The Woman Who Had Two Navels and Tales of the Tropical Gothic

I feel a certain hostility towards Nick Joaquin for the way he writes. It is so blatantly rule-breaking when he is unbounded by a need for exposition and yet concise when he speaks as if he is newsreel.

This compilation is clear as day an example of the good and bad that ails such an esteemed writer. His prose is wide, but his penchant for run-ons moreso; he writes with conciseness yet flippantly scatters his thoughts on the page where it lands.

Easy enough though is the progression in quality here. His gothic horror writing lingers so well in The Order of Melchizidek or Candido's Apocalypse that the time he spent in Catholic schools has given him the clarity to write with a curiosity. I also understand why The Portrait of the Artist as Filipino is well-regarded: an excellent stage play about the Filipino spirit encapsulated in all its misfortunes and glory.