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Reuniting With Strangers: A Novel
Inspired by the work of Souvankham Thammavongsa, Catherine Hernandez and Wayson Choy, this unforgettable novel follows the reunification of Filipino caregiver families over one Canadian winter—and the mysterious progress of Monolith, who appears and disappears in their lives. When five-year-old Monolith is taken from the Philippines to live with his mother in Canada, he immediately lashes out. Unable or unwilling to speak, he attacks her and destroys his new home. Everyone wants to know why—and everyone has a theory. But unlike the solid certainty his name suggests, the answer isn’t so simple. From a cliffside town in the Tagaytay highlands of the Philippines, to the Filipino communities in the desert of Osoyoos, the Arctic world of Iqaluit, the suburbs of southern Ontario, Sarnia's Chemical Valley, Montréal’s Côte-des-Neiges, and Toronto’s Little Manila, Austria-Bonifacio takes readers into the kaleidoscope of the Filipino diaspora, uncovering the displacement, estrangement, resilience and healing that happen behind closed doors. As each chapter unfolds, truths are revealed in humorous, joyful, devastating and surprising through an incisive caregiver's instruction manual, a custody battle over texts and e-mails, a disarmingly direct self-help guide, a series of desperate résumés, a kundiman songbook, and more. Monolith appears again and again, as a misbehaving boy in a store, the subject of town gossip, a face in a fundraising campaign, a client in questionable care, a dying man’s beacon of hope—and an unlikely new friend. Compellingly readable, incisive and resonant, Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio’s stunning debut opens a window into the homes and hearts of the Filipino-Canadian community.
227 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 9, 2023
16 people are currently reading
452 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
April 15, 2024
Don't finish this one on public transit - sob! So sweet and complex. A wonderful story of stories.
Update: Second read-through for my book club. The first time I read it for the story and this second time through I was able to appreciate the craft more - beautifully written. And I stupidly finished it on public transit again, thinking I could handle it. I could not.
Update: Second read-through for my book club. The first time I read it for the story and this second time through I was able to appreciate the craft more - beautifully written. And I stupidly finished it on public transit again, thinking I could handle it. I could not.
abandoned-dnf
June 5, 2024DNF @ ~10% - Fictionalised stories of Filipino immigrants reuniting with children they haven't seen for years, since leaving their country to work in Canada. The first reunion in the book was horrifying. After seeking help for the child, it became so much worse—so incredibly painful to read—that I had to put it down.
March 8, 2024
(4.25 stars)
Initially, I was interested in reading this novel as it was on the longlist for Canada Reads 2024. Although I didn’t get to every book on the list, I did try to read each book that most appealed to me. After reading the synopsis, I knew this book would be about reunifying the families of Filipino caregivers. Fortunately, I was hooked from the first chapter. Unfortunately, the main issue I encountered was the pacing — some parts were relatively slow, but overall, the story was strong. Make sure you have tissues handy!
Content Warnings
Initially, I was interested in reading this novel as it was on the longlist for Canada Reads 2024. Although I didn’t get to every book on the list, I did try to read each book that most appealed to me. After reading the synopsis, I knew this book would be about reunifying the families of Filipino caregivers. Fortunately, I was hooked from the first chapter. Unfortunately, the main issue I encountered was the pacing — some parts were relatively slow, but overall, the story was strong. Make sure you have tissues handy!
Content Warnings
June 16, 2024
Ever had something tear you to shreds out of love? Reading this was like peering behind the curtain and bearing witness to hints of stories that have been haphazardly hidden from me all this time - learning to peel egg roll wrappers carefully apart as a kid, something I haven’t touched in a decade. Drawing parallels and snapping together puzzle pieces, I’m reminded that a collective scar is a symbol of pain, yes, but more prominently of healing. Thank you, Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio; Bonifacio is the given name of my Lolo. As a mestizo or tisáy kid who never heard those words growing up, I’m thinking of my family today.
May 22, 2025
Collection of short stories about the different experience Filipino immigrants and their children have. Really loved how the characters were connected by the end. I shed a few tears - very touching.
May 2, 2024
An outstanding book about challenges of immigration and reuniting families who have lived years apart with the focus on Filipino diaspora in Canada. Insightful, poignant and funny all at the same time.
December 27, 2023
Really good! I enjoyed the heck out of this collection of stories, all coming together gently at some point.
About the Filipino Diaspora.
About the Filipino Diaspora.
September 8, 2023
I love a good book that makes you cry and REUNITING WITH STRANGERS by Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio was so good it made me cry at the end! I loved this novel! It’s a novel told through connected stories of immigrants from the Philippines to Canada. The stories are connected through the character of a young boy, Monolith, who’s struggling in his new life in Canada after being reunited with his mother. I loved the format of this novel as the stories are varied including an instruction manual and an entire story told through emails and the perspectives range from young to older. I loved all the Canadian settings such as Sarnia, Toronto and Vancouver. There’s one scene at the five sails at Canada Place in Vancouver that I could picture so vividly in my mind since I’ve walked along there so many times. It was the perfect spot for this book pic! This story is full of parental hardships, heartbreaking and joyful moments, and the resilience of family and community no matter the location. I also loved the representation of Filipino characters and a nonbinary character. This is a spectacular debut novel!
Thank you to Douglas & McIntyre for my advance reading copy!
Thank you to Douglas & McIntyre for my advance reading copy!
March 9, 2024
If you are Filipino or have Pinoy family or friends, this book is for you. I have never read a book so personable or relatable as Ate Jennilee's Reuniting With Strangers. The stories and characters have very familiar lives as many Filipino Canadians do!
The book is divided into chapters with different characters and stories that are linked to a child named Monolith. It is shocking how real the characters are in this book. I think I know Sora, Adora, Benita, Reynaldo, and Avril in my personal life. They are all characters with genuine Filipino Canadian experiences. Their stories are told in many formats. Ate Jennilee tells their stories through manuals, emails, text messages, self-help guides, resumes, and Kundiman songbooks.
My family is from Cebu where we speak Bisaya. Many of the Pinoys in the book spoke Tagalog. It was nice while reading to connect with my mom and ask her to translate the Tagalog. I feel as though I learned more about where most of my family resides!
Books do not often make me cry. But this one sparked tears of heart-warmth, joy, and sadness. Especially for Lolo Bayani and Monolith, and when Jermayne came out to their parents.
For Pinoys and their families, this book is for you! Indulge, read, and find what characters you might see yourself or in others. Our personal experiences and identity might feel like a monolith, something you look at and know immediately: "Hey that person is Pinoy too!". Ate Jennilee reminds us that our Pinoy struggles are nuanced, unique, and emotional. But sometimes that is what links us together as Filipino-Canadians. Our pakikibaka.
The book is divided into chapters with different characters and stories that are linked to a child named Monolith. It is shocking how real the characters are in this book. I think I know Sora, Adora, Benita, Reynaldo, and Avril in my personal life. They are all characters with genuine Filipino Canadian experiences. Their stories are told in many formats. Ate Jennilee tells their stories through manuals, emails, text messages, self-help guides, resumes, and Kundiman songbooks.
My family is from Cebu where we speak Bisaya. Many of the Pinoys in the book spoke Tagalog. It was nice while reading to connect with my mom and ask her to translate the Tagalog. I feel as though I learned more about where most of my family resides!
Books do not often make me cry. But this one sparked tears of heart-warmth, joy, and sadness. Especially for Lolo Bayani and Monolith, and when Jermayne came out to their parents.
For Pinoys and their families, this book is for you! Indulge, read, and find what characters you might see yourself or in others. Our personal experiences and identity might feel like a monolith, something you look at and know immediately: "Hey that person is Pinoy too!". Ate Jennilee reminds us that our Pinoy struggles are nuanced, unique, and emotional. But sometimes that is what links us together as Filipino-Canadians. Our pakikibaka.
March 19, 2024
Over the course of one winter, this collection of short stories follows different Filipino families as they reunite in Canada. Some have been separated for a long time, some have never even met, but with each tale, is a real life experience about connection, family and the things people are willing to do and sacrifice for the ones they love. This novel was so beautiful, in so many ways. For such a short novel, it really packed a punch and hit the reader in the heartstrings. You don’t have to relate to this novel to feel any sort of connection, just being human is enough. This reader has no experience or relation to being an immigrant to Canada, but the stories within this and the way that the author wrote them were done in a way that really connected everyone. Each of these short stories were their own, but they also connected to the bigger picture and the overall theme of immigrating from the Philippines to Canada. The way the author was able to tell an emotional story in the short amount of time that she did, was incredible. She wasted no time; some would jump right into the action, while others had a bit more of a work-up, but either way, they all had the same magnetic power of creating these tender stories that the reader couldn’t help but love. The reader especially loved reading about Monolith and his journey as he weaved in and out of each of the stories. He was a beautiful soul who was just misunderstood and it didn’t help that the circumstances in his life caused for such confusion. Before we jump into the characters though, the theme around culture and culture identity was really strong in this, and the author did an amazing job of showing how the different generations felt about their culture. How the older generation could think the younger generation don’t care about it, or how the younger generation want to preserve it and the different ways characters thought it was either being lost or maintained. It was so interesting to read, and it was really touching when we could see characters who were so rigid in their ways start to crack as they realized that both viewpoints can be true. The characters are really what made this novel work so well because they were so memorable and worth remembering because they were so developed and human. While reading, it could get frustrating because the characters who were so stuck in their ways didn’t want to hear what anyone else had to say and that it could be a turn off. The further into each of these stories you got, the reader realized there are soft spots within each of them, you just have to search for them. The reader could see both sides of each of these characters, but it was so heartwarming and moving when the characters started to see both sides, too. Overall, this was such a well written and well told story that is going to stay with this reader for a long time.
May 18, 2025
Reuniting with Strangers is a heartfelt collage of a story about a group of interconnected Filipino characters of varying ages, genders, and familial relationships as they separate and reunite with each other after long years due to migration to Canada. Each chapter focuses on a different main character with their own separate story, with previous characters making brief cameos—most notably a misunderstood young autistic boy named Monolith—in a way that demonstrates the strength, loyalty, and connectedness of the Filipino community in Canada.
The book showcases the extreme hard work and sacrifices of Filipino migrants, especially those that are parents, in seeking a better life for their children and themselves. Working as caregivers, admin professionals, or domestic servants, living in tiny, shared apartments or essentially servants' quarters within the wealthy home where they serve the family, these migrants often face many hardships in remote or desolate parts of Canada, from enduring the much colder climate, to culture shock, to thinly veiled racism from employers and neighbours. But by far the greatest hardship is the impact on their relationships with friends and family back at home.
With engaging and emotional writing, the author captures numerous versions of the same experience of what truly does mean to reunite with a stranger who once up a time was—and to some extent still is—a beloved family member who both can and is only willing to do so much to relate to the new arrival and help them fit in to their new environment.
At the same time, the book celebrates the love and legacy of the Philippines itself, with some chapters featuring characters who are still there and can't bear to remove themselves from the beloved culture and history of their homeland. Each story was moving and each individual character was uniquely drawn despite undergoing a similar broader experience as many the others. Almost all of the stories can make you cry in some capacity, particularly the final one in which my impression and understanding of a key character connected to Monolith was completely altered, yet are all built around remarkable resilience and selflessness. Five enthusiastic stars!
The book showcases the extreme hard work and sacrifices of Filipino migrants, especially those that are parents, in seeking a better life for their children and themselves. Working as caregivers, admin professionals, or domestic servants, living in tiny, shared apartments or essentially servants' quarters within the wealthy home where they serve the family, these migrants often face many hardships in remote or desolate parts of Canada, from enduring the much colder climate, to culture shock, to thinly veiled racism from employers and neighbours. But by far the greatest hardship is the impact on their relationships with friends and family back at home.
With engaging and emotional writing, the author captures numerous versions of the same experience of what truly does mean to reunite with a stranger who once up a time was—and to some extent still is—a beloved family member who both can and is only willing to do so much to relate to the new arrival and help them fit in to their new environment.
At the same time, the book celebrates the love and legacy of the Philippines itself, with some chapters featuring characters who are still there and can't bear to remove themselves from the beloved culture and history of their homeland. Each story was moving and each individual character was uniquely drawn despite undergoing a similar broader experience as many the others. Almost all of the stories can make you cry in some capacity, particularly the final one in which my impression and understanding of a key character connected to Monolith was completely altered, yet are all built around remarkable resilience and selflessness. Five enthusiastic stars!
October 16, 2024
🌹Reuniting with Strangers by Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio is an unforgettable novel told in linked stories, following the reunification of Filipino caregivers’ families over one Canadian winter.
When five-year-old Monolith is taken from the Philippines to live with his mother in Canada, he immediately lashes out. Unable or unwilling to speak, he attacks her and destroys his new home. Everyone wants to know why – and everyone has a theory. But unlike the solid certainty his name suggests, the answer isn’t so simple.
From a cliffside town in the Tagaytay Ridge of the Philippines, to the Filipino communities in the Iqaluit of Osoyoos, BC, the Arctic world of equality, the suburbs of southern Ontario, Sarnia‘s Chemical Valley, Montreal’s Cote-des-Neiges, and Toronto’s Little Manila , Austria-Bonifácio takes readers into the kaleidoscope of the Filipino diaspora, uncovering the displacement, estrangement, resilience, and healing that happen behind closed doors.
In each linked story, Monolith appears again and again, inspiring others to look inward, to reach out, to change. And as the chapters unfold, truths are revealed in humorous, joyful, devastating and surprising ways: through a caregiver’s unconventional instruction manual, a flurry of texts and emails, a disarmingly direct self-help guide, a series of desperate resumes, a kundiman songbook and more.
Compellingly readable, incisive and resonant Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio’s stunning debut opens a window into the homes and hearts of the Filipino Canadian community.
Thanks to the Canada Reads 2024 long list for bringing this book to my attention.
3.7 rounded up to 4 stars
When five-year-old Monolith is taken from the Philippines to live with his mother in Canada, he immediately lashes out. Unable or unwilling to speak, he attacks her and destroys his new home. Everyone wants to know why – and everyone has a theory. But unlike the solid certainty his name suggests, the answer isn’t so simple.
From a cliffside town in the Tagaytay Ridge of the Philippines, to the Filipino communities in the Iqaluit of Osoyoos, BC, the Arctic world of equality, the suburbs of southern Ontario, Sarnia‘s Chemical Valley, Montreal’s Cote-des-Neiges, and Toronto’s Little Manila , Austria-Bonifácio takes readers into the kaleidoscope of the Filipino diaspora, uncovering the displacement, estrangement, resilience, and healing that happen behind closed doors.
In each linked story, Monolith appears again and again, inspiring others to look inward, to reach out, to change. And as the chapters unfold, truths are revealed in humorous, joyful, devastating and surprising ways: through a caregiver’s unconventional instruction manual, a flurry of texts and emails, a disarmingly direct self-help guide, a series of desperate resumes, a kundiman songbook and more.
Compellingly readable, incisive and resonant Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio’s stunning debut opens a window into the homes and hearts of the Filipino Canadian community.
Thanks to the Canada Reads 2024 long list for bringing this book to my attention.
3.7 rounded up to 4 stars
March 5, 2024
Originally posted on my Bookstagram feed - @bookstosharewithfriends - in September, 2023.
One of my favourite parts of the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival this year was being introduced to Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio, whose first novel, Reuniting With Strangers, had just been published. We listened to her read from her book, and tell her story, and marvelled at her great enthusiasm and energy. After working in settlement services for 20 years, Austria-Bonifacio has written a book of some of the stories of people she worked with, and some she has created. The worlds of the Philippines, and Filipino communities in Canada, are explored, and described, with grace, beauty, and such respect for sacrifices made by so many people. Characters come to life, and their joys and sorrows are palpable. Connecting each chapter is a young boy named Monolith. When Austria-Bonifacio read the first few pages of her book, his story, I knew I needed to read it, and I am so glad I did.
At the festival, I bought two copies of Reuniting With Strangers, one for my niece, and one for me. Austria-Bonifacio signed them both, with some advice, for my niece who is the mother of a 13-year-old, and with some lovely words for me. In January, I got to see her speak again, this time about the process of writing and publishing a book. If you get the chance to see and hear Jennilee, take it - she's got so much energy, enthusiasm, and great stories, and you won't be disappointed.
One of my favourite parts of the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival this year was being introduced to Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio, whose first novel, Reuniting With Strangers, had just been published. We listened to her read from her book, and tell her story, and marvelled at her great enthusiasm and energy. After working in settlement services for 20 years, Austria-Bonifacio has written a book of some of the stories of people she worked with, and some she has created. The worlds of the Philippines, and Filipino communities in Canada, are explored, and described, with grace, beauty, and such respect for sacrifices made by so many people. Characters come to life, and their joys and sorrows are palpable. Connecting each chapter is a young boy named Monolith. When Austria-Bonifacio read the first few pages of her book, his story, I knew I needed to read it, and I am so glad I did.
At the festival, I bought two copies of Reuniting With Strangers, one for my niece, and one for me. Austria-Bonifacio signed them both, with some advice, for my niece who is the mother of a 13-year-old, and with some lovely words for me. In January, I got to see her speak again, this time about the process of writing and publishing a book. If you get the chance to see and hear Jennilee, take it - she's got so much energy, enthusiasm, and great stories, and you won't be disappointed.
November 26, 2023
Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio has given us one of the very best books on the Filipino diaspora I think I will ever read!
REUNITING WITH STRANGER gives the reader everything we demand from a great book: heartbreaking, heartwarming, sad, beautiful...all the lovely feelings.
At the centre of the novel (connected stories) is Monolith, a five-six year old boy who does not speak. When he is reunited with his mother in Canada after living with his Tita Sora – his nanay, the only mother he's ever known, he is a cyclone of pain and destruction. Nobody, not even he, can manage his grief. This pain, this separation anxiety, is the heart of the book. Filipino mothers, husbands, wives, sisters, aunties, write painful emails, caregiver instruction manuals, resumes and how to manuals in stories about people building the dream of a better life for their families.
I hope you'll connect with this book as much as I did.
REUNITING WITH STRANGER gives the reader everything we demand from a great book: heartbreaking, heartwarming, sad, beautiful...all the lovely feelings.
At the centre of the novel (connected stories) is Monolith, a five-six year old boy who does not speak. When he is reunited with his mother in Canada after living with his Tita Sora – his nanay, the only mother he's ever known, he is a cyclone of pain and destruction. Nobody, not even he, can manage his grief. This pain, this separation anxiety, is the heart of the book. Filipino mothers, husbands, wives, sisters, aunties, write painful emails, caregiver instruction manuals, resumes and how to manuals in stories about people building the dream of a better life for their families.
I hope you'll connect with this book as much as I did.
February 17, 2024
24 hours hours after finishing and processing this book my heart is still filled with Joy. I am generally not a fan of short stories, but these tie together beautifully and you learn so much about the Filipino diaspora in Canada. As a Canadian having lived in many communities where Filipinos and their culture bring nothing but good things to everywhere I've lived, It was amazing to read about the other side of things, how hard it is for them to leave family for years and provide for those left behind. It only gives me more respect and love for the Filipino community. This book can be a hard emotional read at times but also brings respect and love for the very real situations that the characters go through. Core reading for anyone interested in what being a new immigrant feels like and leaving those you love behind.
February 10, 2025
Jennilee's characters are compelling, complex, and relatable. She shares with us the stories of Filipino immigrants to Canada and their experiences of how the immigration experience fostered connection and heartbreak in their lives. Although the overarching theme is immigration (something I do not have personal experience with), I was able to connect with the characters easily as they navigate the questions we all ask: Are we where we come from? Or are we where we're going? How do we honour the past when we're nowhere near where we are from? Is family who you make it, or what you're born into? Each character has a new way of adapting by either embracing or compartmentalizing the past and their relationships of present, past, future. This book has its sad moments, but ultimately you end up routing for the core of human goodness and connectivity that sparkle throughout.
February 28, 2024
I found myself crying as I read the last sentence of this book. I’ve always known that Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio has the gift of making people cry with her Filipino Talks sessions. But it wasn’t until this book that I am realizing how necessary our collective tears are. It took for me to connect with Jennilee’s characters & to read of their stories to realize the extent of the suffering being experienced by Filipino families separated by overseas work. I am so thankful to Jennilee for continuing to shake us all up with her stories ams for having us shed the very necessary tears required for our collective healing. I’ve said this before and I say it again now - Jennilee, you are our EVERYDAY HERO.
June 19, 2024
Best book to commemorate this year’s Filipino Heritage Month! The different media and ways of story-telling was so engaging - reminds me a lot about the different narrators/characters and their story-telling styles in Girl, Woman, Other (again another favourite of mine!) yet the way the characters intertwined was so cleverly done. It also went into the different aspects of the Filipino and Filipino diaspora culture of OFWs, the importance of keeping in touch with our culture whilst being far away as well as those unique ways that Pinoys tend to express their love. At the same time, the book was still so well written that even someone not familiar with Filipino culture would surely appreciate this collection of stories. Definitely a must-read!
January 3, 2024
"And you know the saying: a good parent is a good provider, and a good provider is one who leaves."
Although my heart is aching I am SO GLAD I read this book.
I have few pages of notes of things I learned about Filipino culture and worker's experiences in Canada. This fabulous book provides a glimpse into the lives of a number of families who reunite during one winter. This book will open your heart and provide an understanding of some of the experiences people from the Philippines who come to Canada to work to support their families. I will be surprised if this book doesn't make the short list for Canada Reads 2024.
This is one book that I hope MANY people read.
Although my heart is aching I am SO GLAD I read this book.
I have few pages of notes of things I learned about Filipino culture and worker's experiences in Canada. This fabulous book provides a glimpse into the lives of a number of families who reunite during one winter. This book will open your heart and provide an understanding of some of the experiences people from the Philippines who come to Canada to work to support their families. I will be surprised if this book doesn't make the short list for Canada Reads 2024.
This is one book that I hope MANY people read.
July 13, 2024
Before reading this I had minimal knowledge of the Filipino diaspora. My parents are from Hong Kong so I knew that many were caretakers but I had never acknowledged the human behind their role. The sacrifices these incredible humans make for their families, the time spent away from them and the consequences of these difficult decisions were all so vividly written by Jennilee you can’t help but ache with all the characters and their stories. They’re all connected in some way but reflect different painful experiences. I’m so grateful for a greater understanding of the pain that many caretaking families face.
April 15, 2024
It such a relatable book about different people and their experiences and how it relates to the relationship connecting them to the child named Monolith.
You can really see the personalities and quirks of being Filipino and them being in Canada, good or bad aspects bringing culture from the Philippines. It’s painful to read some of these knowing that these a true experiences or you can relate to the experience. It’s a great book for those trying to understand lives of Filipinos or for those who want to relate and reminisce about lives back in the Philippines.
You can really see the personalities and quirks of being Filipino and them being in Canada, good or bad aspects bringing culture from the Philippines. It’s painful to read some of these knowing that these a true experiences or you can relate to the experience. It’s a great book for those trying to understand lives of Filipinos or for those who want to relate and reminisce about lives back in the Philippines.
July 20, 2024
I really enjoyed these stories of the reunification of Filipino families over the course of one Canadian winter. In strange and sometimes obscure ways, one struggling 5 year old named Monolith links the stories, often tangentially. Through the stories the tragedy and the hope of Monolith's struggles come to light.
The stories give insight into the sacrifices faced by migrant workers around the world, and the expectations of those left at home in the Philippines, and the expectations of many of the migrants themselves.
This book was also on the Canada Reads 2024 long list.
The stories give insight into the sacrifices faced by migrant workers around the world, and the expectations of those left at home in the Philippines, and the expectations of many of the migrants themselves.
This book was also on the Canada Reads 2024 long list.
September 30, 2023
This book was an incredibly immersive experience and so well written. Each character seems relatable in their expertly crafted realism and the end of each story leaves you craving for more. This book will let you experience the full array of complex human emotions through the hardships experienced by each character from every walk of life. Overall an extraordinarily hopeful book grounded in realistic uncertainty and the mixed emotions of human connections.
January 12, 2024
Reuniting With Strangers is a novel told in linked short stories about Filipino families reuniting in Canada.
From a teenager struggling to connect with her mother to a husband desperately trying to mend his relationship with his beloved wife, these stories speak to both the frailty and strength of family, friendship, love and the human spirit.
Accessibly written, these stories are incredibly moving, impactful, sad, and yet also hopeful. I highly recommend this book!
From a teenager struggling to connect with her mother to a husband desperately trying to mend his relationship with his beloved wife, these stories speak to both the frailty and strength of family, friendship, love and the human spirit.
Accessibly written, these stories are incredibly moving, impactful, sad, and yet also hopeful. I highly recommend this book!
February 12, 2024
Heart hurting, fictionalized yet truths, about life in Canada for Filipinos. The stories intertwine and surround themselves with adults leaving children, their culture, their families, only to be assaulted with looking after other people’s children, Canadian winters, and Pippa Pig. These stories are a wonder in their honest appraisal of desperation and assimilation. With an ambivalent uncertainty, as to what’s important. Except for the children. Their behavior screams to be important.
September 6, 2024
Beautifully written short stories that are threaded in the complexities of leaving behind family and reuniting with them later on.
I loved how each story was independent of one another but showed the connection between the communities at the end.
It took me a while to get through this book because the stories were heavy, and I'd need a break between them, but it was worth finishing and left me not with heaviness but hope.
I loved how each story was independent of one another but showed the connection between the communities at the end.
It took me a while to get through this book because the stories were heavy, and I'd need a break between them, but it was worth finishing and left me not with heaviness but hope.
October 14, 2024
Loved this so much I sped right through it. Super appreciated the geographical range this book covered, giving readers a glimpse into the migrant caregiving experience all across Canada and not just in urban centres, as well as throughout the Philippines. My only wish was that there was a bit more depth to some of the stories—hard to capture in vignettes—which might have made some arcs feel a bit more resolved.
February 4, 2025
I’ve never described a book with aching stories as an easy-read before but somehow the author managed to create just that in her multi-styled writing. With the backdrop of my two beloved countries, this novel witnesses the pain of Filipino caregivers in Canada outlining the saying “a good parent is a good provider, and a good provider is one who leaves”. Our diaspora is fraught with difficulties but not without the promise of healing.
September 16, 2025
This is why I love my book club, I probably would not have read this book without it being picked by a member, and I'm so glad I did! Was kind of hooked by page 2 when the character lives on Kerr Street in Oakville (my neighbourhood!). I see that it was longlisted for Canada Reads in 2024, wish it had made the short list. Looking forward to my book club meeting next week, lots to talk about in this book.
November 13, 2025
Giving it a 3.5 — I didn't love it, but some parts of it really left an impression. I'm not surprised that Catherine Hernandez is acknowledged as a "literary Ate", because my favourite parts of Reuniting With Strangers reminded me so much of Scarborough.
I really wish we got to spend more time with several of the characters and families introduced. I guess I am glad that the one throughline was Monolith, and we got some semblance of closure with his story.
I really wish we got to spend more time with several of the characters and families introduced. I guess I am glad that the one throughline was Monolith, and we got some semblance of closure with his story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews