Hello and happy Saturday. I am 85% sure that the reading slump I was previously dreading is not going to be a concern, and it is mainly because of the last book I finished. I am talking about Forgiving Imelda Marcos by Nathan Go, a novel that I was able to read and review thanks to NetGalley, the publishers and the author.

This was the perfect novel to read after a long list of bad books. I’d describe it as a short, quiet and quick read. Our narrator and main character is writing a series of letters to his estranged son, retelling different events in his life in the hopes of having a connection with said son. Lito, our main character, is dying. He lives in the Philippines, where he used to work as a driver for the Aquino family. His son and his son’s mom traveled to the States years ago and decided to stay there for good.

Like I said, this is a quiet read. No big revelations are made, or at least none that are really surprising. It is a story about an ordinary man with an ordinary life. One might even describe it and him as “mediocre.” If you enjoy reading novels that are more focused on the characters and the language and writing style than the plot itself, then you’ll enjoy this one. You’ll also find it very interesting if you like reading fiction based on real events or real people. I got to learn about the Philippines’ recent political history and got introduced to a reality that I wasn’t aware of before.