Bibliolepsy

by Gina Apostol

Moving, sexy, and archly funny, Gina Apostol’s Philippine National Book Award-winning Bibliolepsy is a love letter to the written word and a brilliantly unorthodox look at the rebellion that brought down a dictatorship

Gina Apostol’s debut novel, available for the first time in the US, tells of a young woman caught between a lifelong desire to escape into books and a real-world revolution.

It is the mid-eighties, two decades into the kleptocratic, brutal rule of Ferdinand Marcos. The Philippine economy is in deep recession, and civil unrest is growing by the day. But Primi Peregrino has her own priorities: tracking down books and pursuing romantic connections with their authors.

For Primi, the nascent revolution means that writers are gathering more often, and with greater urgency, so that every poetry reading she attends presents a veritable “Justice League” of authors for her to choose among. As the Marcos dictatorship stands poised to topple, Primi remains true to her fantasy: that she, “a vagabond from history, a runaway from time,” can be saved by sex, love, and books.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Books About Books, Asia, Historical, Literary Fiction, Audiobook

201 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Gina Apostol was born in Manila and lives in New York. Her first novel, Bibliolepsy, won the 1998 Philippine National Book Award for Fiction. She just completed her third novel, The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata, a comic historical novel-in-footnotes about the Philippine war for independence against Spain and America in 1896.

Reviews

[Shealea · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Filipino, reading this book on the same year that the late dictator's son clawed his way back into Malacañang Palace - is utterly wild.

When I initially added Bibliolepsy to my Wikathon 2022 TBR list, I was expecting the story to follow a young activist who also happens to be a horny romance reader. I was not anticipating Primi to obsess over books to the point of hooking up with all writers, authors, and even booksellers within proximity (before Tinder and Bumble were invented!) - all the while willfully distancing herself from political unrest and brewing revolution. And I certainly was not prepared for Apostol to deliver hauntingly evocative prose and thought-provoking commentary on Martial Law from the perspective of an indifferent observer.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook (available on Scribd), my hands are itching to annotate its paperback edition and reread it until the spine feels as broken as I do right now.

I have many, many Thoughts - all of them jumbled, incoherent, and overwhelmed. But I will say that the girls that get it, get it. (Full thoughts to follow. Someday.)

Highest of recommendations!

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[Steve Donoghue]

Gina Apostol's prize-winning novel about a young woman whose entire life is saturated with books and writing even while her country descends into chaos now has an edition readily available for the US market, and since my own life is saturated with books against the backdrop of a country descending into chaos, I thought it would be a natural fit. Unfortunately, I found it lazily conceived, sloppily written, and ultimately sort of indifferent to whether or not it worked as a dramatic whole. There were bits and pieces I liked, but they were separated by long bits and pieces even the author didn't seem to care about beyond their value as autobiography. My full review is here: https://openlettersreview.com/posts/b...

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grabbed this from the library new book shelves on a whim. I'd not read this author before. She has written four novels, this one being her first and published originally in 1997 in her homeland, the Philippines. It was reissued this year in the United States.

The title, Bibliolepsy, is a made-up word with a mix of Latin and Greek roots, loosely meaning the desiring of books and of words. Well, that names what I have. She calls it a neurologism, a condition. All of this is explained in her author's note on the US reissue.

I loved the first half of the book which covers her tumultuous childhood, her voracious reading, and her coming of age in the midst of the Philippines revolution that deposed their dictator, Marcos. Gina Apostol was an activist but she was also a horny writer whose sexual adventures with poets and writers were her main focus.

In the second half, where the inevitable hangover of any revolution shows that their Marxist dreams of independence for the country were just that: dreams. What a sad and often told story that is, all over the world.

I wanted to stay with Gina in her mad and driven state of desire. I suspect she would have liked to stay there too but part of her growing up was to face reality and she had to tell that tale too, both for herself and for her country.

I did love her style; the cover evokes it. I am happy to have been introduced to such a provocative writer, who came to America for a Master's is creative writing and stayed. I am curious to read her other novels.

[Marc Nash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Video review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGG1V...

[maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

BIBLIOLEPSY by Gina Apostol is about Primi Peregrino, a young woman trying to figure out the how-tos of life (and grief) through books and literary romantic connections in the midst of real-world revolution. The novel is written against the backdrop of mid-80s Philippines, toward the end of Marcos regime. It was a time of dictatorship, martial law, censorship, political protest, and civil unrest.

Primi is “provincial bourgeois”, slightly pretentious, slightly self-absorbed, and very eccentric. She strikes me more like an observer throughout the whole novel, the text being a window to her biblioleptic thoughts. This picture is me attempting to capture Primi’s taray vibes.

She’s prone to name-drop “(white) classic” literary figures to describe her own feelings and predicaments, pointing out literary parallels that eclipse for her in real life, occasionally giving meta vibes. Her preference toward Western literary ideas, while passively rejecting Philippine authors and literature, stems mainly from her abuelita’s influence, specifically her insistence to stay faithful to colonial ties rather than encouraging Primi and her sister to explore their identity as Filipino. This is a common feeling of detachment among many Filipinos, especially for those who grew up only being spoken to in English even while living in the Philippines.

This is my second Apostol novel (Gun Dealers’ Daughter being the first) and I really like how Gina Apostol explores what could happen by diving deep on two characters with opposing choices and beliefs, despite coming from a similar background. In BIBLIOLEPSY, you’ll see this with Primi and her older sister.

BIBLIOLEPSY asks the questions: How do we make sense of the things we read? How do we digest the symbology in text and reconcile with reality after reading? These questions run through my head as I process the ending more.

This book is for you if you like nonlinear stories that dive deep on a character’s thoughts, occasionally digressing because of it. It’s for you if you like a book with philosophical overtones. And of course, if you share a passion for books and all literary things.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the title. The writing style was distinctive, the family history in the beginning of the story was interesting and original, and the literary references quickly hooked me, so the first few chapters had me sailing along. But Primi didn't relate to books in the same way that I do. She uses them either as passing reference points, as fantasies in which she immerses herself and then lives out in her mind, or as cultural symbols. I sometimes do those things too, but that is only a small part of the reading experience for me. Her reading didn't seem to get to a point of appreciation for construction, culture, style, seeing literature as art or connecting individual works into the larger matrix of world literature. Nor was her reading reflected much in the form of this book. There were opportunities for this book to be much more than it was.

However, my main gripe was that the book felt fragmented. The story, themes and character development never came together for me into a concrete interconnected whole. This fragmentation kept me from ever really caring for Primi. Perhaps this came in part from my reading the book over the course of a day of travel during which I had to frequently shift gears as I moved from place to place. I might have liked it better if I had read it in different circumstances.

[Jola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gina Apostol is an interesting writer for sure. Bibliolepsy was her debut novel, published in the U.S. several years after its appearance in her native Philippines and after Insurrecto brought her acclaim when it was translated and published in the U.S. I enjoyed Bibliolepsy for the exuberance of Apostol’s writing and her willingness to mix serious topics like political revolution with stories of a young bibliophile’s personal and sexual development. This book won the Philippines’ National Book Award.

[Megan L (Iwanttoreadallthebooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ordered this book and decided to read it because of the synopsis description of "love letter to the written word." I would agree with that description only half-way, it felt as if the main character was more in love with the writer, than the written word itself. I would have liked more plot, as this book was more of a character study and a coming-of-age story of a young woman in time of rebellion and revolution in the Philippines.
I liked that I learned more of the history of the Philippines and I enjoyed many of the author's references to other works of literature. I just would have liked more plot or perhaps a stronger emotional connection to the protagonist.

3 stars.

[Brittany (whatbritreads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book to review*

I had such a rollercoaster of emotions reading this book, I liked then disliked it enough at random points to end up finishing it with an overwhelming sense of uncertainty. It just felt neither here nor there, it was fine. It was a book, and I read it.

I think from the very first page what I picked up about this book that irritated me and I didn’t get along with was the style of writing used. It just felt completely inaccessible and like it was trying so hard to be something that I didn’t personally feel it was. There were so many ambiguous words and convoluted language for no apparent reason, I think it was a choice made to personify and give a distinct personality to our narrator but it just made the book so disjointed and hard to read. Seriously, I was just skipping over words I didn’t understand and hoping that the story would still make sense somehow anyways. Definitely a book where if English isn’t your first language, you’ll get lost. Even as a native English speaker, I had no clue.

As well as the language being confusing, plot wise I was equal parts confused and bored. It did intrigue me in some places and I’d spend a few pages engrossed in what was being said, but jjs as quickly my attention would wane again. I just think the story was so dry and told in the least engaging way imaginable that I just couldn’t get lost in it the way I wanted to. The characters just felt so dull on the page and I honestly didn’t care about what they were doing or saying, not that it appeared to be much.

I didn’t understand it at all, which seems to be the root of my problems. Even looking back at the synopsis of the book now after reading it… I’m genuinely like WHEN did all of that happen? Did I read that? It doesn’t feel like I read that at all. I don’t know with this one, I just didn’t get it. Even as a lover or words and books and all the things this talks about, it just lost me.

[peg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having lived in the Philippines at the end of the last century, I have followed author Gina Apostal through several books. She won the Philippine National Book award for this, her first book, in 1997 but it has just this week been published in the US.

What a heady round of realistic but somehow postmodern description and plot! It is somewhat of a coming-of-age story of a young woman who is in love with reading, writing and later on having sex with different poets and writers whom she manages to meet. It ends explosively during the 1986 EDSA revolution which resulted in the removal of Marcos from office (along with his shoe-loving wife) with help from the US.

I am undecided about what rating to give to this gnarly mixed up work but am giving it 4 stars because because of the tremendous effect it had on me, bringing back memories of life in the strange hybrid culture of the PI! Looking forward to what other readers here on GR think about it!

[Nadine in California · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fate brought me to this book: I discovered that a favorite writer wrote a book set during the overthrow of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos on the same day I learned that his son is now President-elect and his wife has been in the Philippine Congress for years. And I thought the US has lost its collective mind.

Overall this book is too overwritten for me - but sometimes in a fun way. Some examples:

Workmen group before a movie poster (breasts for breakfast, cunt for lunch) while a morbid beggar sucked his lip, rattling his loyal money can. There by the theater with the giant posters of starlet meat, beggars brought the ravishment of flesh down to size.

Another fun thing - the narrator thinks of herself as a reader as much as a writer, and happily takes writers down a peg:

We [writers] are blamed for many things - hammy paraphrases, indolent misperceptions, glibness with symbols and, of course, last but not least, the cheap pleasures of solipsism, boredom’s gas - purloining lines for our own prurient testimonies, our vulgar quotidian lives. I myself resent those epigraphs in which an author takes an isolated quote to prop up his unrelated shoddier work.

[nasti · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved, loved, loved! this novel is a homage to reading & the bibliophiles experience growing up obsessed with books. the protagonist "prima" experiences reading as a deeply sensual journey and & apostol employs lush, provocative language describing how literature becomes an intimate act—one that stirs desire and passion. the protagonist's connection to books is portrayed as a form of love affair, blending in with her "real" lovers amidst the backdrop of the real-world philippine revolution she grows up in.
the plot is honestly minor, what really got me was her prose, which rlly rlly was stunning.

[Magdelanye · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a reader, what hollowness is filled?
We are ready to spring at certain lines, as if a prehistory of reading slumbers within us. p118

How is one to deal altogether with the individuals isolation, gathered in sleep? p178

How indeed but at least I have at last discovered my uber-diagnoses that has long eluded all professional attempts. Not only has Gina Apostal elucidated the quintessential traits of this by no means rare condition, she has given them a context and a lexicon; parsed them and played them, according to her own rules. Considering that she grew up in the Philippines under a severe regime that makes my countries attempts at censorship seem mild, her observations hold.

Bibliolepsy: a mawkishness derived from habitual aloneness and congenital desire....occasionally accompanied by a liking for rock and roll. The endless...seeking , but it can't get no satisfaction. Biblioleptic attacks usually followed by complete distaste for words. p11

Conversation about books is the bibliolept's elementary form of satisfaction. p12

From fact and fancy, from the theoretical to the specific and spiraling out into the cosmic realm and darting back, this explosion posing as a novel connects all the dots. We sense the author seething under the surface of the waves she has created with her words.

It is not easy to live within a novel. One wishes to tear out from the inevitability of the plotline to release the uniqueness of ones voice. p171

GAs unique voice has been consistently loud and clear and this bold book holds its place as one of the freshest and most insightful.

The world needs more readers, not writers. p99

[Emily Fletcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a rollercoaster, in that throughout it I could not decide if I loved or hated what I was reading! This is obviously written by someone with a love for and talent with language, and I felt that was very much valued over plot. Don't get me wrong, I can enjoy a mostly-vibes-little-plot book, but I felt like Bibliolepsy was fragmented with its structure and ultimate messaging. However, there were so many passages that I found interesting and captivating, and I went back and forth between feeling like I was dragging myself through this book then being unable to put it down. Based on other reviews I read, you may get more value out of this if you are very familiar with the history/politics of the Phillipines, and I (someone who is somewhat knowledgeable but far from an expert) did find it interesting seeing this time period through the lense of a character avoidant of the political disruptions occuring.

[Teck Wu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Writing is pretty good but convoluted. More like a poetic stream of non-fiction than an actual story. Theres a plot but it’s covered up by so much veering into descriptions, tidbits, and background knowledge that it became sidelined and sometimes forgotten. And when you do go back to the plot, you would realize the plot is kinda boring and branches to different meetings of people. Just meetings and discussions, nothing much.

[Pia · Rating 3 out of 5]

FYI: Gina Apostol is not Primi Peregrino.

In the 2022 Edition of Bibliolepsy, published by Soho Press Inc., there is an Author's Note on the US Edition. Gina Apostol mentions here that the main character of this book (Primi Peregrino) is not like her. I'm mentioning this because some reviews claim that this is autofiction, which it is not.

Review
Bibliolepsy was the first book Gina Apostol wrote. She conceived of it when she was a 19-year-old Maoist in University of the Philippines-Diliman, and finished it after going to the United States, having a child, then coming back. Quite a staggered timeline. While not without awkward spots, it was a perfectly impressive first novel. The New Yorker blurb called this a coming-of-age-novel, a definition technically correct plot-wise and horrible mischaracterization in spirit.

The first half of the book is about the Peregrinos, told by Primi Peregrino, the second daughter. The latter half is the series of Primi's sexual conquests, happening concurrently with the brewing and eruption of EDSA People Power I.

Bibliolepsy is a pretty read. Apostol's style of writing is melodic. On the matters of prose, I think that Bibliolepsy feels quite polished and secure. This does not apply to all of the concepts in the material, with which there is a lot.

Bibliolepsy is meant to be a novel about the cyclical endlessness of desiring. In the case of this novel—the desiring of books, of words. From the start, I conceived of it as a book that would have a sense of never being finished. Both a historical and a personal truth, maybe, resides in such a story.
— Gina Apostol, Authors Note on the US Edition


A Writer on Writers
I don't like writers who write about other writers, but Apostol's writing in Biblolepsy is an exception. Bibliolepsy's Writers are not a short hand for Someone more senstive.

Instead, Bibliolepsy has commentary on the Philippine Literary Scene, as it was in the 1980s and sort of how it still is in the 2020s.

In 2014, the National Book Development Board announced, with strange pride, that there are around 1,000 writers in the Philippines. The USA, while being only 3x bigger in population size, has 49,500 writers (2023). The NBDB said that in 2012, the Philippines exported $2.8M USD in books, while importing a whopping $61.5M USD. Not all Filipinos read books, and those that do mostly read foreign ones. "Writer" was never thought of as a money-making pursuit, but being a writer in the Philippines is for the rich, the delusional or the Sisyphean in disposition.

There is a sort of profiling on the types of writers (multi-losing Palanca submitters, writers caged by too-early successes, agit tibaks who write with anger, ideology and nothing else, and the unremarkable pedants, among others). There is also a literal list profiling the types of readers, aka the bibliolepts. It talks about the irony of being a writer writing for other writers. It talks about the singular-ness of the Palanca as a career zenith. It talks about the bibliolept tendency to be enraptured by potential while browsing bookstore shelves. If other writers that write about writers are in a circlejerk, Apostol in Bibliolepsy feels like a friend's whispered primer before entering the venue of a poetry reading. The observations on Writers and Readers are the best developed ideas of the book.

This section on Death of the Author is, I think, a perfect marriage of form and content:

For here was a writer whole in his world—his letters and his sons and the books he read and spoke about; a man booming with amusement in his voice, with a healthy attachment to his world—peering in through doors, taking us all in with bright, living eyes, with the penetrating, permeating voice of a midsummer's turtle.
I may have caged him in his poet's cell: I had given him only a strip of paper, long as a poem, on which to talk and speak about things. But he had jumped out of it—he had bidden himself away from the reader.
And even when and if he did take the bluebooks off the Remington and dusted the keys to type his words in merry, fat Pica—did he have to wave the matter to the whole world, to the rampaging bulls of readers that snorts in small circles, inhuman and impatient to see his unlifted, furled and secret cape?
— Page 135

Bibliolepsy's Ending
Apostol says that Bibliolepsy "would have a sense of never being finished". This is interesting, because to me it does feel like there is an Ending...and it is an underdeveloped one.

Up until the Ending, the book was really awesome to me. Primi's psychiatrist (mildly incompetent, as always in books) says that Freud would have a field day with her, and he totally would. Girl has issues. But her issues were interesting to read about, and also occasionally disturbing. Primi's thoughts are most of Bibliolepsy's text. Dialogue exchanges are few and far between.

So it was my surprise that Uncle Diego, gone from the story since Primi was 8-years-old in Tacloban, by magical coincidence is at EDSA. Fine, I'll give it a chance. Statistically speaking he could have been there during the peak of the protests. But from page 193 to 201, the characters end up at a plot-signifcant eatery from earlier in the story, another significant character shows up, and they have a round table discussion on History, Family, and Literary Symbolism. Uncle Diego gives a monologue on Primi's dead parents that, I shit you not, takes up almost a whole page (Page 195, if you wanna look it up yourself).

The sequence of events was so absurd and the writing so juvenile I have to wonder if somewhere between Gina Apostol's final file and the printing press, a Creative Writing major hijacked the document with an over-zealous need to force a Psych 101-type closure upon the story. It's just so disjointed from most of the book!

I like to think that I critically engage with texts and meet them with good faith. But like, what's going on here? Why did the text sharply turn from speaking with well-earned ease to monologuing with complete desperation? What is the narrative purpose of shifting tones and style so dramatically in the last 5 pages? Is it accidental, rogue text escaping the editor's eye due to text fatigue? Or is it just growing pains, remnants of this book's development hell? Is this genius, and I'm not smart enough to parse through it? Why did, on the 5th to the last page, Primi Peregrino say she speared her sisig like she's a character from a YA Novel and not the psychologically-unwell main character of a sexually-charged, politically-aware piece of historical fiction?

Gina Apostol has the personal and the political interweave in this story. I think that that would be interesting conceptually. But the personal takes up most of the book, and the political had to catch up near the end to get where it was supposed to go. Ultimately, it ends up stumbling. Like if I watched the legendary Usain Bolt run in perfect form in the Olympics, but by unfortunate circumstance right before the end he tripped over his shoelaces and flew, arms pin-wheeling, over the finish line.

I give this book 3 stars. I still love Gina Apostol.

[para · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 maybe? 3.5? depends on the day. i dont think i am well read enough to really get it... i liked her sexual metaphors but i was mostly bored or confused when i wasnt fully locked in

[julita · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so freaking good (understatement of all time)

[michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

(originally published in 1997 and winner of the 1998 philippine national book award for fiction; i read an ARC for the US edition which is coming out in january)

i don't think i'm well read enough to fully appreciate this book lol but parts of it i did really enjoy and clearly apostol is an incredible writer — her prose is lyrical but not indecipherable, pretentious but not annoyingly so.

[Gelle Arcega · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this in 2022 as a Filipino is pretty ((wild))

Apostol writes beautiful prose and what makes it even more amazing is that she does so from a distance reflected by Primi's indifference. Her commentary on the revolution is timeless that it echoes even decades after her novel's setting.

I am now in a terrible blend of my awe of her and fear of how true her words remain today.

[Bena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good very nice indeed :) 4 stars cuz I wish there was more. But also the ending was perfect so idk

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in 1997, about a young woman in the 1980s living during the downfall of the brutal Marcos regime in the Philippines, Apostol’ as book first became available in the US in 2020.

And we are both HONORED & BLESSED.

This novella is a 200 page masterpiece homage to books and the women who love them. It follows Primi as she escapes the chaos of her country into literature, and as she collects sexual exploits with male writers along the day. It’s a love letter to the bookish, library obsessed best of us, vindicating the literary love we have, awash in prose both powerful and vindictive.

Obsessed with the magic of these pages. It’s like being defined by someone who understands your soul despite being from a completely different culture lack ground and social upbringing - all because BOOKS have the power to make that link.

Bibliolept is a made up word, but it’s the most relatable one I’ve ever found, and now it’s engraved on my soul.

“A bibliolept is burdened by all the stories she reads, by other people’s poems in her head. Dead people’s words are in her like blood and bile.” (pg. 99).

This book is raw, fanciful, gorgeous, emotionally violent, and soothing all at once. It’s also a glimpse into the tumult of revolution when experienced by a citizen desiring only to live in the peace in privilege afforded to colonial oppressors.

That’s a LOT for 200 pages.

“My bookshelf is filled with evidence of my sudden fancies and the stupid eclectic objects of my lust.” (pg. 137).

Have I convinced you to read this little gem yet, fellow bibliolepts? 5 stars, in case there was any confusion.

READ THIS - for fans of Vladimir and Gilmore Girls and Inkheart and and media that centers literature - it transcends boundaries, I promise. “Bibliolepsy” is THE hot girl book.

[Maya Sophia · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were times when the writing really hit its stride and I enjoyed certain observations that were made about books and readers, but overall, I felt like the writing was convoluted and could have used some editing. I am aware that this was originally published in 1997 and I do think there are parts that did not age well at all. There's a scene where the protagonist is talking about having sex with a fat man and it is... fatphobic and offensive to say the very least. There are some interesting things to be learned about Filipino history in here, but if you're looking for a book that specifically appreciates books and readers, there are plenty of others that are better written and have a more likable protagonist.

[Joy Saler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was not quite what I expected it to be. Not that this is bad. I enjoyed the scenes with the narrator's sister and the revolution on the streets . This I could see clearly in juxtaposition to the narrator's strange distance. She wasn't very personable, not that I need someone relatable, but is toll couldnt grasp her character in the end. The title suggests this narrator is obsessed with books and escapes into them, maybe even mixes them up with real life, although this wasn't drawn out. She mentions a book or author here and there, and sometimes talks about the "reader" while stalking writers and poets and sleeping with them, but is still didn't feel her love of books. The long-winded prose with abstract language certainly echoes classica writing style of the Western white men, which she often alludes to, but it also made her vague and incomplete as a character.

[David Alonzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Filipino-American, I was hoping to like this book that received a Philippine National Book Award. Alas, I did not hate it, but I did have to trudge through the first half of the book.

The protagonist endured an unhappy childhood, most of which was during the Marcos dictatorship. She chooses a strange and circuitous route through her late teens and twenties to redeem herself from that childhood. There are some very descriptive passages about the country during that time - specifically about the city of Manila. And even more specifically about the quirky family history.

While these descriptions were lovely, I felt I had to wait way too long for the story to unfold. But this may be because I am really an American, not a Filipino national who lived through that time.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gina Apostol, who would later be known for her vertiginous works that incorporate some real-life historical events in the Philippines, had a debut that was equal parts funnier and more indelicate than her future novels, but bore the idiosyncratic writing style—filled with witty wordplay and gorgeously rendered sentences—I’d come to truly enjoy. Written by Apostol at 19 and continued and edited years later, Bibliolepsy followed the privileged girl Primi Peregrino who found solace and lust amongst words, books, and poets, in what she coined as a syndrome called bibliolepsy. The book started with Primi’s own history—a childhood she called a happy one, but unveiled as something quite the opposite—before continuing and eventually ending with the country’s own history—the People Power in EDSA that ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. I did not like Primi (not as much as Apostol’s other narrators, say, Sol from Gun Dealers’ Daughter who I thought had a life that ran somewhat parallel with Primi’s), but I enjoyed how Apostol fleshed her out as a shamelessly strange, sensual, and spunky young woman. And Primi’s stories, at times so explicit I’d have to clutch my imaginary pearls, were riveting in how it was narrated and unfolded. However, I did find that this novel had less meat to bite into and the ending, though substantial, had a clarity that came almost too late. And though this was justified by a seemingly more adult Primi talking to a doctor, I still felt that the subject itself—Primi’s life—and its juxtaposition with the People Power Revolution that at first she let pass by, were a bit heavy-handed, even in Apostol’s pen. I still find it a delight to have the opportunity to read Apostol’s works, because her writing style has truly endeared itself to me—and that’s not just me exhibiting the symptomatic lack of discrimination of bibliolepsy.

Alternate review: Primi you need Jesus lmao

[Bobbi Khalaf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Individuals use subjective rating systems to different ends. Am I reading for pleasure? To be challenged? Is a book better if ends with a dopamine rush or if you recall passages a year later?

Bibliolepsy isn't a clear narrative. The comparisons to stream-of-consciousness poetry are more apt. It slides through Prini's life to discover passions and melancholy and how they relate to the changing world around her.

I don't think readers are owed sophomoric language and paved plotlines to make digestion easier. The writing is lyrical, witty, and challenging enough to be its own reward.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5
This feels like a book I would have read for class in college, not loved but then appreciated more after lecture. It’s lack of lecture, sadly, means I appreciate it less. However, it has a lot of quotes from literature that it doesn’t necessarily cite, you have to be “in the know” to know what books they come from. I happen to be rereading David Copperfield and, literally two days after I read the relevant chapter, quoted it. I felt like a genius! Anyway, I thought certain passages were really poignant and thoughtful while others were boring. A toss up.

[emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

gina apostol is very quickly rising the ranks of “authors i will always read no matter what” she has a way with language that is impossible to describe and her subject matter and protagonists are always immensely interesting to me

its really cool how even though this book has a fairly similar premise and preoccupation as gun dealer’s daughter, it feels so distinct from that one, by function of the protagonists’ differing voices. i cant answer which i like more, but i know for sure i cant wait to read insurrecto and the revolution according to raymundo mata