"An original, raw, and wild novel that has held its power and demands to be read." --Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer Finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and Winner of the American Book Award A classic and influential story--often considered "the quintessential Filipino American novel" (The Nation)--centered on the cultural and political stakes of life in Marcos-era PhilippinesWelcome to Manila in the turbulent period of the Philippines' late dictator. It is a world in which American pop culture and local Filipino tradition mix flamboyantly, and gossip, storytelling, and extravagant behavior thrive. A wildly disparate group of characters--including movie stars and waiters, a young junkie and the richest man in the Philippines--becomes ensnared in a spiral of events culminating in a beauty pageant, a film festival, and an assassination. At the center of this maelstrom is Rio, a feisty schoolgirl who will grow up to live in America and look back with longing on the land of her youth.