Amazing Grace by Tara FT Sering

Grace is a 20-something Chinese-Filipina who lives in Manila. She teaches pre-school, has a more-or-less traditional Chinese-Fil family, and, finally, a fiancé. Except that now, she's wondering about the fiancé. Her "dream" man, not to mention the man her parents approve of, tells her, soon after he's proposed, that he's moving to Singapore for a few months. Supposedly, it's to secure their future.

Now, a fiancé leaving right after his proposal and sounding excited by it does not seem to bode well for the relationship. Especially when he starts talking a lot about another woman. So Grace, not to be hoodwinked out of her future marital bliss, decides to go to Singapore, surprise her man, and lay claim to him.

And therein begins Grace's true search for herself. In the process, Grace traipses after her fiancé across three countries. What happens in the end? Something I am happy about. And that's all you'll get from me, at this point.

Tara Sering's Asian chic-lit novel, Amazing Grace, is the first chic-lit I have read in over a year. I think I lost the taste after reading more or less the same plot. Happily, however, I was pleasantly surprised by this book.

The story starts out commonly enough. Apart from that, though, many things recommended it to me. First, the familiarity of the setting and the family circumstances. I'm not Chinese-Filipina, but I am Filipina. And Grace's family brings to mind mine. No, she does not have a Tiger Mother. (Sorry, just had to bring that out there.) But her family is close and is intently interested in her relationships. Aside from that, Grace works as a pre-school teacher, not exactly out of a love for the profession. It was just something she could do after graduation. Now, I used to be a teacher, for the love of the profession. But I know a lot of people like Grace, who do it initially because it was a job, then grow to love it afterwards.

A second thing that recommended it to me was the small cast of funny characters. I eventually liked Grace's character, when she finally lays claim to herself. But, to be honest, I found Grace's sister, Lena, and Lena's friend, Han, more interesting. They were women who broke away from the traditional norm, though not completely. They were portrayed as privileged women, true, but not immune from life. I would've been interested to hear their stories, too.

Finally, I liked that the globe-tripping happened near my part of the globe: Southeast Asia. Much as I enjoy reading about trips to Europe and the North Americas, I do love being immersed in the sights, sounds, and tastes of other Asian cultures.

One other interesting thing about Sering's book is that she wrote it in the second person. Now, I respect this conceit, but I admit I didn't exactly take to it. I like the second person perspective, but not when I cannot entirely relate to the character. Grace and I, I feel, have different personalities. Hence, when I read the "you" in the narrative, I disliked being imposed upon. Unfortunately, I couldn't distance myself enough from that "you" to ignore the imposition.

Nevertheless, I'm glad to say that my return foray to chic lit has ultimately been enjoyable. Amazing Grace is a fun book from Palanca Award and Manila Critics Circle National Book Award for YA winner Tara Sering. Good enough to make me very curious about the other books in the Asian chick lit series, Mrs. Marriage and Undercover Tai Tai. I think it's the Asian flavor that might finally make me give in to chick lit again.

I'd like to thank Anvil Publishing for this copy. It was one of a bunch of complimentary books offered to my book club, Flips Flipping Pages.