Displaced (2009) by Aneka Rodriguez

July 20, 2009: Aneka and I met at Cello’s in Katipunan so that she could give me a copy of her then newly-released young adult novel-in-verse, Displaced, co-published by Adarna House and Filipinas Heritage Library. The 152-page book contains illustrations by Mitzi Villavecer, who also did the cover design.

I was glad that I saw how the novel evolved from the manuscript we critiqued in the 6th Barlaya Writing for Young Adults Workshop in 2007, where I sat in the panel with Heidi Abad, Astrid Tobias and Zarah Gagatiga, up to its pre-printing form in more than a year of intermittent conversations over coffee that Aneka and I had discussing her revisions of the novel, the state of Philippine YA literature, and the condition of artistic production in general.

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Displaced is the story of Gabriella–Elay to her family & Gabby to her friends–and the events that happened during her last year in high school. Her experience of displacement is triggered by the return of her mom from working abroad for four years, on the one hand, and the introduction of Justin in her life, which challenged her long-term friendship with Trixie, on the other. All these amidst the challenges of academics, especially her difficulties with Physics. Gabriella tried to make sense of learning and life with her interest in music; chapter titles are consequently based on physics concepts and/or musical terms and titles of U2 songs.

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The novel, while concerning itself with issues of the young (crush, friendship, school life), primarily deals with a larger issue of how family relationships are disrupted by the continued movement of Filipino workers outside the Philippines. The novel is touching without necessarily falling into the trap of the romantic. It does not involve death, premarital sex, addiction, sickness, or any other issues that are by themselves disturbing. Displaced deals with an ordinary life that has currency, the kind that many young girls of Gabriella’s age living in the city experience at present, and the novel’s charm rests in its simplicity of concerns and rendering, coupled with the complexity of truths it tries to confront.