Letters to Montgomery Clift (review)

Letters to Montgomery Clift is the wrenching story of Bong Bong, a young Filipino boy who is sent to live in Los Angeles with a mean aunt after his parents are beaten in his presence and then disappear during the Marcos regime. The abusive aunt disappears too (much later we find out she was nabbed by immigration authorities) and Bong Bong spends the rest of his childhood shuttling from foster home to foster home. He misses his parents intensely and wonders why they've never come for him, and he escapes into a secret world of one-way correspondence with Montgomery Clift. As he reaches adulthood he gets in touch with Amnesty International and discovers that his father died in prison, but his mother is probably still alive in the Philippines. Meanwhile, he finds out that his foster dad was a money-launderer for the Marcos regime. Bong Bong's self-destructive masochism escalates into cutting, random sex, and a total breakdown that results in a long hospitalization and estrangement from his foster family. As the story ends, Bong Bong finds his mother, starts a relationship with a decent man, and begins to turn his life around. The harrowing story is well-told in the first person. The writing is searing and honest.