This novel surprised me.

After reading Umbrella Country, Rolling the R's, American Son, Man In a Dark Blue Suit and Her American Wild Self, I thought I'd be in again for another growing-up in USA story with the usual hang-ups, the usual immigrant parents / Americanized children conflict, and don't get me wrong - the stories coming out of our Fil-Ams are fantastic as a lot of you who have read them find them to be but (it's just me) at the back of my mind, I have this secret longing for something 'jugular', something 'shocking' book that would come out of Fil-Ams one of these days. All of us, I'm sure, have that longing for a kind of dynamism in our literature. I don't mean blockbuster book. I mean some book that would touch the very core of the Filipino and Fil- American heart.

And here comes Noel Alumit. I said to myself - ok - this is another gay Asian novel. Let me set it aside for a while, while I explore the likes of Ding Nolledo, Merlinda Bobis and the 'canonical writers' as one writer once described writers like Joaquin, Santos, Jose, and Tiempo. (I want to set it aside only because - ok - I want to read something straight for a while :))

But Letters To Montgomery Clift is a book you just can't ignore. The book-cover alone for chrissakes is a KID standing naked in a corner. I remember a kid just like that in my elementary school when teachers were given free hand in punishing their students. I remember one psycho teacher who ordered one of her students to undress and stand like that kid in a corner - oh we had horrendous teachers in elementary school during my time. All types of punishments were meted to us. I think that's pretty much over nowadays.

Anyway, I read the novel and feel quite ordinary reading its first few pages, and then, little by little, oh it is very subtle, something in the story builds up, it is that 'what is next' anticipation especially when the novel introduces Bong's parents who were detained by the Marcoses.

Ok, I say to myself, this is something different. There is a Filipino kid like Bong.

He was a child whose parents disappeared during the Marcos Dictatorship. He was spared by being thrown to the USA (by his Mom) to the care of a neurotic Aunt (Yuni) who was not only TNT (illegal immigrant) but also a drunkard - this is soooooo beyond Miss Saigon. Then the Aunt disappeared and Bong was thrown from one foster family to the next. He finally found a Filipino family whom he felt a part of. This family was nice. He became friends with the daughter. He began doing odd jobs in order to - get this - save money to go back to the Philippines. So he did extra roles in movies(among other odd jobs). Through this all, he longed for his mother who promised to follow him to the States. She never came. So he decided to write Letters to Monty (what a choice!) only because Monty had acted in this movie where he helped a kid find his Mama. While writing his letters to Monty, Bong kept searching for his Mom&Pop by checking with Amnesty International (I used to be a member of AI).

He soon learns the truth about what his parents went through under the Marcos Regime and then realizes that his foster parents are good friends of the Marcoses. Ouch! Aray! So he begins to hate his foster family. He goes into total self-destruction. He begins to hurt himself only to mimic the hurt his parents went through.

Now for the tear-jerkers (I know, I am such a drama queen) - are lines of Bong like 'he won't sleep because the ghost of his father comes to visit him. He does not want to sleep again because (now, think of me wailing) he doesn't want to see his Mama's ghost because that will only tell him one thing'.

He still wants his Mama alive, he wants his Mama to keep her promise to join him in the States. (Waaaaaaaaaaah!) And the tear jerker is not over yet.

My God, if you had lived under the Marcos Dictatorship, this novel will cut you into pieces, it will be a blade slicing your skin while lemon concentrate is poured over the cut. This story is fucking real and painful.

I see the other child of our country. He is the child without us, the child thrown on the other side of the river to fend for himself.

He finally discovers his Mother alive.

The final meeting between Mother and Son is something I would no longer share with y' all. I want you to get the book and read this final dramatic, super-comforting, super-triumphant, super super super good ending. The ending will make you see all things falling into their proper places. It will make you thank Destiny and Fate and Karma for being Just.

It will make you embrace Bong and his mother and cry with them and feel that everything will be alright. That our country will be alright. That all of us Filipinos whether in Pinoy land or any other part of the world will be alright.

I felt so good reading this novel.

And its language is so simple a ten year old kid will understand it.

Wait a minute - it's supposed to be written by a ten year old kid.

Mr. Alumit, this book is a success. Congratulations. Thank you for sharing your work with us.



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