Dogeaters (Contemporary American Fiction)

€œAs sharp and fast as a street boy€s razor . . . a rich small feast of a book.€€"The New York Times Book Review

Welcome to Manila in the turbulent period of the Philippines€ late dictator. It is a world in which American pop culture and local Filipino tradition mix flamboyantly, and gossip, storytelling, and extravagant behavior thrive.

A wildly disparate group of characters€"from movie stars to waiters, from a young junkie to the richest man in the Philippines€"becomes caught up in a spiral of events culminating in a beauty pageant, a film festival, and an assassination. In the center of this maelstrom is Rio, a feisty schoolgirl who will grow up to live in America and look back with longing on the land of her youth.

€œEntertaining and compelling. . . . At the end, you emerge from its intense, dreamlike world feeling as if you€ve been to the Philippines.€€"The Philadelphia Inquirer

€œHagedorn transcends social strata, gender, culture, and politics in this exuberant, witty, and telling portrait of Philippine society.€€"The San Diego Union