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Eating Fire and Drinking Water
Eating Fire and Drinking Water | Arlene J. Chai
4 posts | 7 read | 1 reading | 2 to read
"I was someone hungry for stories; more specifically, I was someone who craved after facts. I was, you see, a person with no history. Lacking this, I developed a curiosity about other's people's stories. . . ."Clara Perez is a reporter on a small South seas island. An orphan raised by nuns, she is a young woman with origins shrouded in mystery. Full of idealistic ambition, she grows tired of the trivial assignments she's given at the daily paper, yearning to write articles of substance. So when the tiny street of Calle de Leon bursts into flames after a student demonstration--and a soldier kills an unarmed man--Clara seizes the chance to cover the explosive story.Yet after Clara rushes to the burning street to investigate the tragedy, she discovers another, more personal one involving some remarkable truths about her unknown past--ghosts, she realizes, which have been silently pursuing her all her life. And as family secrets begin to unfold, Clara's missing history slowly spreads itself out on the tumultuous backdrop of a country wracked by revolution. . . .An evocative and multilayered tale, at once political and personal, Eating Fire and Drinking Water is an extraordinary work, a powerful and pulsing novel of politics and commitment, loyalty and love, and the poignant search for truth.From the Trade Paperback edition.
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Louise
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Thanks to @Chelleo for this multi-layered and thought-provoking addition to my #ReadingAroundTheWorld adventure. With a mixture of the personal and the political, this book examines questions of social justice, personal loyalty, love, family, destiny, religion, superstition, the search for truth, and the power of stories. #Philippines

Chelleo So glad you liked it. I honestly don‘t remember much of he story but I do know I enjoyed her other book, Last Time I Saw Mother. 7y
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Anneblythe
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Maybe it has something to do with the Filipino culture, we force ourselves to quickly forget without learning anything. I couldn't even remember a single book read at school related to the martial law. And the elders are disappointed at the kids who glorify this era. But how are they to know?

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Anneblythe
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I got stuck in traffic for 5 hours! I'm lucky to have the perfect companion. This book will take you to one of the Philippines' darkest time. Names of prominent figures were changed; but still is a perfectly depicted historical fiction.

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Anneblythe
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I am awfully ashamed of myself for not hearing about Arlene J. Chai, who was born and grew up here in the Philippines. I bought her book a few years ago; and only learned more about her because I have been searching for a book written by an author from Southeast Asia.