Cecilia Brainard’s Book Review of Laurel Flores Fantauzzo’s MY HEART UNDERWATER

“The nov­el My Heart Under­wa­ter by Lau­rel Flo­res Fan­tauz­zo is about a 17-year-old Fil­ipino Amer­i­can girl who is sent to the Philip­pines fol­low­ing a scan­dal. There, she is able to thread togeth­er the world of her par­ents with her own South­ern Cal­i­for­nia expe­ri­ence, and in so doing find healing.

The book fol­lows three sto­ry­lines: the gen­der issue of Cora­zon Tagu­bio; her father’s acci­dent; and her exile to the Philippines.

Cory and her par­ents live in a town­house in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia, where her moth­er works as a coder and her father as a painter/handyman. Her par­ents are hard­work­ing peo­ple who val­ue good edu­ca­tion and they make sac­ri­fices to send Cory to tuition-high Saint Agatha’s school. They also sup­port Cory’s half-broth­er in the Philip­pines who, because of immi­gra­tions issues, can­not join them in Amer­i­ca.” — Please con­tin­ue in Pos­i­tive­ly Fil­ipino.