Review of Everything We Never Had

Everything We Never Had Everything We Never Had
by Randy Ribay
High School    Kokila/Penguin    288 pp.
8/24    9780593461419    $18.99
e-book ed.  9780593461433    $10.99

Perspectives in this novel alternate among members of the Maghabol family from four different generations. In 1929, Francisco has recently emigrated from the ­Philippines to Watsonville, California, where he picks produce and eventually becomes a major labor organizer. In 1965, his son, Emil, has grown up without the presence of his constantly traveling father. Emil finds his way out of poverty by committing to academic and professional excellence. In 1983, Emil’s son, Chris, struggles with pressures from his father, who expects him to assimilate and focus on school—but a class project leads Chris to uncover deep and difficult histories of the Philippines, which is met with Emil’s disapproval. And in 2020, Chris’s son Enzo witnesses the effects of generational differences, rifts, and trauma when his grandfather moves in with the family as a precaution at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to exploring complex father-son relationships, Ribay takes the reader on a journey through Filipino American history, from the Manong Generation (young, single men who came to the U.S. in the early twentieth century) to the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes in 2020. A brief historical note and resources are appended.

From the ">September/October 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

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