JUSTINE VILLANUEVA
Reviews
Two books by R. Zamora
Linmark:
Rolling the Rs
(Kaya Press, New York, 1997)--BOOK LINK
LECHE
(Coffee House Press, Minneapolis, 2011)--BOOK LINK
A while ago, I made a pact with myself that I will write stories
that more accurately reflect the multilingual world my characters live in.
Consequently, I did not limit my characters to only blurting out a Bisaya curse
word every once in a while or naming a cultural dish for reference. Instead, I
had them meditate, rant, wax poetic in full Bisaya sentences. Reactions to my
pieces varied: "Using non-English is difficult to pull off. I strongly
advise caution," one reviewer said; "Give them a reason to and your
readers will put in the work," said another. Confused, I made another pact
with myself to read more English literature that incorporates different
languages. This was how I found Zamora Linmark's Leche and Rolling
the R's.
I will admit that reading Rolling the R's was
difficult in the beginning. The pidgin English confused me and I fought back by
trying to paraphrase the sentences into "proper" English. I would
read a few pages but then put the book down because I couldn't right away
figure out either who was narrating or what they were narrating about. However,
I really wanted to read the book so I gave it a big chunk of uninterrupted
time. I refrained from paraphrasing and, slowly, as I let the words flow
through me, I began to see Kalihi with its panoply of characters living their
mundane dramas.
Even though most of what I saw were mere glimpses into
the characters' lives, the glimpses were vivid enough to draw me in. I sang as Donna
Summers with Vince who struggles with self-expression. I was burdened by
Edgar's and Mr. Ocampo's "secret", as well as Nelson's unanswered
question on what makes someone truly Filipino. I was angry that the principal will
suspend Orlando, the Filipino Farrah, despite Orlando's obvious academic
smarts, all because the other adults worry that Orlando might infect the other boys
with his love for nail lacquer, platform shoes, lipstick, and twelve shimmering
eye colors for every occasion. I cheered for Exotica who chooses to be a
beautiful woman instead of a miserable man. I wanted to plead with Pearly to
give up her holy vow and leave her drug addict and abusive husband. I was
fascinated with many other characters: Jesus of Kam Shopping Center, the Purple
Man, Irma the TNT Lady, the Exorcist Lady, Tutu Man, Happy Face Man, Our Lady
of Kalihi, Da Filipino FM Man, the members of Da Manong Gang... Despite the
numerous and disparate characters each dealing with their own drama, the whole
book is cohesive and succeeds in capturing the angst of growing up in Kalihi,
unaccepted, for a variety of reasons, by friends, family, and community.
I enjoyed many other features of this book. It is
remarkable that in only 150 pages, Linmark succeeds in using lists, litanies, poems,
notes/comments to parents, portraits, instructions, proofs, requiem, gossip,
dialogue, scripts, vignettes, letter, dictionary, test, chain letter, a rant,
song, a book report... If I had to pick one as a favorite, it would be the examination
in the “Sentencing of Lives” chapter which asks Vince to use complicated English
words in a sentence. The sentences he comes up with are inventive and funny. I
appreciate this chapter so much because I, too, grew up mangling English, a
language that is not my own, to fit my needs for self-expression, in the end
creating a way of communicating that is beautiful in its own way.
I also had a hard time reading Leche. However, unlike
in Rolling the R's, I never found the Leche groove, even when I really
wanted to and even when I gave it my undivided attention as I did with Rolling
the R's. Maybe I expected it to be like Rolling the R's with its
cast of memorable characters. Maybe I could not get past the different
narrative techniques. The use of postcards, which I enjoyed at first, proves
tiring after a while, as do the tourist tips and word definitions/play. Maybe I sensed the protagonist's feeling of
pointlessness of being in Manila. It made me not care about him and his stay in
Manila as much I did about Vince's and Edgar's lives in Kalihi.
Only one chapter fully engaged my attention. In that chapter, Kris Aquino and
Sister Marie interview the protagonist, Vince. It isn't so much the topic, Filipino
identity, that drew me but the way the dialogue so accurately captures the ease
with which we Filipinos switch from one language to another. Maybe it is
because I am familiar with the real Kris Aquino and can hear in my mind the way
Manila socialites talk, the way they sprinkle their sentences with English to
mark their sophistication, the way they lilt di ba? at the end of every
sentence, the way they use their hands to bridge the physical gap between them
and the listener, the way they imbue drama in everything mundane by
exaggerating their facial expressions.
As a reader, I am happy to read books considered to be
works in the English language incorporate within their pages a different
language, especially when it's a language I have cultural connections with. I am
happy to see Tagalog or pidgin English phrases, sentences, pages, chapters,
without translations or footnotes, take up their space, exist on their own
merits alongside the English language.
As a writer who grapples (and probably always will
grapple) with the question of whether and how best to use non-English language
in what is ostensibly considered English language literature, I am very grateful
that Zamora Linmark wrote these two books.
*****
Justine Villanueva grew up in Malaybalay, Bukidnon and immigrated to the United States when she was seventeen years old. She writes about cultural assimilation, ageing, and identity from the perspective of Filipino immigrants. Her short stories have appeared in UC Berkeley's Maganda, San Francisco State University's Yellow Journal, and University of San Francisco's Ignatian Literary Magazine. She is currently completing a children's book that will be published by the nonprofit, Libro Para Sa Tanan, A Literacy Project (MamaMama.net). She also runs a blog of letters to her sons at ginikanan.com. When not writing, she spends time with her sons, and works as a dance instructor and as an immigration and bankruptcy attorney. She lives in Davis, California.
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