All the Conspirators

by Carlos Bulosan, Caroline S. Hau (Introduction), Benedict Anderson (Introduction)

In this mystery thriller set at the end of World War II, American Gar Stanley returns to his native Philippines to help his childhood sweetheart locate her missing husband in the wake of a Japanese ambush. With Clem's ring as his only clue, Gar moves from the nightclubs of Manila to the mountains of Baguio, from mansions to hovels, bordellos to churches. He pursues and is pursued by bankers, matrons, hoboes, warriors, and thugs. Gar quickly realizes that no one is who they seem in this war-ravaged country. He must move quickly to stay ahead of the deadly conspirators before they silence his friend.

Bulosan's purposely mysterious authorship is illuminated in the thought-provoking introduction by Caroline S. Hau and Benedict Anderson. The short story "The Filipino Houseboy," also included in this volume, helps to establish Bulosan as the author of All the Conspirators.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Carlos Sampayan Bulosan was a Filipino American novelist and poet best-known for the semi-autobiographical America is in the Heart.

Reviews

[TheQueensBooksII · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first-ever book I've read by a Filipino author that I'm aware of. I was very excited to read a completely different story from a completely different culture and set 0f circumstances and viewpoints. I found this little gem in a neighborhood Little Free Library and the title intrigued me.

This small book is well written (although, because of my unfamiliarity with the parties involved it was sometimes hard for me to understand who were the "rebels," etc.) and has a nicely crafted plot that twists and turns.

If you can find a copy, I do recommend it.

[Rise]

All the Conspirators (1998) is Carlos Bulosan's posthumous detective novel, published 42 years after the author's death. It exposes the deplorable actions of persons who collaborated with the Japanese enemy during the war and who betrayed their country and fellowmen in exchange for wealth and comfort during the Japanese occupation. This entertaining novel is accessible, full of action, and a fast read. But on the serious side, it provides a damning portrait of traitorous characters who sold out their souls by informing on freedom fighters. They are always waiting in the wings, these frigging collaborators.

I must write a longer review of this, maybe after reading his other posthumous novel.

[Shaniqua Lizardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars (+0.5 because wow, I was not expecting some action-crime thing to be on a school reading list)

It just shows how little I know about my country's own history that I'm not sure whether there is/was really such a thing as the Philippine Intelligence or the Igorot underground or the supposedly famous "Manila toast," but they all sound very interesting and all the forest adventure scenes in this book made me want to go hiking. Also, I have a lot to say about a Filipino writer who wrote a book from the first person point of view of an American protagonist, but let's save that for the post-colonial analysis that's due Friday. In all fairness, I quite liked this action movie of a book and would recommend it to my brother.

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is this really Carlos Bulosan's writing????

[Mary Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carlos has written an intriguing story about what happened in the Phillipines after WWII. Very good story. It moves slow in some spots, but is a short book, with a short story in the back.