Flippers meet F. Sionil Jose

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We finally concluded our Rosales Saga read-along last Saturday over at Solidaridad Book Shop, with no less than the author, National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose.

Armed with a bunch of snacks and stacks of books, we found ourselves holed up in FSJ’s private quarters above the bookshop and spent over three hours talking about his life as a writer and reader, the Rosales books, the bookshop and so much more!

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Reading the Rosales Saga

rosales-copy-660x330(image via Pangasinan.gov.ph)

When my book club, Flips Flipping Pages, held a Rosales Saga readalong last year, I jumped on the chance to acquaint myself with National Artist F. Sionil Jose’s work, because while I’ve read his newspaper articles and even dropped by his book shop once in a blue moon, I had never read any of his novels.

The Rosales Saga is considered F. Sionil Jose’s masterpiece, composed of five books: “Po-on,” “Tree,” “My Brother, My Executioner,” “The Pretenders” and “Mass.” Set in F. Sionil Jose’s hometown of Rosales, Pangasinan, the series revolves around several generations of two families, the peasant Samsons and the wealthy Asperris.

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