Wings of Stone

by Linda Ty-Casper

This is novel by award winning Filipino author, Linda Ty Casper about Johnny Manalo who returns to the Philippines after a thirteen-year absence. By this time, Aquino has been assassinated and the country is immersed in corruption. The novel focuses on his inner thoughts; the horrors of the twilight years of the Marcos regime glow through the haze, making the book significant.

Genres: Historical Fiction

176 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 1986

About the author

Linda Ty-Casper is a highly-acclaimed Filipino writer. She was born as Belinda Ty in Manila, Philippines in 1931. Her father worked in the Philippine National Railways; her mother was a school teacher and textbook writer. It was her grandmother who told her stories about the Philippine struggle for independence, a topic she picked up in her novels. She has law degrees from the University of the Philippines and Harvard. However, erroneous and biased statements in books at Widener Library converted her into an advocate, through faithfully researched historical fiction, of Filipino's right to self-definition/determination.

Her numerous books are generally historical fiction. The Peninsulars centers on eighteenth-century Manila; The Three-Cornered Sun written on a Radcliffe Institute grant, deals with the 1896 Revolution; and Ten Thousand Seeds, the start of the Philippine American War. Contemporary events, including martial law years, appear in Dread Empire, Hazards of Distance, Fortress in the Plaza, Awaiting Trespass, Wings of Stone, A Small Party in a Garden, and DreamEden.

Her stories, collected in Transparent Sun, The Secret Runner, and Common Continent, originally appeared in magazines such as Antioch Review, The Asia Magazine, Windsor Review, Hawaii Review, and Triquarterly. One short story was cited in The Best American Short Stories of 1977 Honor Roll. Another won a UNESCO and P.E.N. prizes.
She has held grants from the Djerassi Foundation, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the Wheatland Foundation. She and her husband, (literary critic and professor emeritus of Boston College) Leonard Casper, reside in Massachusetts. They have two daughters.

(biography lifted from: http://www.palhbooks.com/Linda.htm)

Reviews

[Johnny Altomonte · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't believe the gravity of the setting or topic should prop up the quality of a novel. I came in excited, but was left disappointed throughout the book. The story felt disjointed, poorly structured, and strangely paced. Certain stylistic choices, such as the insistence on referring to most characters by their first and last names at all times, was jarring. There were points of strong emotion and clarity of prose, but it felt flat overall.

[Fatma · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was difficult to get through because I was mostly bored. So I tried to force myself through it.

Writing style was simple and easy to read, sometimes beautiful.

However the way the story unfolded was unengaging and boring. I wasn’t a fan of any of the characters and couldn’t invest in any of them, eventhough this book was devestating and cruel.

Maybe I decided to pick this up at the wrong time and that’s why I had such a bad experience of it.

[Daniel Polansky]

An expatriate Filipino returns to his homeland in the days before the ousting of the Marcos regime, attempts to reconcile the mysteries of his own heritage, homeland, purpose. I can't say it was my favorite thing I ever read in this vein, but I didn't hate it neither.

[Buddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read. The book contains a lot of ironies - most of them true.

[Michael Caylo-Baradi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ty-Casper's prose shines. It's a portrait of people in states of exile, between here and there.