Insurrecto by Gina Apostol

Insurrecto

Gina Apostol

I got really involved in this book. I learned more about the history of the Philippines than I have ever known, along with a meandering and absorbing story.

Extract
For the mystery writer, it is not enough to mourn the dead. One must also study the exit wounds, invite the coroner to tea, cloud the mind with ulterior motives.
The translator and mystery writer Magsalin has undertaken (yes, no, pun) some of the above at previous incidents. But the insoluble puzzle at the heart of the labyrinth, the secret within the secret, is not hers to bemoan. That is up to dead man’s kin, who are, fortunately or not, also dead. It is said, for instance, that the writer Stephane Real’s mother died in Auschwitz, his father of shrapnel wounds before the war started. The writer Stephane Real had a wife. She is a widow. Her heart must be broken. (Magsalin cannot do that for her.)
Parallels
  • Augustino and the Choir of Destruction by Marie-Claire Blais
  • Your Face Tomorrow 2: Dance and Dream by Javier Marias
  • Dancing to Almendra by Javier Marias
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Violence
Explicit sexual content