Synopses & Reviews
Jessica Hagedorn has received wide critical acclaim for her edgy, high-energy novels chronicling the clash and embrace of American and Filipino cultures. With
Dream Jungle, she achieves a new level of narrative daring.
Set in a Philippines of desperate beauty and rank corruption, Dream Jungle feverishly traces the consequences of two seemingly unrelated events: the discovery of an alleged ?lost tribe? and the arrival of a celebrity-studded American film crew filming an epic Vietnam War movie. Caught in the turmoil unleashed by these two incidents are four unforgettable characters?a wealthy, iconoclastic playboy, a woman ensnared in the sex industry, a Filipino-American writer, and a jaded actor?who find themselves drawn irrevocably together in this lavish, sensual portrait of a nation in crisis.
Review
As beautiful as summer, as unforgettable as heartbreak . . . [A] luminous performance. (Junot Diaz, author of
Drawn)
Synopsis
One of Jessica Hagedorn's most daring novels--"a deft and complex tale of corruption, fealty, and integrity" (The Baltimore Sun) In a Philippines of desperate beauty and rank corruption, two seemingly unrelated events occur: the discovery of an ancient lost tribe living in a remote mountainous area and the arrival of a celebrity-studded, American film crew, there to make an epic Vietnam War movie. But the lost tribe may be a clever hoax and the Hollywood movie seems doomed as the cast and crew continue to self-destruct in a cloud of drugs and ego. As the consequences of these events play out, four unforgettable characters--a wealthy, iconoclastic playboy; a woman ensnared in the sex industry; a Filipino-American writer; and a jaded actor--find themselves drawn irrevocably together in this lavish, sensual portrait of a nation in crisis.
About the Author
A richly intriguing study of flamboyant ambition and the politics of corruption. (Seattle Times)As beautiful as summer, as unforgettable as heartbreak . . . [A] luminous performance. (Junot Diaz, author of Drawn)