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asstreads's review
5.0
"Such an expansive world, yet we cross mountains and seas in order to gain our footing, solid and true against the wind and rain, on the ground we tread and the ground we will have trodden."
This is a ghost story—of the specter of colonialism and feudalism, of migrant workers at the edge of society, of the poor and the oppressed in the eyes of the state, and of actual ghosts.
Tiempo Muerto is a story of two women, both searching for a person and for their place in this world. But more than that, it is a story of class divide, revolution, and land reform.
STP HST!
This is a ghost story—of the specter of colonialism and feudalism, of migrant workers at the edge of society, of the poor and the oppressed in the eyes of the state, and of actual ghosts.
Tiempo Muerto is a story of two women, both searching for a person and for their place in this world. But more than that, it is a story of class divide, revolution, and land reform.
STP HST!
ariannevlsqz's review
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
yhteunice's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
exlibris_asrl's review
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
kent_alvarus's review
4.0
Have read the second half of the novel during and the day after the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Ulysses which made the setting very timely and relevant. It was a very different reading experience, considering the fact that I myself encountered the devastation brought by the storm. There was the unusual rural flooding, the whistling winds, long power outages and roof leaks from our ancestral house where we, my family, currently reside. Inspecting what the aftermath Ulysses brought to us contributed more to this experience: the disjointed branches of trees, the mound of leaves cleared from fallen bamboo poles on our backyard, the torn down GI roofs from our kapit bahay, the tsismisan and kumustahan with the neighboring relatives. With all of those, the devastation and seeping depression that the calamity brought by the typhoon to the lives of the citizens of fictional Visayan island of Banwa transmutes from the pages of the novel.
Though soapy in some parts, I must say that I love how such, with the addition of small details, make the novel very Filipino, such as the slapping of the amo to her maid, the struggles of a domestic worker, the filial issues which emerged generations ago.
It also aimed to make a reportage on the historical and contemporary issues the Philippines has been facing: the issues on brain drain-brawn drain, land reform, land conversion, cronyism in the government, agricultural quasi-slavery, communism/anti-communism, among others.
I am just quite unimpressed by how the author closed the story as if it left me in the middle of something I have been anticipating to happen or not to happen but was said 'never mind.' Also, the manner of writing was somewhat flat. There are significant parts but not that really impactful when they should have been.
Though soapy in some parts, I must say that I love how such, with the addition of small details, make the novel very Filipino, such as the slapping of the amo to her maid, the struggles of a domestic worker, the filial issues which emerged generations ago.
It also aimed to make a reportage on the historical and contemporary issues the Philippines has been facing: the issues on brain drain-brawn drain, land reform, land conversion, cronyism in the government, agricultural quasi-slavery, communism/anti-communism, among others.
I am just quite unimpressed by how the author closed the story as if it left me in the middle of something I have been anticipating to happen or not to happen but was said 'never mind.' Also, the manner of writing was somewhat flat. There are significant parts but not that really impactful when they should have been.
pilartyping's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Tiempo Muerto, a novel, by Caroline S. Hau. Pub. 2019 by @ateneopress
For as long as Ive wanted to write, Ive wanted to read a book by someone who’s experienced living their life as a maid/ household helper or in frank terms, as a servant. Though the author is currently a professor and not a maid, this novel has two main characters, one of them a narrator & simultaneously, a maid named Racel. The other main character, Lia, was Racel’s mother’s charge/ward, or alaga; her chapters have an omniscient narrator (almost as if she paid someone to narrate for her…)
Shifting between these 2 perspectives, Tiempo Muerto or “Dead Time” begins with Racel learning news of her mother’s disappearance. Racel has been living in Singapore working as the live-in nanny+maid of an upper middle class family+child. As Racel plans to return to the Philippines, to the island of Banwa (nearest to Iloilo) to try & figure out where her mom may be, Lia is also living in Singapore, but as part of the elite rich & now in need of a change of scenery as her affair w her personal trainer has hit the tabloids, giving her husband’s family the best excuse to push her out & send her third-world ass back to her third-world country.
At Banwa, a small island with one road & Lia’s family— the Agalons— to rule it all (& soon turn their once booming sugar plantation into a first-class, elite exlusive, “private” resort), Racel & Lia meet again at the balay daku— the Agalon’s estate— to try & work together to find Racel’s nay (mom), aka Yaya Alma to Lia. It is in this forced collaboration that we learn more about Banwa & its Other inhabitants, the workers who made the island profitable to the Agalons in the first place.
Stories in this novel are rich w Philippine history, however fictional, & even richer are the characters who tell the stories. However gradual the pacing of this novel is, the desire to learn about Nay Alma’s fate, & the fates of Others living in Banwa, including Racel & Lia, move the novel forward to an ending that may not bring finality or closure, but hope.
s/o to @arkipelagobooks for carrying tis gem & to @mpjustreading for her amazee review💫
For as long as Ive wanted to write, Ive wanted to read a book by someone who’s experienced living their life as a maid/ household helper or in frank terms, as a servant. Though the author is currently a professor and not a maid, this novel has two main characters, one of them a narrator & simultaneously, a maid named Racel. The other main character, Lia, was Racel’s mother’s charge/ward, or alaga; her chapters have an omniscient narrator (almost as if she paid someone to narrate for her…)
Shifting between these 2 perspectives, Tiempo Muerto or “Dead Time” begins with Racel learning news of her mother’s disappearance. Racel has been living in Singapore working as the live-in nanny+maid of an upper middle class family+child. As Racel plans to return to the Philippines, to the island of Banwa (nearest to Iloilo) to try & figure out where her mom may be, Lia is also living in Singapore, but as part of the elite rich & now in need of a change of scenery as her affair w her personal trainer has hit the tabloids, giving her husband’s family the best excuse to push her out & send her third-world ass back to her third-world country.
At Banwa, a small island with one road & Lia’s family— the Agalons— to rule it all (& soon turn their once booming sugar plantation into a first-class, elite exlusive, “private” resort), Racel & Lia meet again at the balay daku— the Agalon’s estate— to try & work together to find Racel’s nay (mom), aka Yaya Alma to Lia. It is in this forced collaboration that we learn more about Banwa & its Other inhabitants, the workers who made the island profitable to the Agalons in the first place.
Stories in this novel are rich w Philippine history, however fictional, & even richer are the characters who tell the stories. However gradual the pacing of this novel is, the desire to learn about Nay Alma’s fate, & the fates of Others living in Banwa, including Racel & Lia, move the novel forward to an ending that may not bring finality or closure, but hope.
s/o to @arkipelagobooks for carrying tis gem & to @mpjustreading for her amazee review💫