Recommended from Obama’s reading list at some point? Yet another(!!) insane world existing in my own with no awareness, even more shocking because of its temporal closeness— this time, extrajudicial killings of drug addicts, blatantly promoted by the government. Really interesting analysis of the intricacies of language and it’s subtle massaging of the truth—(“linguistic care”) — active/passive voice, transitive/intransitive verbs, the co-option of “salvaged” and “disappeared” to mean “murdered” By only deceiving the extrajudicial killings as "deaths" and "homicides", not murders → the police “reduced a pattern of executions to common crime.” “Some people need killing.” → verb is *need*, not *killing.* This is a bit hard to review on an “enjoyment” scale, because… it was not enjoyable; or on an “interesting” scale, because once I learned about the situation, I didn’t feel compelled to dig deeper (as was the case for, say, *Cobalt Red*). Aside from the unique linguistic comments, the book was uncomfortable, unpleasant, and disturbing. Although it was a revelation to hear what the Philippines has been going through in recent years, the information only reinforced my existing belief that (some fraction between 0 and 1 of?) humanity sucks (versus the “Nordic people aren’t perfect!” insight from The End of Drum-Time). The technical writing/rhetoric was, as they say, “state-of-the-art,” but that is a necessary, not sufficient criterion for my book “goodness” rating. Yet… there’s no doubt that this was a 10/10, five-star, will-actually-remember-in-one-week read [listen]. I think it’s because Evangelista is telling stories that otherwise would be lost to history, and that no one else can or will. The truth (truths?) that are deliberately erased from history (or, in the words of the book, “disappeared”), are valuable as a result of their rarity, and the steep costs of making them known. So… in summary, I’m grateful that these stories were told— that Evangelista told them, at the expense of being able to exist in her homeland— and that I chose to listen. And now, I’m ready to read about a somewhat kinder side of the world. Anyway! This makes me think about what the various dimensions of “That was a good book” are for me. What are the PCs of book ratings? So much math.
