A Loving Portrait and a Love Story: A Review of Assembling Alice by Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta

 

Book image from: https://www.penguin.sg/book/assembling-alice/

It's a beautiful retelling of a courageous woman's life, full of little details that capture the era and the staunch nationalism and feminism of the main character.

I relate to it very much because I lost my mother at a very young age and I have been playing the game of "Assembling Ditas" all my life. I understand the curiosity and the frustrations of the author. Left with little physical documentation, one has no recourse but to turn to imagination. The author does so with grace and also unflinching scrutiny when it comes to the pain, tragedy, and humanity of Alice. It is tempting to put the main character on a pedestal, but the author avoids this and doesn't spare us from Alice's self-loathing and deep depression.

When my daughter read the blurb, she asked, "Well, who does she end up with?" I replied, "It's not as simple as that." It isn't, but I can tell you that it *is* a love story. It's a loving reconstruction of a life and it's a woman's love for her country and a just and equal world. It's about the people who loved Alice (including the author) and it's about the people she loved. Go read it.