MIDNIGHT  SUNSHINE

A few months ago Peralta Press was kind enough to send my a complementary edition of the book "Midnight Sunshine," by Kelvin L. Reed.  My general rule is to never read a book I buy (those are destined to sit on a shelf collecting dust, awaiting rediscovery by some future generation) and to always read a book I am loaned or given.  I do not encourage this kind of conduct by the way, especially since I sell books myself! But the fact is that Peralta's gift was a kind gesture I could not refuse, all the more so because the book is about a Fil-West couple's relationship, a subject that's obviously near and dear to my heart. 

The main character in the story is Nathan Patterson, a smart, industrious, and utterly likeable American gentleman who meets his Filipina fiancée, Marife, through a correspondence service.  Chronologically, the book starts well into the engagement, with Marife still in the Philippines, and concludes shortly after the marriage itself between she and Nathan.

The book isn't what I'd call "gripping", but obviously Mr. Reed was not intent on writing a thriller.  This is a book about the complexities of Fil-West relationships, and Mr. Reed did an admirable job in that regard.  Incidentally, it would be wrong for anyone to think that Midnight Sunshine's instructiveness is inhibited by the book's status as "fiction".  Quite to the contrary.  Though the characters are not real, the situations in which they find themselves are strikingly familiar -  for example, the reaction of Nathan's friends and family after he reveals his intent to marry a Filipina whom he met through a correspondence service.  Also, Marife's hopes and fears about her new life in America, which she expresses in her letters to Nathan, reflect the actual sentiments of most Filipinas in her situation.  The story also addresses those little mistruths, or hidden truths, that so often afflict Fil-West relationships. 

Of note, this is perhaps the only book that focuses on how the African-American community might react to such a relationship, since the lead character is himself African-American.  I don't want to stress that point too much, because the author himself doesn't really linger on it, but it does bear mentioning.  Still, the fact is that this really is a book anyone of any ethnicity can enjoy - so long as they have an interest in Fil-West relationships, of course.  The author himself, by the way, is African-American and he does in fact have a Filipina wife, so he writes from experience.

After I'd finished reading the book, I sent the publisher a few questions which I thought might be valuable in this review.