Kano-nization: More Secrets from the X-Pat Files by Scott Garceau
3 out of 5 stars
A collection of essays on Filipino culture from an American expatriate married to a Filipina, I had high hopes for the humor potential of this book. Alas, although it had its moments, in many places it fell rather flat, with several essays seeming non-sequiturs that had the feel of previous articles, both published and unpublished, being included for the sake of filling out the book. I did enjoy most of them, many eliciting a chuckle, with a few laugh-out-loud moments. Sprinkled throughout the book are examples of the mangling of English grammar taken from his experiences as a columnist for the daily newspaper Philippine Star, but ironically I did catch one grammatical error of his own in one essay. On the whole an amusing book, which hopefully will give my American husband more insight into the Philippines. I will have to wait for his take on it to find out if the sections I find really funny can be appreciated by a non-native or if you have to be Filipino to get the jokes.
posted 4 months ago. ( reply )
