Ukay-Ukay

Menchu Aquino Sarmiento is one of our finest writers of fiction in the Philippines. The best testimonial I can offer on her behalf is that I teach one of her stories in my class in contemporary Philippine literature, alongside the very best of our writers. Jose Y. Dalisay Jr., PhD Director UP Institute of Creative Writing Menchu Aquino Sarmiento has impressed contemporary Filipino readers with the wide range of themes and narratives she is able to powerfully fictionalize in so clear, real, new and dynamic ways, a quality so important yet so rare in Philippine writing in English today. In her earlier works, most notably, in Daisy Nueve, Ms. Sarmiento surprised ordinary and specialist readers alike as she successfully combined the aesthetic and the political, proving to be excellently capable of dealing with the very core of the sensibility of the Filipino entrenched filthy rich on one hand, and the wanna-be’s on the other—and all the “classes” in between today—in the midst of some of the stark banalities of a few who are rich and the nuanced fortitude of millions who are poor in the complex and contradictory modernizing Philippine society. In the process, she engages in fictional terms, with the whys and wherefores of the facts of Philippine history and historical experience of incessant political and social betrayals. Maria Luisa T. Reyes, PhD Editor-in-chief and founder KRITIKA KULTURA Rare it is for any writer to capture in mere words an unforgiving landscape. Menchu Sarmiento puts her skills to work by painting “The w***e as a Filipino Metaphor,” one of a handful of essays in this volume, with the same surreal wonder as Juan Luna’s works of art. At once fetching and picturesque, the author takes us to a vision-packed excursion made all the more haunting by her honesty. Her social insights break the clichés of our time. Joel Pablo Salud, Author of The Distance of Rhymes & Other Tragedies Menchu Aquino Sarmiento’s narratives derive their strength from the way the author engages the reader to cultivate a youthful sense of self-identity. With each narrative, she does not impose a critical eye prematurely. Instead, Aquino-Sarmiento creates liminal spaces where fragments from the past may co-exist with craft and healing. Aquino-Sarmiento simply avoids the clutter and unfolds her drama in full majesty. Jose Wendell P. Capili, PhD Professor, Asst. Vice President for Public Affairs and Alumni Relations Director, University of the Philippines Readers will always be wishing there were more of Menchu Aquino Sarmiento to read. Bright language, devilish details, dark arcs, crazy characters—every story is an addictive dish, a master performance. Writers, on the other hand, will always be wishing they could write the way she writes—with enviable pluck and a supernatural sense of language. Sarge Lacuesta Author of Flames and Other Stories