Publisher:
Createspace

Publication Date:
03/31/2014

Copyright Date:
N/A

ISBN:
9781497419964

Binding:
Paperback

U.S. SRP:
9.75

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The Little Suicides

By Mike Guest

IR_Star-black
IR Rating:
4.0
As a commentary on western imperialism in the eastern world, THE LITTLE SUICIDES excels.
IR Approved
THE LITTLE SUICIDES is an insightful novel that follows its protagonist through a journey that culminates in an expanded sense of racial privilege and moral ambiguity.

THE LITTLE SUICIDES is an insightful novel that follows its protagonist through a journey that culminates in an expanded sense of racial privilege and moral ambiguity.

Mike Guest’s novel, THE LITTLE SUICIDES, chronicles Canadian photographer Mitch Nevin as he traverses the Asian continent to find his missing best friend. Mark, Mitch’s friend from childhood, leaves his family, career and life in Japan without a trace, stumping his wife and the government bureaucracy he works for. As Mitch sniffs out the trail that Mark left behind, he is forced to not only check his morals, but to accept the political, economic and social circumstances under which residents of the developing world live.

The characters that shape Mitch’s experience in the third-world countries he travels to become the catalyst for his awareness of racial privilege as a large white man from the western world. One such character, a prostitute-turned-businesswoman named Angela, compels him to recognize that his imperialistic notions of moral behavior do not apply to the conditions under which people live here. During their discussion of the prominence of the sex trade in the nearby town of Angeles, “Some girls are tricked,” Mitch posits. “They’re told they’ll work in a canteen. They want to escape but they can’t…you say it’s a better choice than working in the fields. Having only two bad options doesn’t make the lesser of them some kind of virtue!” His words ring of hypocrisy, as during the discussion, he is travelling with a bargirl he picked up in the town. His inner narrative makes clear what he thinks about the sex trade, “I’m supposed to be the good guy liberating her from an unpleasant duty. Poor women tricked into prostitution are not allowed to enjoy their degradation.”

The juxtaposition of white men like Mitch and Filipina women, like Mitch’s companion, Vera, engaging in commercial sex and clinging to their religious ideals delivers a sense of moral irony to Mitch’s journey. Mitch wants to save Vera from her sin and yet indulges in sin with her. Angela points this out, “This cycle of salvation…Westerners always coming to save us. Is every one of you guys Jesus?” Mitch’s Christ complex, while compelling him to save her, doesn’t stop him from thinking about his own role in Vera’s situation, “If this was all so diabolical, why would I be endorsing it with my patronage?” The moral ambiguity inherent in Mitch’s struggle points to the larger context of western morals not translating well in his East Asian surroundings. While formal imperialism in Southeast Asia may be over, the attitudes that Mitch and other tourists bring with them seem to be just as imperialistic as any political colonization. Mitch’s morals are as out of place in The Philippines as he, a very tall, domineering white man, is.

Mitch’s values, transplanted in this harsh new environment, bring to mind the struggle of the Prices in Barbara Kingsolver’s novel The Poisonwood Bible; you can bring your culture with you to foreign lands, but it will not thrive here. Adapt to the land and you will thrive here. And thrive THE LITTLE SUICIDES does.

As a commentary on western imperialism in the eastern world, THE LITTLE SUICIDES excels.

Reviewed by Madeline Shannon for IndieReader

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