Insurrecto

Insurrecto is an ambitious narrative within a narrative within a narrative; a beautiful feat of storytelling and a thoughtful work of historiography. It follows two women, an American filmmaker and a Filipina translator on their quest to make a movie about the Balangiga incident of 1901, “a blip in the Philippine-American War (which is a blip in the Spanish-American War, which is a blip in latter-day outbreaks of imperial hysteria in Southeat Asian wars, which are a blip in the infinite spiral of human aggression in the livid days of this dying planet, and so on).” 

I could not stop underlining this gorgeous book!! Apostol’s sentences are incisive, hilarious, and precisely constructed. I loved Insurrecto so much, for its palimpsest of kaleidoscoping stories (and for allowing me to use my favorite word in this review), for its exploration of the gaps within historical narratives, and for Apostol’s creative and ambitious metanarratives that worked to capture the multiplicity of experiences on all sides of historical conflicts. The novel was constantly drawing attention to the facture of its narrative, of all narrative, questioning what we sacrifice to the conventions of plot and toying with the reader’s expectations. It was also so funny! 

If you liked the intertextual layering of meaning in Lost Children Archive, or the exploration of representations of history in The Shadow King, definitely pick this one up! It’s one of the best books I’ve read in the last few years.