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    America Is Not the Heart: A Novel
    Unavailable
    America Is Not the Heart: A Novel
    Unavailable
    America Is Not the Heart: A Novel
    Audiobook16 hours

    America Is Not the Heart: A Novel

    Written by Elaine Castillo

    Narrated by Donnabella Mortel

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    How many lives fit in a lifetime?

    When Hero De Vera arrives in America—haunted by the political upheaval in the Philippines and disowned by her parents—she's already on her third. Her uncle gives her a fresh start in the Bay Area, and he doesn't ask about her past. His younger wife knows enough about the might and secrecy of the De Vera family to keep her head down. But their daughter—the first American-born daughter in the family—can't resist asking Hero about her damaged hands.

    An increasingly relevant story told with startling lucidity, humor, and an uncanny ear for the intimacies and shorthand of family ritual, America Is Not the Heart is a sprawling, soulful debut about three generations of women in one family struggling to balance the promise of the American dream and the unshakeable grip of history. With exuberance, grit, and sly tenderness, here is a family saga; an origin story; a romance; a narrative of two nations and the people who leave one home to grasp at another.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateApr 3, 2018
    ISBN9780525529552
    Unavailable
    America Is Not the Heart: A Novel

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    Reviews for America Is Not the Heart

    3.5/5

    28 ratings5 reviews

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    • 2/5
      2019 TOB--Another less than stellar entry into the TOB. It's been a disappointing year. People have criticized this book for not having a glossary or more explanation over all the foreign words. That didn't bother me as much the slow pace of the book. The plot was okay but it didn't need several sections. The section was Rosalyn and Hero finally got together went on way too long. I found the book boring to read and didn't really like anyone in the book.
    • 4/5
      Elaine Castillo's debut novel is about a Filipino family in Milpitas, California. Paz is a nurse who emigrates from the Philippines to take a nursing job in California, when Pol, a doctor she had had a relationship with, needs to leave the Philippines, they marry and have a daughter. Paz supports her family, as well as a number of siblings and cousins, sending money back to the Philippines and helping those in the US as well. She works two jobs, often adding extra shifts so that she often gets home long after everyone is in bed, and is gone before they wake in the morning. Pol works as a security guard, working through his naturalization papers. When his sister, Hero, moves in, entering the US on a tourist visa, she takes care of their daughter and learns to negotiate this new country, even as she deals with what happened in the Philippines. The experience of Filipinos in the US is one I know almost nothing about and I enjoyed getting a glimpse of that culture and how it adjusts to life in the US. Hero is a fascinating character to follow. She is guarded and quick to shut out people, so learning about her was a gradual process. Life in the Filipino community of Milpitas is almost as foreign to her as it was to this reader and that angle allowed Castillo to explain without it feeling like she was dumbing things down for her readers. Castillo also structures things well, having a prologue that gives the story of Paz's life in the Philippines, so that although she is largely absent from the narrative, she remains central in the reader's mind. America is Not the Heart has it's clumsy moments and a romantic relationship overwhelms the novel for a stretch, but this is an solid addition to American literature and I look forward to reading whatever Elaine Castillo writes next.
    • 1/5
      Got half way through & then aborted. Don´t understand this book´s high ratings.
    • 5/5
      this ripped my heart out, stomped on it, then shoved it back in again
    • 4/5
      Elaine Castillo has written a sprawling contemporary saga about family, love, friendship, culture, sex, and food—the very things that make life fun and interesting. Perhaps most impressively, she’s written this novel about a strong community of Filipino-Americans in the Bay Area, shedding light on the complexity and diversity within Pinoy culture.The novel features a cast of interesting and multi-dimensional characters; the protagonist is Hero (short for Geronima), a 30something undocumented immigrant from the Philippines who flees her unsupportive parents after being released from government captivity due to her involvement with the New People’s Army, a revolutionary group. Hobbled by fractured thumbs—a lasting reminder of her torture while in captivity—Hero arrives in Milpitas to live with her uncle (a former M.D. who also fled the Philippines), his wife, and their 8-year-old daughter, Roni. Feeling like an outsider, Hero finds acceptance with a group of young Filipinos, especially Rosalyn, a boisterous and energetic woman in her 20s who develops a crush on Hero. The narrative focuses on the growing relationship between Hero and Rosalyn—along with the ensuing complications it causes—as well as the problems caused by socioeconomic difficulties and fears of deportation. Castillo balances these very real and urgent issues with strong doses of familial love, celebrations of food and friendship, and the impenetrable bonds the characters form. The lack of quotation marks indicating dialogue can be a bit disorienting at first, and the frequent use of Tagalog and Ilocano might challenge some readers, but these quirks can be easily overcome with the use of online translations, and I found myself enjoying the incidental education in Filipino language and culture (especially as a resident of San Francisco).An enjoyable and unexpectedly engaging read, America Is Not The Heart will entertain and educate you.