Monsoon Mansion
If you’re looking for a book where you have to take a reading break due to its intensity, and will leave you choked up, then Monsoon Mansion is for you. Look back with the author as she relives her childhood; going from riches to poverty in the Philippines as her family looses their business, integrity, and eventually their entire savings while trying to avoid humiliation. Their mansion, like her life, slowly crumbles around them while she is helpless and praying to be saved. Her mother should have been her protector, but instead is just one more monster she must survive. This coming of age story is bleak, but shows how a fighting spirit can get a person through anything.
I can’t give this novel enough praise. The beginning of the book dives right into the family’s slow spiral into financial ruin and I was left wondering how much worse it could get. SO. MUCH. WORSE. I felt like I was trapped in a nightmare right along side the author as she recalls her gruesome adolescence. Through losing siblings, cockfight gambling rings, and her home being turned into a brothel, the author’s ability to write poetically about such a dark situation had me speeding through the pages. This was one of the most poignant reads I’ve had in a long time. It left me with a tight chest, crying in bed, feeling devastated that children go through such experiences. This book will stay with me for a long time.
I recommend this one to people who liked The Color Purple, or the movie Life is Beautiful.
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