Dark Blue Suit and Other Stories
This series of tightly knit tales, which reads remarkably like a novel, is rooted firmly in the Filipino community of Seattle. The stories introduce readers to the community's beginnings in the 1920s and 1930s and traces its struggles through the present. Bacho's tales are connected by the narration of Buddy, the American-born son of a Filipino who labored in asparagus fields and Alaskan canneries. Although Buddy is not immune to the hardships of migrant poverty, prejudice, and disease, he is safeguarded because of his strong ties to the "Community." As Buddy's father, Vince, succinctly says: "Just remember, Buddy, you got family, you got friends." This attachment to an extended family and beyond becomes the book's central theme, even as Buddy watches the members of his family age and pass on. Bacho's earlier novel, Cebu (Univ. of Washington, 1991), won the American Book Award of the Before Columbus Foundation. Recommended for both public and academic libraries.?Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of Oregon, EugeneCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.