Ilustrado

306 pp. It begins with a body. One anonymous winter day, the corpse of Crispin Salvador is pulled from the Hudson River. Gone is the controversial giant of Asian literature. And missing is the only manuscript of his final book, an expose of the corrupt roots of the ruling Filipino families, meant to restore his once dazzling reputation. His student, Miguel, is suspicious of the suicide verdict. He investigates: first sifting through the dead man's work for clues, then journeying from New York to Manila, seeking out family, colleagues, and anyone who might hold pieces of the puzzle. But when Miguel assembles the fragments of his mentor's past, this ambitious and rewarding novel expands into far wider contexts political, social, historical, literary. As patterns emerge, the mystery of a death deepens into the greater mysteries of life and the reader makes increasingly significant discoveries of their own, until the startling revelation of the final page. Bristling with comic verve, metafictional playfulness, and an undertone of expatriate nostalgia...an impressive, vibrant mix of Borgesian literary labyrinth and acerbic emigre comedy.