#soledad soliman

[isobelleposts]

A Unique Perspective into the Marcos Regime from Gina Apostol

Cover of 'Gun Dealer's Daughter' by Gina Apostol

Gun Dealer’s Daughter by Gina Apostol is one of the first Filipino novels I’ve read and has pushed me to further explore and support local writers. As someone who is young and has never witnessed the Marcos regime with my own eyes or lived through those dreadful times—and thankfully so—getting an unusual perspective of the era through the deranged mind of Soledad Soliman immediately hooked me to purchase the book.

Ferdinand Marcos Sr. alongside his wife, Imelda Marcos

THE RICH

Soledad Soliman, as regarded through the book’s title, is a gun dealer’s daughter with close ties to the dictator and easy access to privilege and wealth. What struck me most aside from the fractured consciousness of the main character, which author Gina Apostol puts us through to witness this story, was the privilege that was often pointed out and openly stated for the readers to interpret.

From the spoils of those bloody times, my parents purchased this gilded womb.

Page 45 of ‘Gun Dealer’s Daughter’

Although Sol was only a baby when the bloody times of the Martial Law first broke out, this line alone proves the sheer privilege she and her family has—able to escape and avoid these crimes while others less privileged were given no other choice than to live under the unjust ruling of the dictator, with some even left to be wrongfully arrested and killed.

“We’ll always have our wealth, we will always have our names. There is something suspicious, dishonest, in playacting revolt. We’re cockroaches. We’ll outlast even our crimes.”

Page 139 of ‘Gun Dealer’s Daughter’

Even Sol herself acknowledges this privilege during a talk with Jed in one of the book’s pages.

Victims of the Martial Law

THE TORTURED

This book is unfortunately slow-paced, and although I adore Gina Apostol’s efforts and talent to write so precisely in the blurred mind of the main character, it took me a while to get to a chapter that would push me to read what else may follow. The plot of the book, I would say, arrives near the end wherein Sol’s vision of her past gradually becomes clearer and concise.

It was the severed head of a child. — Her skirt a clump over her waist. A private army aimed at her parts.

Page 193 of ‘Gun Dealer’s Daughter’

It was at this point that the story started taking up its pace as my stomach lurched in disgust and fright over the images that popped into my head with the author’s description of these tortures that similarly took place in real life not so long ago, to innocent civilians and activists fighting for the country’s freedom.

“That corner there, Sol. See that line, that shadow?” Edwin said. I nodded, looking. “That’s a gun, an automatic.”

Page 194 of ‘Gun Dealer’s Daughter’

It was disappointing, that I, along with Sol, only then was struck with the seriousness of her father’s business and her close association with these horrid crimes. To think that she had been so closely linked with giving way for these tortures to take place was something only the most cruel people could ignore.

THE ENDING

Gina Apostol’s writing is one of the most unique ones I’ve encountered and the structure of this story was interesting enough to keep me reading. Yet despite this, it felt as though the story from the very beginning was leading up to a major revelation that never met or come close to exceeding my expectations.

“Why, the Colonel had to go, of course,” my mother exclaimed. “One way or the other, Gianni said, he had to go. He was not following the plan.”

Page 272 of Gun Dealer’s Daughter

The book shares an interesting view into the Marcos regime through the eyes of the privileged youth, and though it may not be the most educational book there is to learn about our sadly almost-forgotten and widely disregarded history based on recent election results, it is a well-written story that has you applauding the author for her clear execution.