An Embarrassment of Riches is a 2000 novel written by Filipino novelist Charlson L. Ong. A Second Place Philippine Centennial Literary Prize winner, the novel was published in Quezon City, Philippines by the Philippine Centennial Commission, the University of the Philippines Press, and the UP Creative Writing Center, in celebration of the one hundred years of Philippine independence from Spain after the Philippine Revolution in 1898. The 425-page novel was written in Philippine English. It is Charlson Ong’s first novel. Description The scenes in An Embarrassment of Riches is set during the mid-1990s, and occurs in a fictional island west of the Philippines, known as the Victorianas. Victorianas is a "shadow of the Philippines" because it is a developing nation that has similarities to the Philippines. Although filled with characters, circumstances, and places that are familiar to Filipino readers, the Victorianas and the novel deviated from the real and contemporary life in the Philippines, and from the actual events in Philippine history. According to literary critic Vicente G. Groyon III, Ong’s fictionalization of recent Philippine history and recasting of the Philippines threads along the borders of surrealism, providing the reader a sense of alienation, foreignness, or being not in the Philippines, despite of the similarity of the fictional Victorianas to the archipelago. Among the differences between Victorianas and the Philippines is that the Victorianas is an Americanized Asian country where there is the absence or, even if present, has reduced influences from Spain and Europe, in terms of the Catholic religion, folk beliefs, and traditional practices. Victorianas is composed of mestizo or "hybrid" residents – including the descendants of Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and Malay ancestors, particularly the Chinese Filipinos. Ong intended An Embarrassment of Riches as a novel that presents a Southeast Asian perspective, rather than a Hispanic or Latin American viewpoint. An Embarrassment of Riches is a political, thriller-filled whodunit, and satirical work of fiction that serves as a parody to the events occurring in the Philippines, through the author’s creation and utilization of the imaginary island named Victorianas. Characters The main characters in An Embarrassment of Riches include Jeffrey Kennedy Tantivo, Jennifer Suarez (also known as JaySy or Jennifer Sy), General Azurin, Brother Mike Verano, and Alfonso Ong. Jeffrey Kennedy Tantivo is the hero and narrator in An Embarrassment of Riches. Jennifer Suarez Sy, the "daughter of the richest man" in Victorianas, is a female politician who wanted