Could I possibly describe this astounding book to you? I'm not sure; Apostol barely allows the reader to understand her two protagonists and what they are writing. They are writing scripts about their heritage, personal history, and also the historic. Consider that Apostol lays out her narrative from page one with a cast of characters, a pages-long table of contents about what's to come. It's cheeky, it's funny—I laughed. She introduces her two characters: Magsalin, a Filipinx writer and translator, and Chiara, the American daughter of a famous 70s filmmaker who disappeared in the Philippines years ago. The two women have come together in Manila to work on a film script, and it seems like they end up writing two different scripts, two different movies about different time periods and different things, but maybe they're the same?

I love this kind of layered, meta-fictional novel that navigates history and tragedy and what is remembered and how. Apostol’s filmmakers are traveling in modern-day Duterte Philippines, while writing about the Marcos-era 70s, and about a massacre in Balangiga during the Philippine-American War in 1901. Does any of this sound familiar to you? Perhaps like me, not very (though after AMERICA IS NOT THE HEART, some was!). I found myself looking up a lot after the novel ended, because it felt like untold history to me. Especially Casiana Nacionales, the 'Geronima of Balangiga'! Just: exclamation point for that historical figure I'd heard nothing about and her role in the book, too.

At one point Apostol writes: "A reader does not need to know everything." 🤯 YES. A wonderful reminder and warning as the reader continues. INSURRECTO is art, this novel is brilliant, and it is not linear or easy to comprehend. ✨You will not know everything✨ But it is enjoyable if you want to learn and feel rewarded. It's a journey I'll likely take again, and one of the best books I’ve read this year.