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Well, I have finally managed to finish it. I didn't read the introduction or do any background research because I decided that it had to stand or fall as a literary novel, rather than as an important book because of its reflections of the troubled past of the Philippines.
For me it didn't do well in the literary stakes. I found it very disjointed, lurching from one situation to another, and then with no more information (for example about Basilio and his brother) for a few hundred pages. Maybe Rizal needed a good editor.
It's always hard to know how much of the problem lies with the translation. But assuming that the flow (or lack of it) reflects the original, then I don't think my difficulties with it can be laid at the translator's door.
issybird, I saw on Goodreads that you gave it four stars, and will be really interested to hear what you have to say about it, especially as it was your nomination. Sorry I didn't like it better.
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