In Dirty Kitchen, author Jill Damatac describes her own family history as an undocumented immigrant from the Philippines in the USA, while also describing the colonial history the Philippines has with the USA, while also sharing some mouth watering recipes.
Jill's family history is not easy. Her family moved from Manila to the US in 1983 when jill was nine years old. She grew as an undocumented immigrant in America and with all the troubles that come with that, while her family did everything to become legal US citizens, it seems like the system was against them becoming legal, and they never reached the legal status they strived for. Meanwhile, Jill also struggled with her abusive father, who frequently beat her up badly for no reason at all, this was truly heartbreaking to read, even as the terrible homelessness, sexual abuse and hunger Jill experienced. Jill tells everything very honestly and as it is in this memoir. It is raw and honest and true. And as a reader you truly only get deep respect for her, her determination to succeed as an immigrant, it totally leaves you speachless. After trying so long to become legal citizens without any progress, she decides to leave the USA in 2015 with her British husband who she met in New York, which truly is a new and better chapter for her in her life, and as a reader, I truly wanted Jill to have a happy life after all.
I honestly think this is the very best book that has come out this year. The book is so real and honest, you seldom find a memoir that is so open as this one. The book is moving, sad and beautiful at the same time, and more actual than ever. Many undocumented immigrants are deported as we speak, while trying to become legal US citizens. This book shows how hard undocumented immigrants work to become legal, and the failures of the system and the sad dissapointment that follows, this can go on, as is shown in this book, for years and even decades.
The book also shows the deep colonial and racial elements in society that still take place now; When Jill's mother tried to work at a bank, she was harshly told that, because she was from the Philippines, she only was allowed to work in certain fields, like nursing or cleaning or domestic work. When Jill was in college, teachers didn't believe that she written work herself. My mouth truly fell open at particular moments, as I didn't know some of the racial and colonial things Jill described, so I truly also learned a lot from this memoir, also things why Spam is so popular in Asia (I never heard of the dish Spamsilog, but it sounds good! )
As I said earlier, this is by far the best book of this year by a fantastic author!
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