“Books, as world-encompassing as they are, aren’t a destination,” she argues. She’s writing not just for “the type of people who read books and attend literary festivals,” she hopes. In that author’s note, Castillo gives an overview of her intended audience. With exuberance, grit, and sly tenderness, here is a family saga an origin story a romance a narrative of two nations and the people who leave one home to grasp at another.If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores.Įlaine Castillo’s “ How to Read Now” begins with a section called “Author’s Note, or a Virgo Clarifies Things.” The title is a neat encapsulation of the book’s style: rigorous but still chatty, intellectual but not precious or academic about it.
But their daughter - the first American-born daughter in the family - can't resist asking Hero about her damaged hands.Īn increasingly relevant story told with startling lucidity, humor, and an uncanny ear for the intimacies and shorthand of family ritual, America Is Not the Heart is a sprawling, soulful debut about three generations of women in one family struggling to balance the promise of the American dream and the unshakable grip of history. His younger wife knows enough about the might and secrecy of the De Vera family to keep her head down. Her uncle gives her a fresh start in the Bay Area, and he doesn't ask about her past. When Hero De Vera arrives in America - haunted by the political upheaval in the Philippines and disowned by her parents - she's already on her third. Castillo is part of a younger generation of American writers instilling literature with a layered sense of identity." ( Vogue) "A saga rich with origin myths, national and personal. Named one of the best books of 2018 by NPR, Real Simple, Lit Hub, The Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Post, Kirkus Reviews, and The New York Public Library
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