PALH BOOK REVIEWS

 

SPARROWS DON'T SING IN THE PHILIPPINES by Paulino Lim, Jr. published by New Day Publishers, paper Review by World Literature Today, Summer 1995 v69 n3 p653(1) COPYRIGHT 1995 University of Oklahoma

 

How many books could be written about how the Marcos regime changed people's lives? Innumerable? How many good pieces of literature on the subject have been written so far? Only a few, and one of them is Paulino Lim Jr.'s latest novel, Sparrows Don't Sing in the Philippines, the second installment of a projected political trilogy (the other two are Tiger Orchids on Mount Mayon and Requiem for a Rebel Priest). Briefly summarizing his novel, Lim wrote: "American neurosurgeon Jeffrey Engram visits Manila to attend a class reunion at the University of Santo Tomas. He discovers that his college chum, Mark Ledesma, has been shot in the head by communist assassins, known as 'sparrows.' He volunteers to assist at his friend's operation. The neurosurgery frames the narrative that spans Mark's childhood and his student days at Santo Tomas, the University of the Philippines and the First Quarter Storm - violent demonstrations in 1970 which led to the declaration of martial law by then President Marcos." Readers unfamiliar with the flashback might find this literary technique mildly disturbing, but it works for this novel. Lim's literary career seems to have lived up to its early promise. Critic Isagani R. Cruz says Lim's first novel, Tiger Orchids, "is a marvelous display of thrilling storytelling, political commentary and acute (and accurate) observation." Father Joseph A. Galdon calls it "an auspicious beginning to the trilogy." Sparrows is all that and more. What we have in Lim is a writer of raw power and social sensitivity. His power lies in the strength of his ideas and not in the magnitude of the characters in his novel. The main character, Mark Ledesma, appears quite ordinary, because he does not have any ambitions to save his country or any dreams to become martyr to a cause. The attempt on his life makes him look like a hero, but the heroism seems to have been thrust upon him. An assassin's bullet resolved his ambivalence about joining the revolutionary cause. The problem in the Philippines is not the sparrows, who refuse to put up with the economic and social inequities in a country notorious for its class legislations. Direct quotes from Lim say it all: "Our political parties are easily subverted; they differ in name only. We elect the same people from the same wealthy class that rules us, and start a new cycle of corruption each time we change leaders." Garcia, Macapagal, Marcos, Aquino - interchangeable names, for they all spell corruption in varying degrees. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of Filipinos died to elevate Mrs. Aquino to an undeserved presidency, and for what? Nothing has changed. The crony system and the oligarchy continue to thrive. Lim's novel indicates that not even American could save the Philippines; only the Filipinos could. If sparrows don't sing in the Philippines, it's because they have no reason to. With the government not having made any significant change since Marcos left, singing is not for anyone, not even for the birds. Although the novel is filled with political statements from Mark and Jeff, the story derives its passion mainly from their friendship, a true mingling of East and West. Underneath the playful banter is a genuine caring and a mutual respect for each other's intelligence, beliefs, values, and culture. This mutual respect is not born of blind loyalty to each other; the two men are too sophisticated and too well educated to let mere emotions rule them. Witty and silver-tongued both, they thrive on philosophy and rhetoric. The novel might be an indictment of the Marcos regime, but I see it more as a story of friendship, a symbol of what the relationship between the United States and the Philippines could have been, if it had been founded on loyalty and a genuine interest in each other's welfare. Al Camus Palomar University of Oklahoma Review Grade: A

 

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