It is a travelogue, courtroom drama, a series of lectures on the political-social condition and on convoluted minds and temperaments rolled into one. The novel does not bank on sexual undertones but on harsh realities to draw readers’ attention. That Frank would turn to the novel as his genre for truth-telling makes us the better for it.”
PDI editor-in-chief Letty Jimenez Magsanoc pitches in:
“Author Frank Chavez sure gets right to where the dirt is. And he digs up dirt again and again to chronicle the pervasive culture of corruption in all departments of the national and local governments, the corporate world down to the grassroots and the family.
“... This is a monumental reference book for a detailed summary of alleged massive corruption under the present dispensation.
“... Using story-telling tools and Socratic, didactic devices, the narrative is as timely as today’s headlines and as timeless as the values of clean, disciplined, honest government for, by and of the people.”
Other glowing commentaries on the book have been penned by such media stalwarts as PDI columnist Dr. Randy David, Manila Standard/Today columnist Antonio Abaya, the venerable UP Law professor Laureta, and litterateur Lacaba.
Some readers might question the inclusion of travelogue details that appear as a refresher course in servicing the author’s own memory of his enviable jaunts abroad, and have nothing much to do with the often gripping core narrative. This reader sees these sections as breathers that provide a distancing from the litany of indictments against Philippine society and governance, which would otherwise prove so oppressive the way they’re strung together without let-up — all-too-familiar as the cited anomalies may be to all of us.
It’s a quick and easy read, a fast one, a page-turner as it is, revolving around a courtroom drama involving three young men charged with a heinous crime. The wheels of justice, Philippine-style, the way they clank up and groan hither and thither, fueled by either influence or nobility, are the real and nearly palpable central characters.see more: Frank Chavez | CMA-Law.net
