Book Review: Wildflowers by Beverly Parayno
#1 Fan Girl - Rachielle's love affair with books and authors
Wildflowers
Beverly Parayno
Philippine American Writers and Artists (PAWA) Press
San Francisco, CA 2023
I first met Beverly Parayno through the Boston Filipino American Book Club. I got involved with the BFAB through Bren Bataclan, whose memoir Fe: A Traumatized Son’s Graphic Memoir I discovered from a lecture by Patty Enrado, author of A Village in the Fields. To my delight, Grace Talusan, writer of The Body Papers, is also a member of BFAB. The Filipino American writing scene seems vast but close-knit like Cheers, where everybody knows your name.
What I love about Wildflowers:
Cover design:
I was struck by the beauty of this book, starting from the smooth cover to the quality of the paper. The font is a good size for my poor eyes. The book sits in my hand, a perfect fit. The cover is illustrated by Peter Selgin, wildflowers against a black background, setting the mood for the book. The image that drew my eye was the California poppy. They are abundant in my garden in summer, needing little care but plenty of sunshine. The pods change from green to brown, and pop seeds into the wind when mature, propagating the cycle into the next year.
Back Cover:
Pleasant layout with summary (missing in many books these days), author bio and photo, and praise by esteemed writers Grace Talusan (The Body Papers), Aileen Cassinetto (Dear Human at the Edge of Time), Lysley Tenorio (Monstress, 2014 One Book One San Diego selection) and Olga Zilberbourg (Like Water and Other Stories). I love the PAWA Press logo, which combines the letters PA and WA in the precolonial Philippine Baybayin script.
Overall Impressions:
Each of the nine short stories in this collection is a seed thrown to the wind. Like this seed, the characters must scrabble to survive in the wilderness of the human heart and oppressive or perplexing circumstances. They are wildflowers that take root and embody fragility in a rugged environment. Despite harsh circumstances, there is a glimmer of sunshine.
Beverly mines the vein of hope in each one, no matter how thin. She does not tie the story in a neat package but leaves the reader to imagine how the characters will bloom.
Who will like this book?
Readers of Danton Remoto’s Riverrun and Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth will probably like this collection of short stories.
“Be a good literary citizen. Stalk your authors. Buy their books. Go to their events. Write a book review. Tell your friends about their books. Ask your library to stock their books on the shelves.”
I can’t remember who said this. Was it Luis Alberto Urrea who wrote The Beautiful North, Zohreh Gharemani whose memoir Sky of Red Poppies evoked her childhood in Iran, or Alan Brennert who described the quarantined leprosy settlement in Molokai? I met the three authors for the 2012 One Book, One San Diego launch. The city selects a book yearly to read as a community.
Since then, I’ve been a serious fan girl, an author-stalker in the best sense of the word. It is easier to do now, with social media. The writers I follow vary in style and topics, but they share one trait - generosity. They engage and respond, and every comment from them thrills me. They encourage, inspire, and even share writing tips.
As a young girl, I never had the opportunity to engage with authors, who seemed so far away. This series is a reflection on the ways that books and writers have enriched my life.
Reading Recommendations:
Wildflowers by Beverly Parayno
I met Beverly and her family at the Northern California Book Awards -- her book was nominated for fiction. Got a signed copy!