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When the Hibiscus Falls
Seventeen stories traverse borderlines, mythic and real, in the lives of Filipino and Filipino American women and their ancestors. Moving from small Philippine villages of the past to the hurricane-beaten coast of near-future Florida, When the Hibiscus Falls examines the triumphs and sorrows that connect generations of women. Daughters, sisters, mothers, aunties, cousins, and lolas commune with their ancestors and their descendants, mourning what is lost when an older generation dies, celebrating what is gained when we safeguard their legacy for those who come after us. Featuring figures familiar from M. Evelina Galang’s other acclaimed and richly imagined novels and stories, When the Hibiscus Falls dwells within the complexity of family, community, and Filipino American identity. Each story is an offering, a bloom that unfurls its petals and holds space in the sun.
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 13, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
February 10, 2024
This is a collection of seventeen short stories about Filipino immigrants living in the United States and those who return to the country of the Philippines to learn more about and better understand their culture, food, way of life. Many of the stories include ghosts of family members. Dead people appearing and communicating with their living relatives in unique or unusual ways. The story, Hilot of Paranaque, employs this creative style in the most brilliant yet heartbreakingly beautiful way. M.Evelina Galang explains in the acknowledgments why she decided to do this in her stories.
My only criticism of this collection is that many of the stories repeated the same theme, over and over again. While there were diffferent characters facing different situations, it felt repetitive. Still, these stories address important issues facing Filipino immigrants, living and raising children in the United States, that are relevant and poignant for readers today.
My only criticism of this collection is that many of the stories repeated the same theme, over and over again. While there were diffferent characters facing different situations, it felt repetitive. Still, these stories address important issues facing Filipino immigrants, living and raising children in the United States, that are relevant and poignant for readers today.
July 5, 2023
CW // xenophobia, racism, comfort women, colonialism, COVID pandemic, implied pedophilia, victim-blaming, intergenerational trauma, Muslim travel ban
Definitely not something you read for funsies. There is tragic beauty in Galang’s writing, and all the stories deal with trauma in some way. And all of them have open-ended endings to show these issues still persist.
If you had read some of her previous work, some characters will be familiar. I liked being taken back to the world of One Tribe and Her Wild American Self. Couldn’t help but smile how Galang references her own work in one of her stories.😏
Definitely not something you read for funsies. There is tragic beauty in Galang’s writing, and all the stories deal with trauma in some way. And all of them have open-ended endings to show these issues still persist.
If you had read some of her previous work, some characters will be familiar. I liked being taken back to the world of One Tribe and Her Wild American Self. Couldn’t help but smile how Galang references her own work in one of her stories.😏
April 8, 2024
Like most short story collections, this was a mixed bag. Overall, the writing is solid but only two of these stories really impressed me. The blurb says it features characters from the author’s other works and not having read them, I guess I’m not the optimal reader.
June 14, 2023
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There’s a lightness to this book that I didn’t expect, given the cast of ancestors, ghosts, and aswang. My word cloud for this collection is: women, immigrant life, tropical flowers, food, Catholicism, typhoons and hurricanes, caring for and honouring the elderly, racism and colourism, the US, Spain, colonialism and empire. Galang has somehow managed the feat of weaving all of this together into a rich imaginary of myth, colour, and dreams.
When the Hibiscus Falls is set in the distant past, the present, and an imagined future. One of my favourite stories is an important exploration of anti-Asian violence during the Covid pandemic, the first time I’ve encountered this in fiction. Two other excellent stories on the theme of straddling two cultures, American and Philippine, are the delightfully haunted and haunting Foodie in the Philippines, about the dislocation of an American Filipina who thinks she’s gone home to explore the food scene, but who finds something very unexpected instead; and Hot Mommies, a beautiful story about two American sisters trying to find their way again after losing their parents.
Galang shows amazing range in this wonderful collection. This is not the first time I’ve read writing about Philippine life and culture, but When the Hibiscus Falls is particularly beautiful and memorable. Highly recommended.
Thank you very much to Edelweiss and to Coffee House Press for this DRC.
There’s a lightness to this book that I didn’t expect, given the cast of ancestors, ghosts, and aswang. My word cloud for this collection is: women, immigrant life, tropical flowers, food, Catholicism, typhoons and hurricanes, caring for and honouring the elderly, racism and colourism, the US, Spain, colonialism and empire. Galang has somehow managed the feat of weaving all of this together into a rich imaginary of myth, colour, and dreams.
When the Hibiscus Falls is set in the distant past, the present, and an imagined future. One of my favourite stories is an important exploration of anti-Asian violence during the Covid pandemic, the first time I’ve encountered this in fiction. Two other excellent stories on the theme of straddling two cultures, American and Philippine, are the delightfully haunted and haunting Foodie in the Philippines, about the dislocation of an American Filipina who thinks she’s gone home to explore the food scene, but who finds something very unexpected instead; and Hot Mommies, a beautiful story about two American sisters trying to find their way again after losing their parents.
Galang shows amazing range in this wonderful collection. This is not the first time I’ve read writing about Philippine life and culture, but When the Hibiscus Falls is particularly beautiful and memorable. Highly recommended.
Thank you very much to Edelweiss and to Coffee House Press for this DRC.
January 1, 2024
this was such a lovely read. as a filipino-american, i cannot even begin to describe how much i loved reading filipino stories that i can identify and connect with. it was pretty special.
August 5, 2024
beautifully written set of stories of Filipino resistance, love, and loss.
August 9, 2024
Beautiful, sensory read. Poignant, fierce, honest stories straddling the line between Filipino cultural life, experiences & belief systems at home in the islands & at home in the new American world.
October 31, 2025
The standard literature of the Filipino diaspora is often a predictable tripwire of homesickness and manufactured sentiment, a sugary halo-halo of woe. When The Hibiscus Falls by M. Evelina Galang is mercifully, and brilliantly, not that.
Galang is not interested in providing comfort. She is interested in excavation. This collection of linked stories is a dark, sprawling, and necessary accounting of generational pain, told with a prose that possesses the necessary snap of truth. We meet mothers and daughters—always daughters, it seems—who are less defined by their geographic location and more by the heavy, gothic weight of the secrets they carry.
The book moves with a certain fatalistic rhythm. It is drenched in a melancholy that feels earned, not applied. Galang doesn't ask for your sympathy; she demands your witness. The voices here—so distinct, so raw, so unburdened by false cheer—achieve a rare kind of veritas regarding the wretchedness of the human condition, particularly when filtered through the pressures of migration and history. These stories aren't just about what they lost, but what they actively chose to bury, and the ghosts that inevitably claw their way out. This is trenchant work, giving a shape and texture to the things we usually shove into a dark corner and pretend we didn't see.
Now, for the necessary nitpicks, because nothing is sacred. In a project this ambitious, spanning decades and continents, a slight structural malaise begins to set in around the two-thirds mark. The pervasive melancholy, which is initially the book’s strength, occasionally curdles into repetition. There are moments when the core trauma of one character feels like an overly familiar echo of the previous one, as if the well of ancestral angst had been drawn from just a bit too often. Furthermore, one specific interlude, involving a secondary character’s pilgrimage back to Manila, feels like a piece that momentarily fizzles, a drop of water that refuses to become part of the deluge, disrupting the otherwise relentless momentum.
But these are minor complaints, the faint static on an otherwise perfectly tuned radio broadcast from the abyss. Galang has given us the dark heart of the Philippine experience—not the quaint, tourist-friendly version, but the one where the secrets have teeth. Go read it. It’s required reading for anyone who understands that nostalgia is just a polite word for selective memory.
Galang is not interested in providing comfort. She is interested in excavation. This collection of linked stories is a dark, sprawling, and necessary accounting of generational pain, told with a prose that possesses the necessary snap of truth. We meet mothers and daughters—always daughters, it seems—who are less defined by their geographic location and more by the heavy, gothic weight of the secrets they carry.
The book moves with a certain fatalistic rhythm. It is drenched in a melancholy that feels earned, not applied. Galang doesn't ask for your sympathy; she demands your witness. The voices here—so distinct, so raw, so unburdened by false cheer—achieve a rare kind of veritas regarding the wretchedness of the human condition, particularly when filtered through the pressures of migration and history. These stories aren't just about what they lost, but what they actively chose to bury, and the ghosts that inevitably claw their way out. This is trenchant work, giving a shape and texture to the things we usually shove into a dark corner and pretend we didn't see.
Now, for the necessary nitpicks, because nothing is sacred. In a project this ambitious, spanning decades and continents, a slight structural malaise begins to set in around the two-thirds mark. The pervasive melancholy, which is initially the book’s strength, occasionally curdles into repetition. There are moments when the core trauma of one character feels like an overly familiar echo of the previous one, as if the well of ancestral angst had been drawn from just a bit too often. Furthermore, one specific interlude, involving a secondary character’s pilgrimage back to Manila, feels like a piece that momentarily fizzles, a drop of water that refuses to become part of the deluge, disrupting the otherwise relentless momentum.
But these are minor complaints, the faint static on an otherwise perfectly tuned radio broadcast from the abyss. Galang has given us the dark heart of the Philippine experience—not the quaint, tourist-friendly version, but the one where the secrets have teeth. Go read it. It’s required reading for anyone who understands that nostalgia is just a polite word for selective memory.
June 1, 2023
When the Hibiscus Falls is a gorgeous set of short stories by M. Evelina Galang about the Filipino and Filipino American experience—from homecomings to escapes and new beginnings, from ancestors and elders to unruly grandchildren. The book deals a lot with rogue people and the way we encounter, recognize, and deal with our heritage.
In "Drowning," a misbehaved, rebellious older sister dies, and the youngest is left with the consequences. In "When the Hibiscus Falls," the protagonist's cousin Mayari has fled in the middle of the Covid pandemic, and Sol arrives in Miami in an attempt to bring her home. In "Fighting Filipina," a young girl grates under the rise of anti-Asian American hatred around her, and is desperate to protect her grandmother from its effects. There are so many kinds of stories in this collection, but Galang really hits on something powerful in how the young cannot escape their heritage, how the old are haunted by the traumas or scars of the past, and how the generations clash and come together and fall apart.
The scattering of Tagalog throughout and Galang's rich language bring the Philippines and the characters of all of her stories into vivid life and character. I enjoyed all of these tales, and I hope that people put this on hold at their local libraries before its June 13 release. This book is massively under-hyped given how excellent the stories here are!
Content warnings for sexual assault (implied & depicted), death, grief, trauma, hate crimes, xenophobia, racism, panic/anxiety.
In "Drowning," a misbehaved, rebellious older sister dies, and the youngest is left with the consequences. In "When the Hibiscus Falls," the protagonist's cousin Mayari has fled in the middle of the Covid pandemic, and Sol arrives in Miami in an attempt to bring her home. In "Fighting Filipina," a young girl grates under the rise of anti-Asian American hatred around her, and is desperate to protect her grandmother from its effects. There are so many kinds of stories in this collection, but Galang really hits on something powerful in how the young cannot escape their heritage, how the old are haunted by the traumas or scars of the past, and how the generations clash and come together and fall apart.
The scattering of Tagalog throughout and Galang's rich language bring the Philippines and the characters of all of her stories into vivid life and character. I enjoyed all of these tales, and I hope that people put this on hold at their local libraries before its June 13 release. This book is massively under-hyped given how excellent the stories here are!
Content warnings for sexual assault (implied & depicted), death, grief, trauma, hate crimes, xenophobia, racism, panic/anxiety.
September 1, 2024
In When the Hibiscus Falls, M. Evelina Galang crafts a tapestry of short stories illuminating the Filipino immigrant experience. Through lyrical prose, Galang explores women's lives, navigating cultural boundaries, identity, and generational legacies.
The collection tackles challenging themes like xenophobia and family dynamics with sensitivity, showcasing the resilience of its characters. While some motifs recur, each story offers unique perspectives on the immigrant journey.
Galang's poetic narratives resonate beyond cultural lines, making this collection a vital addition to contemporary multicultural literature.
The collection tackles challenging themes like xenophobia and family dynamics with sensitivity, showcasing the resilience of its characters. While some motifs recur, each story offers unique perspectives on the immigrant journey.
Galang's poetic narratives resonate beyond cultural lines, making this collection a vital addition to contemporary multicultural literature.
September 13, 2023
Disclaimer: This is less of a review and more of a self-reflection
I wish I was more Filipino.
People say we should change the narrative of being mixed away from "I don't feel enough" or "I'm only half" and for the most part I have strayed away from those feelings in my own self searching and self-identities. However, I found myself struggling to finish this book. I couldn't help but feel "if I was raised with the Filipino culture, if I wasn't missing half of my family who left me, if I was just MORE Filipino, I would've finished this entire book in one sitting."
The stories were beautifully written and I felt engaged throughout most of them especially seeing all the powerful Filipina women, homages to ancestors, myths, legends, and strong familial ties. But now, I'm left longing for something even more and the gap between myself and my ancestors seems even larger. And maybe it's my own fault for trying to understand my culture and peoples through the stories of others with some subconscious expectation that if I dig deeper and read more, something will click and suddenly I'll be "fully Filipino inside and out" and all the question marks and empty spaces will be filled. Instead I'm left to mourn a Lola who decided I wasn't enough and a father who chose cars and debt and drugs.
Regardless, I would highly recommend this especially to fellow American-born Filipinos because I feel like most would feel deeply connected to the stories written.
I wish I was more Filipino.
People say we should change the narrative of being mixed away from "I don't feel enough" or "I'm only half" and for the most part I have strayed away from those feelings in my own self searching and self-identities. However, I found myself struggling to finish this book. I couldn't help but feel "if I was raised with the Filipino culture, if I wasn't missing half of my family who left me, if I was just MORE Filipino, I would've finished this entire book in one sitting."
The stories were beautifully written and I felt engaged throughout most of them especially seeing all the powerful Filipina women, homages to ancestors, myths, legends, and strong familial ties. But now, I'm left longing for something even more and the gap between myself and my ancestors seems even larger. And maybe it's my own fault for trying to understand my culture and peoples through the stories of others with some subconscious expectation that if I dig deeper and read more, something will click and suddenly I'll be "fully Filipino inside and out" and all the question marks and empty spaces will be filled. Instead I'm left to mourn a Lola who decided I wasn't enough and a father who chose cars and debt and drugs.
Regardless, I would highly recommend this especially to fellow American-born Filipinos because I feel like most would feel deeply connected to the stories written.
May 26, 2025
When the Hibiscus Falls is a beautiful, intimate collection that felt like coming home in unexpected ways. Some stories really hit me, like “wow, this is me, this is us,” while others were just okay, but still meaningful. I related to almost everything, especially the themes of identity, womanhood, and quiet strength.
There was one story I struggled with a bit because some lines were in Kapampangan, and I don’t speak the dialect, so I felt a little lost. But even then, I appreciated the texture and authenticity it brought to the narrative.
What made the experience even more special was reading it alongside my partner. It’s her first time reading a book by a Filipino author, and she loved it too. It’s so powerful to see our stories told in our words, with all the nuance and heart.
Highly recommend for anyone looking to connect with Filipino roots, diaspora narratives, or just thoughtful, well-written fiction with soul
There was one story I struggled with a bit because some lines were in Kapampangan, and I don’t speak the dialect, so I felt a little lost. But even then, I appreciated the texture and authenticity it brought to the narrative.
What made the experience even more special was reading it alongside my partner. It’s her first time reading a book by a Filipino author, and she loved it too. It’s so powerful to see our stories told in our words, with all the nuance and heart.
Highly recommend for anyone looking to connect with Filipino roots, diaspora narratives, or just thoughtful, well-written fiction with soul
July 1, 2023
this was poignantly written with intellect and simple beauty; the stories themselves were interesting and seamlessly woven into filipino american identity. however, i think some stories' endings were, for lack of a better word, rushed—and these abrupt endings gave the impression that the stories were missing a few paragraphs, character and plot development, etc. i think, in general, short stories can be difficult to work with when crafting coherent resolutions, which could be used to explain the endings, but that doesn't mean all of m. evelina galang's stories failed to hit the mark. at the end of the day, these stories are still good, and i love the usage of literature to highlight filipina american voices. some of my favorites include the titular short story; hot mommies ; drowning , and labandera .
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May 22, 2025I really wanted to love this book—the concept was compelling, and I appreciate the focus on the Filipino experience and the heavy, emotional themes it addresses. However, the writing felt lackluster at times, and I struggled to connect with the stories on a deeper level. I found myself wishing that instead of so many short stories, the author had chosen to expand on just one or two, offering more emotional depth and different points of view. The stories often felt shallow, even when covering intense topics. I also would’ve appreciated Tagalog translations or footnotes to better understand and learn from the language.
Note: I did not rate this book because I did not finish it. It just wasn’t the right read for me at the moment.
Note: I did not rate this book because I did not finish it. It just wasn’t the right read for me at the moment.
September 6, 2023
Read this for cass and my book club and it was really beautiful. I think this book wasn’t written for white audiences, and it has a lot of lines in tagalog and I think another language too that weren’t translated and that I could’ve looked up, but idk it kind of felt like if I was supposed to know what they said then it would be in english, so I didn’t. So there were all these parts that were hidden from me, but it felt like that was how I should be reading it. Idk I loved these stories, I thought they were beautiful and all written in such interesting styles and I really enjoyed it
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February 8, 2025I am not rating this book because I think it just wasn't for me. I appreciate the creativity and passion in these short stories, which incorporate history, dystopian/utopian future, racism and bias, and many women's experiences. The common thread was Filipino/a culture, which is very interesting to me. I stumbled over some of the language - the quantity of Tagalog included was more than I personally could pick up from the context sometimes. And the magical realism sometimes annoyed me. Overall, it was worth reading and I think many people would have enjoyed it more than me.
March 17, 2025
dnf but read for school!!!!
loveeee that it’s filo short stories, it was so warm and wholesome!
i also loved the form and the way it was written. the dialogue was very short and straight to the point. galang wrote in short summaraized paragraphs that play through time.
my fav were the themes of family values and the natural disasters. they were brought together so beautifully.
amazing book (from what i’ve read)!
loveeee that it’s filo short stories, it was so warm and wholesome!
i also loved the form and the way it was written. the dialogue was very short and straight to the point. galang wrote in short summaraized paragraphs that play through time.
my fav were the themes of family values and the natural disasters. they were brought together so beautifully.
amazing book (from what i’ve read)!
March 26, 2023
A really interesting collection of short stories throughout the Filipina American diaspora. These stories showcase family legacy and future hope through all the sisters, cousins, mothers, aunts and grandmas. Both heartbreaking and heartwarming, there is a real sense of community in this book.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
August 26, 2023
Beautiful writing, some of the best I’ve read in the past few years. This collection of short stories covers heavy themes of colonialism, racism, trauma and brokenness stemming from the treatment of the Filipino people in history, as immigrants to the United States, and in more recent anti-Asian sentiments.
January 13, 2025
A bittersweet and meditative read about the hardships and history that we as Filipino people carry and the strength we gather in each other and ourselves to carry on day by day.
Took my time with this one to embrace the heartache and savour the hope that peeks through in Galang's poeticism, then step away to take a breath.
Took my time with this one to embrace the heartache and savour the hope that peeks through in Galang's poeticism, then step away to take a breath.
July 5, 2024
A progression of the Filipino American characters and stories from her first book, Her Wild American Self. Galang takes us into the ethereal, mythical realm of being, living both the life of our ancestors and our American selves.
July 1, 2025
beautiful. i found myself leaving and coming back without guilt due to the fact that this was an anthology. my favorites are still the first & last stories, though there were a few scattered throughout that elicited tears.
July 8, 2023
I really wanted to be drawn by this anthology. It just didn’t quite captivate me.
July 8, 2023
Beautiful stories, beautifully written. The pinay experience honored in a way i’ve never seen before but have always needed.
August 13, 2023
Loved it
August 18, 2023
Such beautiful short stories that reminded me how circular time and life can be; and inspired a little more connection to the spirits around me, too. I will return to these stories many times.
August 31, 2023
Parts I and II had me especially pondering what it means to be Filipino and Fil Am. Part III lost me a bit.
November 6, 2023
Beautifully written, moving and sometimes heart wrenching. Fantastic insight into Filipino culture and the experiences and thoughts of Filipino women
December 27, 2023
3.5 stars!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews