Letters to Montgomery Clift

Rating:
Summary: A good debut!
Review: A friend of mine recently gave me this book. The story sounded interesting and I decided to crack it open and give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised by this debut novel written by author Noel Alumit. It begins with Bong Bong, a young Filipino boy who is sent away from his home by his mother during the vicious Marcos regime. She promises her son that one day she and his father will join him as he is sent away to live with his Aunt Yuna in California. Once there, life for the young man becomes worse, as we learn that Yuna is an alcoholic, who resents taking care of the young boy and begins verbally and physically abusing him. As a source of comfort, the young boy begins to write to handsome Hollywood 50's idol, Montgomery Clift. Clift becomes his guardian angel and a confidant. Over time, however, the letters lead way to mental illness as the young man tries to deal with his blossoming sexual orientation and the fact that he may never see his parents again. He begins a path of self abuse and hurting those that care for him. Although the ending is a little bit too convienent, the story is good overall and worth reading. I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: A strong first novel about the bond between mother and son
Review: In the Philippines during 1976, a very young Bong Bong Luwad is put safely on a plane to America by his mother Cessy to stay with her sister Yuna. She promises to come to the US as soon as she found his father.

Living with Auntie Yuna is like a hell on earth for Bong, and all the while he holds on to hope of reuniting with his mother. It's during his stay with Yuna that he first discovers Montgomery Clift, in a film titled "The Search." Leaving a permanent impression on Bong, he writes letters to Monty, even though he knows that he's dead, asking for his guidance. These letters help him through the many tough patches to come in to his life: life with of Yuna, being thrown into the foster care system, discovering a dark secret about his foster family, learning about the fate of his family, and dealing with his own sexualtiy.

This is an engrossing story of separation, loss, love and hope, and told from a view that isn't heard to often in literature: a Filipino perspective view of the world and of sexuality. Bong Bong is a strong character, not only in dealing with his own coming out, but with the realization of what happened to his family. He is likable and you want him to succeed. At the heart of the story, though, is the bond between mother and son; that's what drives Bong to suffer through the ups and downs, hoping that in the end everything will be okay, that he will be with his mother again.

A strong first novel.

Rating:
Summary: Uneven but auspicious debut
Review: With its sparse prose style and often affecting knowingness, Alumit's first novel tells the story of Bob ("Bong Bong") Luwad, a young Filipino boy whose mother sends him to America after his father is arrested during the Marcos regime. Upon his arrival in the United States, the boy discovers the films of Montgomery Clift, whose movie persona provides much-needed emotional support that gradually becomes a psychological crutch.

Briskly told, the novel reads more like a play in parts. Many of the characters (especially Bob's foster parents and their daughter Amada) are aptly drawn, the descriptions of torture under the Marcos regime are harrowing, and the device of using Bob/Bong's letters to Montgomery Clift as chapter openings is artfully executed. Alumit is also adept at depicting the interplay between the various members of the foster family and the breakdown of their relations when Bob discovers a secret about Amada's parents.

I agree with others who've said that this is a promising first novel, but that statement alone sometimes damns a book with faint praise. The prose isn't just minimal; it's often skeletal, told with abbreviated sentences and fragments. In a mature hand, this barebones style might be effective for a purely psychological novel, but this novel aspires to be more than that. For example, Alumit fails to convey the culture shock that would have greeted a boy arriving in California from the Philippines or a young man returning to his homeland almost twenty years later. The scenes abroad could have taken place in just about any country; only the references to the Marcos regime are specific to the Philippines. Likewise, the only passages unique to life in Los Angeles is a scene at Grauman's Chinese Theater and an unnecessarily detailed paragraph describing a couple of rides at Disneyland.

The biggest disappointment, however, is the last section, which relies on a series of improbable coincidences that rapidly give way to melodrama and sentimentality. I won't give anything away except to say that this novel, in spite of its title, deserved more than a Hollywood ending.