Suddenly Stateside: Postscript Book Talk

Marivi Soliven’s deeply felt chronicle of immigration, identity, and reinvention. Thirty years after leaving Manila for marriage, graduate student life, and the uncertainties of America, Marivi Soliven returns with Suddenly Stateside: Postscript—a sharp and funny memoir that spans surviving Martial Law to navigating the INS, from learning the dark arts of American housekeeping in Berkeley to the indignities of public restrooms, flashers, driving tests, and a pet rat named Janet, Soliven captures the bewilderment, humor, and wonder of building a life an ocean away from home.

Expanded with new essays and postscripts, this collection confronts the long shadows of authoritarianism, the contradictions of belonging to two countries, and the messy, marvelous business of starting over. Unsparing, subversive, and irresistibly engaging, Suddenly Stateside: Postscript affirms the immigrant imagination in all its resilience and hilarity.