities beyond this life, to the realities that we, Filipinos are being subjected to.