Reader review of Monstress: We’re All Monsters
From the Official Clive Barker Resource
This reader review is by Michael De Guzman.
Lysley Tenorio’s debut short story collection illuminates the alienation of the Filipino immigrant in America. Filipinos reputedly have the knack for assimilating in any culture, but experience tells me that no matter how “assimilated” I appear to be, the feeling that I am an outsider does not entirely dissipate. This is fertile ground for melodrama.
Tenorio eschews emotional wrangling and tearjerking in favor of bizarre plots that illustrate this alienation without sounding preachy. The stories in this collection remind me of another short story collection I read as a teen-ager.
It is easy to dismiss the works of Clive Barker as ‘mere’ horror-fantasy, but I believe that underneath all the horrific elements, there are many insights on identity. The stories in Clive Barker’s multi-volume ‘Books of Blood’ are filled with the unique and the bizarre: characters both human and non- experiencing challenges to their sense of self.
Tenorio’s stories are populated with quirky characters who go through outrageous experiences in order to reconcile their inner conflicts and contradictions. The has-been B-Movie actress, the grandson of a famous faith healer, and the brother of a dead transgender man are all looking for some kind of transformation: a return to the limelight and the attainment of fame, an exit from the family business to a new life, and a means of understanding his own identity.
The need for connection is another theme in these stories: the men who seek to avenge Imelda Marcos’s honor by plotting against the Beatles while yearning to meet them at the same time, the comic book geek who copes with the rejection of his Caucasian father by inhabiting a fantasy world, and the girl from a leper colony who dreams of love with a stricken American soldier.
No matter how outrageous the proceedings get, Tenorio manages to imbue his characters with real feelings and concerns, plus just enough moral ambiguity so that none of his characters appear infallible. There is a sadness that pervades these stories. I’m not sure if this is a reflection of my current state of mind but this is how they felt to me. Immigration is a word that is already fraught with sadness. I mean separation from loved ones, the struggle to build a life in a new environment, the attempt to come to terms with the changed self, and so on.
Tenorio manages to inject a touch of humor in the dreariest situations. Can there be a sadder theme than unrequited love among the elderly who are about to be evicted from the condemned building that is their only home? Just writing the previous statement almost brought me to tears. In Tenorio’s deft hands, the story is told gorgeously and ends up being life-affirming.
In Clive Barker’s novella ‘Cabal’, the only character who behaves in a monstrous manner is in fact human. The other creatures are basically like all of us: beautiful and tragic and always struggling to deal with their alienation. We’re all monsters.
All told, the stories in ‘Monstress’ allowed me to appreciate the idiosyncrasies of the Filipino-American psyche, the struggle between staying and emigrating, loyalty and ambition, native culture and assimilation. More commendable is the manner in which Tenorio lays bare these themes: the stories are genuinely moving in their off-kilter voice, and insightful without being too smug and self-aware.
Fil-American author Lysley Tenorio is coming to Manila to give a talk and do a signing on February 9 at 4 pm, at the National Book Store flagship in Glorietta 1.
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