Status Updates From Recuerdos de Patay / Lukisa...

Baru selesai membaca cerita ke-4, Kisah Ah To. Seorang pak tua imigran dari Tiongkok yang berakhir di Filipina. Ceritanya menyentuh namun ku rasa akan jauh lebih menyentuh jika aku memahami latar sejarah para imigran Tionghoa di Filipina.

Sejauh ini cerita ke-3, “Penunggu”, masih jadi favoritku.

Recuerdos de Patay

The title already gives away the hint of Spanish bg in the setting. It also means "Memories of the Dead". Other translations say it means "souvenirs" or "paintings" or "photos".

But more than that, I think it's more of "hauntings" for this specific short story. I grew up watching this kind of horror stories so there's nostalgia while I was reading it.

A Stranger in the Room

"Singaporean mumu"; There's a literal apparition that haunts the unnamed protagonist -- could resemble horrors of the past and her daughter's future.

NUKUMORI

Longing and waiting for "warmth" is depicted in this sensual narrative.

THE GORGE and albertson.com

The Gorge = reflective moments about the present and future (life in general) far away from the Philippines; TW: begins with a suicide incident

albertson.com = a paranoid man falls into deep schizophrenia after the death of his father

Both stories tackle feelings of isolation after the death of a (distant) loved one or an important relationship, and how they could not find solace.

Firetrees and Orange Sundays

Third time now that I read this short story and it just does not fail to hit home. Coping with grief and somehow moving forward despite the hardships but more so because of the memories that keep us going are told in this non-linear narrative. Family, by blood and chosen ones, is realistically and wonderfully depicted.

The True Story of Ah To

In this short story, Hau focused on the changing setting/s and recollection of the historical account of the character Ah To in parallel to the history of Chinese migration to/in the Philippines during "the war" (Japanese occupation in the country) from the POV of an unnamed narrator.

It is deeply embedded with the struggles of the Fil-Chi people -- need to re-read it to grasp it better.

STORIES

This specific short story feels so close and personal as if it was not fictional at all. The unnamed narrator shares her own beginnings in writing through remembering her father’s lived experiences and the histories of the ones who brought them where they are at the present. It is kind of bittersweet but with a clear tinge of desire to honor all their stories.

New Year’s Day

A story about a family — simple but with the complexities of one. Two sisters there for each other despite the age gap and the three smaller lives between them. In hindsight, the elder one suffering from her 10-year-old marriage in comparison to their parents’ 36 years being together.

“The Grindstones”

We see an unfamiliar scene where the woman (wife and mother) is the one who sells the taho and tokwa—I have never seen a woman carry the usual bamboo pole with two baskets on its ends around town to sell their merchandise in the PH.

We see the woman’s hardships as a mother to “two little ones” and as a wife to her husband. A story that’s very much close to Hau’s Chinese background.

WAAAAAAA. Finally diving into Hau's collection that includes one of my favorite Filipino short stories that resonates with me.