From Powells.com
Our favorite books of the year.
Synopses & Reviews
These nine globe-trotting, unforgettable
stories from Mia Alvar, a remarkable new literary talent, vividly give
voice to the women and men of the Filipino diaspora. Here are exiles,
emigrants, and wanderers uprooting their families from the Philippines
to begin new lives in the Middle East, the United States, and
elsewhere — and, sometimes, turning back again.
A pharmacist
living in New York smuggles drugs to his ailing father in Manila, only
to discover alarming truths about his family and his past. In Bahrain, a
Filipina teacher drawn to a special pupil finds, to her surprise, that
she is questioning her own marriage. A college student leans on her
brother, a laborer in Saudi Arabia, to support her writing ambitions,
without realizing that his is the life truly made for fiction. And in
the title story, a journalist and a nurse face an unspeakable trauma
amidst the political turmoil of the Philippines in the 1970s and ’80s.
In the Country
speaks to the heart of everyone who has ever searched for a place to
call home. From teachers to housemaids, from mothers to sons, Alvar’s
powerful debut collection explores the universal experiences of loss,
displacement, and the longing to connect across borders both real and
imagined. Deeply compassionate and richly felt, In the Country marks the emergence of a formidable new writer.
Review
“A stunning debut — without ever getting overly sentimental, page after page of In the Country
is laced with . . . revelatory, unflinching truth. . . . Mia Alvar
comes out swinging for the fences in her powerful first story collection
about the Filipino diaspora — often exiled even at home — and doesn’t ever
let up.” San Francisco Chronicle
Review
“Few writers, even the most seasoned, can produce collections of evenly
superb stories. Mia Alvar triumphs on her first try. . . . Both intrepid
readers and armchair tourists eager to explore debut narratives that
straddle multiple countries and cultures — à la Violet Kupersmith’s The Frangipani Hotel or Rajesh Parameswaran’s I Am an Executioner — will be opulently rewarded here.” Library Journal (starred review)
Review
“Stunning. . . . A triumphant, singular collection deserving of every
accolade. . . . In this dazzling debut collection, Filipino students,
teachers, activists, maids, and chauffeurs negotiate their lives under
martial law at home and seek fortune abroad in the Middle East and New
York. . . . Each of these nine revelatory stories delivers characters
who are equal parts endearing and disturbing. . . . [Alvar’s] electric
prose probes the tension between social classes.” Kirkus (starred)
Review
“Twists abound in Mia Alvar’s debut collection. But Alvar’s finely
wrought shocks, delivered in exacting prose, reverberate without easy
resolution. . . . Worlds continue to be upended as [her] characters move
among the Philippines, the Persian Gulf and the United States. The
Manila-born, New York-based author offers deft portraits of
transnational wanderers, blessed and cursed with mobility. . . . Alvar’s
incursion into Filipino politics recalls Jessica Hagedorn’s novel Dogeaters, and Miguel Syjuco’s Ilustrado. . . Clearly a writer with enchanting powers, Alvar wills us to crisscross the globe with [her characters] all over again.” The New York Times Book Review
Review
“Compulsively readable . . . thanks to Alvar’s expansiveness and her gift for grounded, human-scale metaphors. . . . Each of In the Country‘s
nine stories about the Filipino diaspora has the satisfying heft of a
little novel. In precise and patient prose, Alvar reveals the complex
patterns of labor migration that structure and define her characters’
most intimate relationships.” Chicago Tribune
About the Author
MIA ALVAR was born in Manila in 1978 and grew up in Bahrain and New York City. She received an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from Columbia University and a B.A. from Harvard College. Her short fiction has appeared in One Story, The Missouri Review, FiveChapters, and The Cincinnati Review among other publications; has been cited for distinction in The Best American Short Stories; and has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize. She has received grants and residencies from Yaddo, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Blue Mountain Center for the Arts, the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, and Sarah Lawrence College. Mia is currently a writer-in-residence at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.