Love Can't Feed You

May 1, 2024

Born in the Philippines of Chinese and Filipino heritage, Sy is the co-artistic director of the International Minor Feelings Trading Company. She debuts with a coming-of-age novel about a woman who immigrates from the Philippines to the U.S. and navigates between family expectations and personal desire. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2024 Library Journal

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2024

DEBUT Adding to the growing ranks of diasporic Filipino literature is this first novel from playwright Sy, who was born in the Philippines and lives in Brooklyn. When 17-year-old Queenie, her 10-year-old brother, and their Chinese father travel from Manila to New York to reunite with their Filipino mother after five years, it doesn't take long for Queenie see that life in the U.S. isn't exactly how she imagined it. Queenie's dreams of starting a new life and attending college are waylaid when her apathetic and materialistic mother informs her that first she needs to work to help support her family. With the support of her sole friend, Yan, whom she met at the library, Queenie's journey of survival and self-discovery is a harrowing one as her immediate family unit unravels before her eyes. Strong characterizations and heartfelt emotions are well depicted in this engrossing coming-of-age story, full of surprising narratives. VERDICT Those who enjoyed Jean Kwok's Girl in Translation and Suzy Yang's White Ivy will find much to appreciate from this new voice, and Sy leaves plenty of room for a sequel.--Shirley Quan

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 5, 2024
A Filipino family forges a new life and uneasy reunion in Sy’s astonishing debut. Queenie, the 17-year-old narrator, arrives in New York City from the Philippines with her father to live with her mother, Mel, a nurse who came to the country five years earlier. The bookish and observant Queenie is quickly disenchanted by America: their Brooklyn building is grimy and graffiti-ridden, and she barely recognizes Mel, who was once earthy and nurturing and now wears heavy makeup and prizes money above all else. To make matters worse, Queenie’s dream of attending college is waylaid when Mel informs her she must work as a nurse’s aide for Ms. Flor, the wealthy Filipina American woman who paid for Mel’s nursing education. Silence casts a pall over the home (“words of endearment fester in our throats and render us incapable of saying anything”) as her father struggles with Mel’s closely guarded independence and her role as the breadwinner while he toils as a part-time janitor. The plot ramps up after Mel encourages Queenie to consider a romance with Ms. Flor’s grandson and she loses her virginity to him. Sy skillfully lays bare Queenie’s wide-ranging emotions, from rage to sadness, and reveals the nuances of the family members’ relationships. Rich details of Filipino culture such as folk stories and religious iconography are interwoven with gritty depictions of the compromises made by the immigrant characters, some of whom work in seedy massage parlors. It’s a knockout. Agent: Amanda Orozco, Transatlantic Literary.

August 15, 2024
The American dream proves to be elusive for one Filipino Chinese immigrant family in this debut novel. After a turbulent flight from the Philippines, 17-year-old Queenie, her 10-year-old brother, Junior, and their elderly Chinese father land at JFK International Airport to be reunited with Ma, who has been working as a nurse in New York for the past five years. Queenie immediately sees a change in her 37-year-old Filipina mother. "She looks sleek and expensive. Like a woman we see on television." The family's new home, a small one-bedroom apartment in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, is a letdown. "No white people in sight. This was not what we expected." Also unexpected is Ma's command that Papa and Queenie, who had her heart set on going to college, find work immediately to help Ma pay back the loan that brought the family to the U.S. For Queenie, that means becoming a temporary caregiver for an old woman. As tension between their parents escalates, Junior retreats to his video games and Queenie finds solace with her friend Yan. The author excels at portraying the domestic and cultural stresses that eventually fracture this immigrant family; part 1 is the novel's strongest section. Unfortunately, the rest of the book is weakened by a meandering narrative that ends abruptly with no resolution. Like her frustratingly passive protagonist, who makes questionable choices for no discernible reason, Sy doesn't know where she wants her novel to go. She introduces potentially dramatic conflicts--for example, a $500 tip Queenie earns from caregiving is stolen by a family member--and then fails to develop them. There's a very good novel struggling to emerge from this one.

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September 1, 2024
When teenage Queenie flies with her brother and father from the Philippines to New York City, she's expecting a happy reunion with her mother, who's been absent for years working as a nurse so she can bring her family to America. Time has chiseled away at each person's identities, but Mom, especially, has changed, becoming too American. Worse, the tensions in Queenie's parents' marriage flare up. "They are miserable together and miserable separately. The catalyst is me. Always me." With an increasingly violent and absent father and a mother too busy reshaping her own life, Queenie depends on the kindness of strangers and friends as she flits from one experience to another, experimenting with new avatars of herself. Caretaker for the elderly and sex worker are just a couple of the gigs she tries. Queenie's journey, while touching, feels episodic and incompletely fleshed out; the family dynamics are more compelling. Sy's first novel confirms that the American Dream, for many, is a myth that remains out of reach.

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