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Title: A Lovely Book about vulnerable outsiders
Review: I loved this book so much. I am not surprised that the NY Times chose it as a Notable Book of the year. It shows the pain of a dysfunctional family living in Los Angeles, a typical enough theme. But the prose is both gentle and violent, the story very strong, and the themes of biracial indentity as complexly rendered as the subtly complicated characters. The two boys at the heart of this piece are half Filipino, and feel estranged from both white people and their mother's Filipino relatives. Rowley gets at their sense of being outsiders as aptly as Richard Yates. The ever present, but rarely seen father is a nice touch, for like the boys we rarely see him, so that he is an elusive memory, but always feel his powerful presence. Thankfully, too, the author chose not to make this yet another a gang novel, but kept this world seen from outside, which is appropriate since the brothers are pretenders. Deeply felt and gripping.
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