America is Not the Heart is one of those semi-sprawling, multi-generational immigrant epics, this time focused on Filipino immigrants in San Francisco’s East Bay. The book does clock in at less than 450 pages, so it’s really kind of remarkable the degree to which Castillo is able to create a large ensemble that and tell a multi-generational story. The bulk of the story does revolve around Hero de Vera, a woman in her thirties who was once a doctor, but finds herself, after fleeing torture and imprisonment at the hands of the Marcos regime, stuck in a pretty menial situation in America. I did find her to be an incredibly compelling character and the way Castillo slowly unfolds her backstory over the arc of the novel really worked for me. She’s a character with no interest in being likable; she’s bitter, angry, sarcastic and pretty offputting at times, but by the end of the book, I found myself caring deeply for her and really wanting her to have a happy ending. As the end of the book approached, I found myself really on the edge of my seat, praying there would be no more tragedies or suffering for Hero. Her relationship with her young cousin, Roni, a girl dealing with a lot of trauma and physical ailments, ends up being really great. And her tentative friendship-cum-romance with Rosalyn, a family friend, was one of the most compelling love stories I’ve encountered in ages; I ended up deeply invested in Hero and Rosalyn as a pair. The book does lose steam when it focuses on certain other characters, but, like I say, the bulk of the book is focused on Hero and her story, so it never felt overly tedious to get a chapter about another character. I really liked this book overall and I think it’s well worth a read for the character of Hero and the relationships she builds with Roni & Rosalyn alone. 3 ½ stars.
tl;dr – multigenerational epic occasionally loses focus, but boasts some incredibly compelling characters and relationships. 3 ½ stars.