In the Country: Stories, by Mia Alvar
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In the Country: Stories, by Mia Alvar
Free Ebook PDF In the Country: Stories, by Mia Alvar
These nine globe-trotting, unforgettable stories from Mia Alvar, a remarkable new literary talent, vividly give voice to the women and men of the Filipino diaspora. Here are exiles, emigrants, and wanderers uprooting their families from the Philippines to begin new lives in the Middle East, the United States, and elsewhere—and, sometimes, turning back again. A pharmacist living in New York smuggles drugs to his ailing father in Manila, only to discover alarming truths about his family and his past. In Bahrain, a Filipina teacher drawn to a special pupil finds, to her surprise, that she is questioning her own marriage. A college student leans on her brother, a laborer in Saudi Arabia, to support her writing ambitions, without realizing that his is the life truly made for fiction. And in the title story, a journalist and a nurse face an unspeakable trauma amidst the political turmoil of the Philippines in the 1970s and ’80s. In the Country speaks to the heart of everyone who has ever searched for a place to call home. From teachers to housemaids, from mothers to sons, Alvar’s powerful debut collection explores the universal experiences of loss, displacement, and the longing to connect across borders both real and imagined. Deeply compassionate and richly felt, In the Country marks the emergence of a formidable new writer.
In the Country: Stories, by Mia Alvar- Amazon Sales Rank: #351686 in Books
- Brand: Alvar, Mia
- Published on: 2015-06-16
- Released on: 2015-06-16
- Format: Deckle Edge
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.55" h x 1.34" w x 5.93" l, 1.02 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 368 pages
Amazon.com Review
An Amazon Best Book of June 2015: Mia Alvar’s stories of the Filipino diaspora are stunning – restrained yet comprehensive in their evocation of what it means to live under martial law, in poverty, away from your family. No matter how far her Filipino characters travel – Bahrain, New York, to the prison thirty minutes down the road – and no matter how much their lives change – finer houses, nicer cars, medical degrees – home is ever present, ingrained in every action they take; for, “how ‘distant’ could the blood running through your veins be?” In the opening story, a young pharmacist returns home to care for his ailing father, smuggling drugs to help ease the pain and discovers an alarming secret about his mother. In ‘Shadow Families’ wealthy Filipina housewives in Bahrain throw parties for the working-class Filipinos because “helping these helpers, who’d traveled even farther, felt like home.” Alvar’s ‘Esmeralda’ explores the immigrant experience during 9/11 and it is exquisite, a story so real and pure that it could break your heart. In the Country is a joy to read. Mia Alvar’s writing is attentive, compassionate and filled with powerful sense of belonging – a splendid debut. --Al Woodworth
Review Winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut FictionA 2015 Nautilus Book Award WinnerNational Book Critics’ Circle/John Leonard Prize for Best Debut finalist One of the Best Books of the YearSan Francisco Chronicle • Buzzfeed • Men’s Journal • Huffington Post • NPR • Bustle • Electric Literature • Kirkus ReviewsA New Yorker Staff Pick“Twists abound in Mia Alvar’s debut collection. But Alvar’s finely wrought shocks, delivered in exacting prose, reverberate without easy resolution. . . . Worlds continue to be upended as [her] characters move among the Philippines, the Persian Gulf and the United States. The Manila-born, New York-based author offers deft portraits of transnational wanderers, blessed and cursed with mobility. . . . Alvar’s incursion into Filipino politics recalls Jessica Hagedorn’s novel Dogeaters, and Miguel Syjuco’s Ilustrado. . . Clearly a writer with enchanting powers, Alvar wills us to crisscross the globe with [her characters] all over again.” —The New York Times Book Review“Compulsively readable . . . thanks to Alvar's expansiveness and her gift for grounded, human-scale metaphors. . . . Each of In the Country's nine stories about the Filipino diaspora has the satisfying heft of a little novel. In precise and patient prose, Alvar reveals the complex patterns of labor migration that structure and define her characters' most intimate relationships.” —Chicago Tribune“Emotionally ambitious. . . . Alvar hits the ground running. . . . What will make readers want to remain in the tired and sad company of Alvar's workers and wanderers is her own gorgeous writing style. Each one of the nine stories in this collection riffs on the theme of exile; yet, every main character's situation is distinct, morally messy in a different way, and unpredictable. Alvar is the kind of writer whose imagination seems inexhaustible, and who stirs up an answering desire in her readers for more and more stories. . . . Alvar is reportedly working on a novel . . . which is great news, because as a reader and a new fan, I want more and more and more.” —Maureen Corrigan, “Fresh Air,” NPR“A stunning debut—without ever getting overly sentimental, page after page of In the Country is laced with . . . revelatory, unflinching truth. . . . Mia Alvar comes out swinging for the fences in her powerful first story collection about the Filipino diaspora—often exiled even at home—and doesn’t ever let up.” —San Francisco Chronicle “Remarkable. . . . Each of these nine stories is superb.” —The New York Times“Haunting and powerful. . . . Extraordinarily adept and insightful. . . . [Alvar] moves gracefully among Philippine cultural iconography and Tagalog, Bahraini class structure, American anachronisms, shifting gender and sexuality, and political histories. . . . The title story, ‘In the Country,’ and the longish ‘Old Girl’ stand out as evidence of Alvar's sensitive gaze, literary talent and polycultural dexterity. . . . Alvar is gifted; of that there is no doubt. And she has important things to say. She knows how to make the reader pause, and think deeply, feel. And hunger, as I am already, for more.” —The Plain Dealer “Alvar’s rich debut provides a deep and textured look at Filipino culture at home and abroad from an array of vastly diverse vantage points. . . . Through careful, delicate prose, Alvar reveals her characters’ pasts and desires, which range from saintly to shameful in this deeply religious culture. . . . Alvar’s characters are engaging and memorable, and their homes swell with visceral smells and sounds as she places us gently, firmly, into their imperfect lives.” —Entertainment Weekly “[An] accomplished debut of longing and redemption. In lush, sinuous sentences, Alvar probes the enduring stain of race, colonialism, and especially class, giving voice to all strata of Philippine society.” —O, The Oprah Magazine“Profound, trenchant short stories. . . . Alvar’s displaced characters are buffeted by change and loss yet never stop trying to connect.” —People “Superbly affecting. . . . Nine stories, all of them so smoothly and successfully realized that it seems incredible that this volume is [Alvar’s] fiction debut. . . . [Her] speciality [is] the smart depiction of lives lived between two worlds. . . . [Alvar has] a range that would be the envy of authors with 10 books under their belts.” —The Christian Science Monitor “Alvar’s debut story collection is so well-drawn and plot-rich that you almost wish it were a novel. But then Alvar wouldn’t have been able to cram in so many disparate voices and painful ironies: a New York pharmacist smuggling drugs on flights back home to palliate his dying father; a set of housewives in Bahrain who throw parties for their poorer landspeople; an office cleaner in the World Trade Center in the summer of 2001.” —New York Magazine, “7 Books You Need to Read This June” “Magnificent. . . . Debut story collections don’t come much better than this. In the eight complex tales and one ambitious novella of In the Country, Filipina-American author Mia Alvar proves herself a tough, sophisticated writer with a canny empathy for the quandaries that confront her intricately layered characters.” —The Seattle Times “Perfect for anyone who thinks they can’t get down with short stories. . . . While the subject matter is indeed fresh, the real appeal belongs to the lush sentences, rapid pacing, and morally conflicted characters. The last and title story is a novella-length tale that Alvar is reportedly using as fodder for a novel. We can only hope.” —The Miami New Times “It's difficult to reduce Alvar's stunning short story collection to just one idea. Her book, as Walt Whitman might say, contains multitudes—not just because of its varied settings, from the Philippines to the U.S. to Bahrain, but because every character is different, and portrayed with love and a rare kind of understanding. These are people who have little to nothing in common with one another, except that they're all trying to find a home, and it's always a more challenging task than anyone would expect. . . . Alvar finds beauty in the unlikeliest of places, and that's what makes In the Country such an inspired, remarkable book. Her characters, even the lucky ones, are never far from affliction, and never really close to home, even when they've lived in the same place their whole lives. Alvar finds triumph in the torment and deliverance in the agony. . . . Pain, of course, never needs an invitation, but welcoming it anyway can maybe teach us something great about ourselves—as great as the stories in this impressive debut.” —NPR.org “Smart and compelling. . . . One of Alvar’s greatest strengths as a writer is the sense of completeness she brings to her short fiction. We know everything we need to know about the world she creates in each story. Because these are long stories, Alvar never minimizes her characters or their experiences. The writing throughout the collection is meticulous and beautiful. Without a doubt, these are excellent stories. . . . Alvar has a keen eye for writing the immigrant experience, and for tackling issues of socioeconomic difference with grace and nuance.” —Roxanne Gay, B&N Review“Alvar writes in subtle, descriptive language about Filipino characters, their jobs, and the places they live . . . setting the reader up for jarring plot twists and shattering surprises that leave us questioning everything she’s previously written about her characters. These are rich, meaty, fulfilling stories in which everyone’s hiding something—from extramarital affairs to murder. . . . Alvar brings to light the individual experience, giving a human face to struggles large and small. Despite the darkness, Alvar’s prose satisfies. It’s the author’s narrative ability—her power to surprise and weave thoughtful, intricate stories—that keeps you reading. Her writing both memorializes and celebrates the lives of anyone who has ever suffered—that is to say, of us all.” —The Rumpus “Summer’s standout debut is Mia Alvar’s peripatetic story collection, In the Country, which captures a global village of voices—a blue-eyed fashion model in Manila; a nanny in gilded Bahrain—with a ventriloquist’s ease.” —Vogue.com, “Summer’s Best Beach Reads”“Alvar’s openings are so skillful that you can’t help wanting to know what comes next. . . . You want to know who these people are, telling you their stories in seductive first-person voices. . . . Alvar’s stories feel as richly imagined as any novel; like Alice Munro, she can convey an entire life in only a few pages, and she also sees the deep connections between people of difference classes and backgrounds. I can’t wait to see what she does next.” —Laurie Muchnick, Kirkus “In the Country consists of nine stories, all told from the perspectives of men and women in the Filipino diaspora. Emigration and escape from a place, a secret, or reality itself is a common theme. . . . Raveling around the world, what Alvar’s stories have in common is the boldness and sincerity of heart that lie in the center of all of them.” —Nylon, “Summer Reading Guide”“Stunning. . . . each story feels as rich, as deep, and as crafted as a novel. Equally impressive is the confident fluidity with which Alvar moves from Manila to Bahrain to Tokyo, from 1971 to 1986 to the 21st century. . . . Throughout Alvar’s stories, the language is as elegant as it is durable, while the lines of class, race, gender, and history are both blurred and crystallized.” —Publishers Weekly (starred) “In the Country is filled with graceful, carefully crafted stories—each one a world unto itself. I was so happy to see this collection, as I’ve been a fan of Mia Alvar’s from the start.” —Nathan Englander, author of What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank“Mia Alvar’s In the Country is a moving collection of stories about the men and women uprooted by the Filipino diaspora. Spanning multiple countries and time periods, Alvar’s illuminating, heartbreaking stories reveal just how universal loss and displacement can be.” —BuzzFeed“Mia Alvar's graceful and gutsy stories are rich with an all-too-rare quality in fiction: a keen sense of the wider world and how the searching, indelible characters that populate this collection fit within it. In the Country is a spectacular debut from a vital new talent.” —Laura van den Berg, author of The Isle of Youth and Find Me “So assured and so wise, these stories feel like classics already. Mia Alvar maps the inner lives of her characters as precisely and as beautifully as she does the disparate landscapes where these complicated lives unfold.” —Karen Thompson Walker, author of The Age of Miracles “With a lyrical grace similar to the stories [of] Jhumpa Lahiri and a psychological acuity we find in Yoko Ogawa’s novellas, here is a talented new voice named Mia Alvar. The stories she’s written are the kind that can make a difference, the kind that can hold a fist up to your heart without letting go of their hold on you: the kind with a light inside of them, whispering all the while, ‘This is life. This is my heart and mind in the world.’ An extremely promising debut.” —Mario Alberto Zambrano, author of Loteria “A superb debut collection that reads like the work of a seasoned writer. Mia Alvar illuminates the lives of her characters with such penetrating insight, wisdom, and compassion that it’s impossible not to experience their struggles and aspirations as your own. Even as it satisfies, In the Country leaves the reader hungry for more from this gifted, sensitive storyteller.” —Sigrid Nunez, author of The Last of Her Kind “In the Country is an absolutely beautiful book—generous and heartbreaking, empathetic and insightful. Mia Alvar is an incredible storyteller, patient, assured and in utter control—every one of the endings in this gorgeous debut knocked me flat. A truly extraordinary collection of stories—I loved it.” —Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans “It’s hard to believe that In the Country is Mia Alvar’s debut: her diamond prose sparkles so brightly and cuts so deeply. Each marvelous story shows us a facet of the Philippines at a distance—through the eyes of expats in Bahrain and Saudi, immigrants abroad and returning, and casual visitors—but what they illuminate most clearly is the distance between home and heart, and how our ties to the past can be simultaneously tenuous and tenacious.” —Celeste Ng, author of Everything I Never Told You“Few writers, even the most seasoned, can produce collections of evenly superb stories. Mia Alvar triumphs on her first try. . . . Both intrepid readers and armchair tourists eager to explore debut narratives that straddle multiple countries and cultures—à la Violet Kupersmith’s The Frangipani Hotel or Rajesh Parameswaran’s I Am an Executioner—will be opulently rewarded here.” —Library Journal (starred review) “Stunning. . . . A triumphant, singular collection deserving of every accolade. . . . In this dazzling debut collection, Filipino students, teachers, activists, maids, and chauffeurs negotiate their lives under martial law at home and seek fortune abroad in the Middle East and New York. . . . Each of these nine revelatory stories delivers characters who are equal parts endearing and disturbing. . . . [Alvar’s] electric prose probes the tension between social classes.” —Kirkus (starred)“Alvar delves into the multifaceted immigrant experience, one compassionately drawn perspective at a time.” —Huffington Post, “18 Brilliant Books You Won't Want To Miss This Summer”“Through stories set all over the globe, newcomer Mia Alvar imagines the lives of the Filipino diaspora. Her sprawling collection digs into the Philippines’ complicated history during the ’70s and ’80s.” —Refinery29, “The Ultimate Guide to Summer Reading”“In a strong debut, Alvar brings to life a range of Filipino experiences that resonate both with the power of a unique identity and the universal wisdom of human experience.” —Huffington Post“A rich and varied collection. . . . [Alvar] capture[s] that peculiar blend of excitement and pain that comes with uprooting oneself from a specific place or idea. . . . A vivid debut that deserves to catch the interest of prize committees.” —Electric Literature “Thought-provoking, witty, heartbreaking and, occasionally, political. It’s a defiantly literary book, carefully written.” —The National (Abu Dhabi)“Complex and irresistibly fascinating. . . . Not a single word is misplaced in these narratives, which are masterpieces of immersive classical storytelling, even as they surprise you and evade expectations. Whether you’re knowledgeable about the history of the Philippines or not, In the Country will give you a deep insight into the characters it follows, both imagined and taken from reality.” —“5 Great Books To Read In July,” BuzzFeed “In the Country is like no book of stories I’ve ever read and I loved it deeply. There is not a single weak spot in this collection. Each story has characters with complex inner lives and at least one serious moral dilemma. . . . I loved it more than I loved many, many novels and I still can’t believe a collection of stories affected me so strongly. Alvar is an astounding writer.” —Jessica Woodbury, “The Best Books of 2015 So Far,” BookRiot “[Alvar’s] prose is gorgeous and propulsive, always in forward motion as if the story cannot be rooted too long in a single place. In Mia’s work, as in her life, it seems, movement is only natural.” —Matt Ortile, Buzzfeed
About the Author MIA ALVAR was born in Manila and grew up in Bahrain and New York City. Her work has appeared in One Story, The Missouri Review, FiveChapters, The Cincinnati Review, and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Yaddo, and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. A graduate of Harvard College and Columbia University, she lives in New York City.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful. Memorable stories about the Philippines and Filipinos By R. M. Peterson Usually I end up forgetting short stories much more quickly than I do novels. I will remember that a given book of short stories was special, or good, or only so-so, but typically I retain little about the individual stories themselves for longer than a few months. I doubt that will be the case with IN THE COUNTRY. It is a powerful collection of nine stories (or, perhaps, eight stories and one novella), and I suspect that I will remember four or five of them years from now.The "country" of the title is the Philippines, and all of the stories concern Filipinos, either in their native land or abroad -- Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, or America -- or shuttling back and forth between home and abroad. The principal characters, with one or two exceptions, do not have an easy life or a particularly happy one. They tell themselves stories to make reality a little more bearable . . . until new developments necessitate changes in those stories. By and large, women have a much harder row to hoe than do men, and for the most part they shoulder their burdens and sorrows stoically. Several of the stories take place in the toxic milieu brought about by the corrupt and repressive regime of Ferdinand Marcos (although he is not named, as if to do so were taboo).Here are thumbnail outlines of my four favorite stories: A Filipino ex-pat (or balikbayan), now working as a pharmacist in a New York City hospital, returns to Manila for his father's final days and smuggles in a new pain-relief drug, not out of love for his father but rather to make his mother's role of caretaker and nurse easier. Sally Riva, an ex-pat in Bahrain, works with "special needs" children; she takes on Aroush, a severely impaired five-year-old girl and daughter of a rich Lebanese woman who cannot admit to the reality of Aroush's disability within her own circle of high Arab society. For nineteen years Esmerelda worked as a maid in New York City, much of that time as an illegal immigrant; then she got a regular and (for her) relatively cushy job cleaning offices in one of the World Trade Center towers, where she developed a close friendship with a decent, sympathetic older man whose wife was dying, until (of course) 9/11 intervened. "Old girl" is what a Filipino politician and former senator forced into exile calls his wife, who manages the transplanted family of eight in Boston and integrates them into "Manilachusetts" while he teaches at Harvard and MIT and gallivants off on various quixotic missions, such as running the Boston Marathon at age 51 and after triple bypass surgery.These are humane stories that empathize with the plight of the underdog, who usually is a woman. They no doubt are more memorable, at least for me, because they pertain to the Philippines, which is new and unfamiliar to me as the subject of serious fiction. Author Mia Alvar -- born in Manila and raised in Bahrain and New York City -- knows her subject. I don't know how old she is (this is her first book), but she writes with the wisdom and historical knowledge of someone older than she surely is. There are a few rough edges here and there, but overall IN THE COUNTRY is a wonderful book.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Insightful, Dramatic, Surprising, Suspense-filled Stories By Erika Borsos Mia Alvar has written realistic, in depth, thought provoking sensitive and eye opening short stores that provide the reader insights into multiple levels of society, usually of expatriates from the Philippines who emigrated or work abroad, to earn a better living. The stories describe their everyday lives, their joys, sorrows, aspirations, struggles, and successes. The stories examine, explore, and reveal many facets of human nature with precise descriptions and prose. Often there is a twist, turn or revelation that comes out of the blue giving completion or finality to a story. Often it leaves the reader in a state of astonishment but fully satisfied. These are cultural stories therefore the reader is given a glimpse into the values, beliefs, and minds of the people from many walks of life from the Philippines.The following are some outstanding examples of the insightful and excellent stories written by Mia Alvar. "Kontrabida" is a story about a young man, a pharmacist who emigrated to the United States, lives in New York but visits his parents in a suburb on the outskirts of Manila where he grew up. His father is very ill and in pain. The young man smuggles pain relieving narcotic drugs, the newest and latest used in the United States which are unavailable in his homeland. He risks his career for the sake of helping his family. After his father dies, he learns a very dark secret about his mother whom he held in very high regard and loved very much. "Miracle Worker" takes place in Bahrain. A young special education teacher lives in this country with her engineering husband who is helping to develop the oil industry. The young teacher is hired by a very wealthy to teach their severely physically and emotionally handicapped daughter. Sally accepts this high paying job but soon realizes the mother's expecations for her daughter are very unrealistic. Sally faces an ethical dilemma to dispel the mother's illusions or continue to lead her on and receive the high compensation given for the teaching job. Mrs. Mansour makes trips to London and showers Sally with unexpected bonus gifts. Sally describes breakthroughs in Anoush's development which she shares with Mrs. Mansour. Sally begins to understand the strong bond between mother and daughter and the cultural discrimination which the mother faces having given birth to a handicapped, a "less than normal", "less than perfect" baby and the difficulties she faces raising this child in their culture. Sally makes a difficult decision.There are many complex stories, filled with drama and intensity which makes this a very interesting and fascinating book. The author is a talented writer. It is hard to believe this book is a debut novel. She possesses great writing skills, has a keen understanding of human nature and conveys deep insights into the motivations and feelings behind the behavior of her characters all of which make her stories shine. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Hard to believe it's a debut! By Jill I. Shtulman I went into this short story collection with few expectations. The draw for me was that this collection was purported to be about character-driven stories focusing on Filipinas from every walk of life. During the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of interacting with a number of Filipinas and wanted to know more about the culture.Much to my delight, In the Country is a confidently written – scratch that, at times, stunningly written – debut collection with a writer who is primed to take her place with some of my favorites: Jhumpa Lahiri, Tobias Wolff, Francesca Marciano, Claire Vaye Watkins, and Jean Thompson (Alice Munro, of course, is in a class by herself.)There is almost an O. Henry twist in some of the stories. Most of them focus on the masks we wear, the impenetrability of who we really are – and in that, these vignettes are universal. Elegantly, Mia Alvar explores her Filipina protagonists from all angles – from rich to poor, healthy to disabled, working class to politicians, from expats living in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. to those who remained “in the country.”In “The Miracle Worker”, for example, Sally is a special-education teacher who is asked to perform a miracle with her young student, a severely disabled young daughter of a wealthy mother who believes she can buy a new reality. The insights into her characters took my breath away. In another, “The Kontrabida”, a pharmacist from the east coast goes home to the Philippines with stolen sedatives to help his mother deal with a tyrannical dying father. In the process, he learns something he never suspected about his mother. In “A Contract Overseas”, a scholarship college student who worships her philandering older brother who works in Saudi Arabia creates versions of his life to keep him alive and safe. And in “The Virgin of Monte Ramon”, a disabled and shunned teenage boy learns this lesson: “Adults I had relied on to explain the world and my life for me – especially when children made that world and life so hostile – had kept the truth from me, then wrecked the fantasy that had replaced it.”These are just a few of the gems in store for readers. What is illuminated the most is how we often hide behind our stories and fantasies to survive…how reality often shifts from what we believe…how we search for a version of our authentic selves. It’s hard to believe this is Mia Alvar’s first book.
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