Pia’s Reviews > How to Read Now > Status Update

'Autobiography in Asian Film.' Castillo squares off with the pop activism thing of "representation in film". She talks about the Filipino racism in The Life Aquatic, & contrasts them with several asian films produced in asian countries like Happy Together, Monsoon Wedding, and The Assassin. She celebrates these asian movies for their depth, which highlights the narrowmindedness of the 'representation matters' calls

'"Reality is All We Have'". Castillo grapples with her relationship to a personally important quote from John Berger quote, "Reality is All We Have". She parses through how the literary establishment's ambivalence and hostility to vulnerable people is deeply embedded, which is antithetical to how literature was for her growing up, and her encounters with such treatment over the years have worn her down.

'Main Character Syndrome'. Castillo turns our eye to Didion, and Didion does not survive. Castillo interrogates the violence that underlies Didion's prose, who is a colonial settler in the most literal sense, who wrote prose other white settlers enjoyed. As in: eager to erase the history of the other people they've genocided and plundered from in order to amass the wealth they use to fund luxurious writing careers

'The Limits of White Fantasy'. Castillo points out that the politics of 'progressive' books with anti-establishment themes and dystopian settings are from their white authors borrowing from the current and historical plights of the rest of the word, bc they LIKE the aesthetics of struggle WITHOUT rly caring about the real people that live them. I know this will sound crazy but 23 pages was not enough to explore this

Reading Teaches Us Empathy and Other Fictions. Wow! Complete in logos and and pathos, and really digs deep on the logos aspect. I appreciate how relentless Castillo is with her analysis of tenured, white authors. While the whole book applies more to America, the cultural trends among readers that Castillo is dissecting is also present in a mutated form sa Pilipinas.

How To Read Now. Talks about Race in America, specifically how it was taught by the author’s father and upbringing (not an Other) and how it was imposed upon her in wider America (an Other). I liked it by feel, but aside from shattering the false universality of “Only One” (only asian in white town) POC experience in the US, i dont think its going to impart anything to people that dont already agree

the Author's Note makes me launch out of my seat from how good it is