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Mar 30, 2010

Sally rated it:

This is a wonderful book. We read this captivating novel in the Mostly Literary Fiction group in April 2009, with a follow-up Q&A with the author herself, Tess Uriza Holthe, on the GoodReads.com network. Check it out at:

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1535...

5 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2012

Suzanne rated it:

“Papa explains the war like this: ‘When the elephants dance, the chickens must be careful.’ The great beasts, as they circle one another, shaking the trees and trumpeting loudly, are the Amerikanos and the Japanese as they fight. And our Philippine Islands? We are the small chickens. I think of baby chicks I can hold in the palm of my hand, flapping wings that are not yet grown, and I am frightened.”

When the Elephants Dance is a perfect blend of two topics I really enjoy: f More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 11, 2011

K.D. rated it:

If I were the mayor of Manila, I would give a symbolic key to the city to the Tess Uriza-Holte and declare her as city’s adopted daughter. If the good mayor could do that to Manny Pacquiao or to many visiting class B showbiz personalities, why not this Filipino-American author who took great interest to write this exceptional book about the Philippines particularly the City of Manila? A book that covers a sheer span of time in Philippine history from the Spanish era to the waning days of the Jap More...

3 comments like (16 people liked it)

Jan 25, 2008

Estela rated it:

My sister-in-law gave this book for my unexpected trip to the Philippines. I didn't open the book til I got to my grandparents home and ... I was completely absorbed & had a hard time putting this book down (it was as if I was reading a long lost relative's diary). I caught myself pausing amongst certain chapters, looking at where I was at the current time, and just imagining what took place over 50 years ago here in the Philippines.

This book provided pieces of Philippine history More...

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Beth rated it:

When the Elephants Dance is the story of the Philippine's during WWII after the Japanese had taken control of the islands. Due to exorbitant costs and danger of death most families at that time hid with local neighbors and friends, only going out to trade or search for food to survive. This book is the story of one family - hiding in their basement with 11 neighbors and friends.

The book is broken down into 3 main parts - the first being told by the 2nd child Alenjandro, the second be More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Laura rated it:

I was sucked into this book and found myself reading it late into the night. It takes place in the Philippines at the end of WWII when the Japanese are beginning to lose hold of the island. The is a part of fairly recent history that I shamefully didn't know much about. We always hear about Corregidor and MacArthur, because those were American sufferings and American heroes, but we never hear about how horribly the Philippine people suffered not only under the Japanese during WWII but previou More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2007

Barbara rated it:

I think my three stars are for how easy a book this is to teach for students being so receptive to it; I've seen students of Filipino American literature find this book accessible and interesting. For some reason students for classes I have TA'ed identify with these stories, or rather, students identify with the author's disconnect with Philippine history and the country itself. This disconnect is apparent in the author's writing, in which descriptions of the land, the people, etc. appear second More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 10, 2011

Athena rated it:

Riddled with cliches, geographical and cultural inaccuracies, and one-dimensional characters. It also demonstrates a very poor understanding of how socio-economic class functions in the rural Philippines. The storytelling is decent, but there are better novels on the Philippines during WWII out there (When the Rainbow Goddess Wept by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, for one).

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 07, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

I have not come across a lot of novels dealing with the Filipino experience during World War II, so I think this book fills a necessary role. The stories in it are intriguing and often very lovely. However, I found that its position as the writer's first novel is very obvious. There is a lot of technical awkwardness that made me too aware of the author's process.

For example, the stories are told by different people but do not each have a distinctive voice. In fact, the voices of the More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 23, 2007

langa rated it:

this book came to me as a gift from a dear friend and i was eager to read it, since my own family comes from the Philippines and this book tells the little known history of this country of over 7,100 islands. set in World War II during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. this novel puts great emotional demands on the reader, your heart breaks at the extreme suffering and tragedy of war and the ravages of colonialism. but ultimately you celebrate the strength of the human spirit and the c More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Aug 15, 2008

Sarahldalton rated it:

Stories are to humans as fur is to animals. This book, about the Filipino experience of the Japanese occupation of the Phillipines in WWII, is based on the author's family's own heirloom stories of the war. The Karangalan family, along with about 10 of their neighbors hide in their basement in order to avoid the Japanese discovering their existence. Tensions easily spark between the different characters over finding food, missing family members, surviving the terrors of war, etc. It is in th More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2008

April rated it:

Sad to say, even though I am Filipino, I have never read a book by a Filipino author. This book takes place during WWII when the Japanese occupied the Philippines. While reading this book I called my mom she told me stories of my own family during that time. People do amazing things and find inner strength when faced with adversity.

The author does a great job in creating believable Filipino characters. I could imagine and hear the way the characters would talk and express themselv More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 25, 2008

Rosa rated it:

"Papa explains the war like this: 'When the elephants dance, the chickens must be careful.'" The elephants in question are the Americans and the Japanese, fighting for possession of the Philippines. The chickens are, of course, the ordinary Filipinos. Three of these "chickens" by turns tell us the story of the Japanese occupation as a small neighborhood near Manila literally goes underground, hiding in the cellar and swapping stories. This story was very well written and I en More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 20, 2009

melissa/missy rated it:

This book took me back to the Philippines--at least in terms of the food and flowers and folklore that I remember from the time I lived there. It's the story of the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during WWII, and if I didn't feel such a connection to the Philippines, I probably would have like the book a lot less. There were a lot of technical problems (stilted dialogue, awkward transitions, etc.) that distracted me, but ultimately I enjoyed the folklore retellings enough that I can st More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Anne rated it:

Fascinating and disturbing historical fiction about what happened to the Filipino civilian poulation during WWII in the waning days of the Japanese occupation. While it is fiction, the author used stories and lore from her own family (who lived in the Phillipines during this tumultuous period) to augment her research & yield personal perspective on the story. She weaves the wartime drama that a group of Filipino civilians endured with stories and folklore from their past, creating a powerful and More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 16, 2010

Amber rated it:

Beautiful, painful, passionate...this was my first touch at reading about the Philippines during WWII. Sadly, we didn't learn about the American or Japanese occupation of these islands in school here in America.

Brace yourself for pain and strife interspersed with beautiful tales of hope and wonder woven by the characters who hide from the battles raging around them. The point of view changes from character to character and quite effectively so! It makes it more personal and easier t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 01, 2012

Caryl rated it:

Tess Uriza Holthe has written and told a story like no other. Unlike many books read before, Holthe's words come off the page as if they were illuminated and come to life with every lingering detail. The novel takes place in the final week of World War II in the Philippine Islands as the Japanese and American forces engage in war fighting for the possession of the Philippines. The Karangalan family and their neighbors are take refuge in a cellar passing time by telling folk lores based on Filipi More...

0 comments like

Dec 24, 2011

Anita rated it:

Imagine there is a world war raging right outside your front door. Another country has invaded yours, and your family must hide in the cellar to escape capture. Several neighbors join you in hiding, and except for intermittent scavenging, the whole lot of you must remain in the cellar day after day, fighting hunger, illness, and frustration with each other. Struggling with the events unfolding around you, you and your neighbors tell magical stories to cope and teach lessons.

That is More...

0 comments like

Dec 13, 2010

Book Concierge rated it:

First sentence: [i]Papa explains the war like this: “When the elephants dance, the chickens must be careful.”[/i]. I first picked up this book because of the title and this opening line. The elephants in this tale are the Japanese and Americans fighting over the Philippines. The Filipinos are the chickens.

The novel takes place during WWII, towards the end of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. The Filipinos had suffered greatly during those three years of occupation. They were More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 04, 2009

Maltaise rated it:

I found this book by luck when I decided to go to the bookstore on my lunch hour. The book tells the story of numerous individuals who find themselves together in the last days of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. Folklore is a large part of Philippino culture. Each individual tells their story about how the war has affected them and their role in the war along with a folklore story.
This is one of my favourite books-probably because I was unfamiliar with the subject matter.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 04, 2009

Kerry rated it:

Another great story about the Phillipino account of the horrors they suffered during WWII. Very poignant and extremely readable.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 01, 2008

Faith rated it:

While it was fascinating to learn more about the Philippines involvement in WWII and their culture overall, I absolutely detested this book. The author is courageous in telling her family's heart-breaking story of survival through the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during the war, but the subject matter was so disturbing and her tale so graphic, I had nightmares for a week. Read the Children of the Promise series instead if this topic interests you.

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 30, 2011

Irina rated it:

This book is not for the faint of heart by any means. It's graphic about the torture and suffering that the people in the Philippines went through at the hands of the Japanese during WWII. Just reading some of the experiences that people went through was horrific and disturbed me to my core.

I'm not an expert on WWII nor on the history of the Philippine Islands so I can't comment on how accurate Holthe's retelling of history is. However, her writing is captivating. The book is divided More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Beth rated it:

A violent beginning almost prevented me from reading this book. I am so glad that I continued. It is the story of the Japanese occupation of the Phillipines. The characters are members of a few different families who hide out together in a basemnet and share Phillipino fables with one another. The folklore is woven into the story of the war to create a tapestry of personal and national history. Another great read.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 21, 2010

Chana rated it:

The author's parents are Filipino and were children in the Philippines during WW11 when the Japanese occupied their land and many were killed. Although the book is fictional some of the scenes are created from the memories of her father and from accounts and personal interviews from her research. I found the war parts of the story very difficult to read because they were so sad and frightening. But what softens this book and gives it breadth and depth are the stories the characters tell about More...

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Mar 24, 2009

Jeanette rated it:

Great book. I love how the author weaves in the various stories together. It truly kept my interest. It was hard to put down. I can't wait to read more books by Holthe.

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 06, 2011

Nancy rated it:

I just finished this book after spending most of the week sneaking away from my duties to lose myself in the story again and again. It was very simply written and from the POV of several of the characters. The writing style and level of this book doesn't compare to classics, but the story was compelling and I learned a lot about the Philippines, a country I knew nothing about and was not ever that curious about. Now I am interested to learn more. One of the things I did like about the writing wa More...

0 comments like

Dec 16, 2009

Christine rated it:

My most favorite book to read. I have bought the book about six or seven times and have given it away each time. Up until this time, I stil don't own a copy of the book. This story takes place during World War II when the Japanese occupied the Phillippines. The story is told by three different people who at the end you can see how they are all connected.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Dave rated it:

This book gave me a perspective of the war in the Pacific (particularly the Philippines) that isn't discussed in history class. It is the missing perspective from American text books. A great companion to any World War II text that is based in Europe! i.e. Diary of Anne Frank, Catch 22

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

chinette rated it:

This book was very interesting in a sense that it allows you to read about three people's perspectives and their own individual experiences during the war in the PI. I think this book will be good for people searching their identity/wanting to know more about their heritage.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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