Call centre agents and migrant workers, soldiers and charity workers,
fresh university graduates and street children -- they all navigate the
myriad of avenues in which their desires are entangled within the
Philippines' harsh and unforgiving conditions of migration and labour in
Rogelio Braga's collection of stories, Is There Rush Hour in A Third
World Country? Now translated by Kristine Ong Muslim into English, the
collection offers a glimpse of the lives of ordinary Filipinos, told
amidst coup d'états, active conflict areas, late-night convenience
stores rendezvous, and bumper-to-bumper Manila traffic, given a
considered dignity and nuance by one of the Philippines' celebrated
playwrights.
For fans of: Irenosen Okojie, Salman Rushdie, Minoli Salgado