I didn't actually read the whole unabridged edition but only the concise edition for high school students of our Filipino subject. It's actually interesting, I may return reading it again. ( )

MBB-1

Empece a leer el libro sin esperar demasiado. Sabia que era de lectura obligada en Filipinas, pero pensaba que era por su valor historico, no literario.

Estaba equivocado, el libro es magnifico en todos los sentidos.
Es una critica muy muy dura a la sociedad y en especial al poder clerical de Filipinas en sus ultimos años antes de obtener la independencia de España.

Como un ejemplo, aqui unas analogias que se marca unos de los personajes del libro, absolutamente perfectas:

"Así terminará usted, planta trasplantada de Europa á este suelo pedregoso, si no busca apoyo y se empequeñece. Usted está en malas condiciones, solo, elevado: el terreno vacila, el cielo anuncia tempestad y la copa de los árboles de su familia se ha probado que atrae el rayo. No es valor, sino temeridad combatir solo contra todo lo existente; nadie tacha al piloto que se acoge á un puerto á la primera ráfaga de tormenta. Bajarse cuando pasa la bala no es cobardía; lo malo es desafiarla para caer y no volverse á levantar."

( )

Rizal's legendary (in the Philipines) love story and revolutionary precursor of his eventual fate.
Read Aug 2005 ( )

"Now I see the horrible cancer gnawing at this society, rotting its flesh, almost begging for a violent extirpation", 20 August 2015

This review is from: Noli Me Tángere (Paperback)
This is the Philippines' epic novel, which exposes the corruption of the Spanish colonists - specifically the Catholic church - and which led to its author being shot by firing squad aged just thirty-five,

OK, that's the background. I wasn't sure what to expect from Philippino literature, but it's written very much in the mode of European Victorian classics (although obviously one takes in the Asian background: a fete champetre for the well to do young people ends in a crocodile being caught; there's cockfighting, big Catholic parades ...).
The story hinges on Ibarra, a middle-class young man, just returned from Spain, to find his beloved father has been jailed and is now dead. He intends to marry his lovely fiancee Maria-Clara, and build a school for the locals.
But we soon become aware of the cruel local friars, whether it's pallid Father Salvi casting lecherous looks at Maria, or the evil Father Damaso.
Although the good characters are a little one-dimensional, Rizal also conjures up some great comic personalities: Sister Rufa boasting about the hundreds of 'plenary indulgences' she has accumulated and keeps note of in an account book; Dona Victorina who affects a lisp to sound 'Andalusian' (and hence better class.)
I have to say this wasn't the greatest book I've ever read. More than once I kind of lost the thread (and admit to having to resort to the Wikipedia summary of the novel to check if two characters had died or not.) I also found a couple of sermons/ harangues on the state of the nation, went on a bit. But it's well written and carried a vital political message at the time.
*3.5 out of 5 ( )