Review of Lysley Tenorio’s “The Son of Good Fortune”: A Look at Life as a TNT
Review of Lysley Tenorio’s The Son of Good Fortune:
A Look at Life as a TNT
by Noreen Ocampo
In his debut novel The Son of Good Fortune (Ecco, 2020), Lysley Tenorio paints an unforgettable portrait of 19-year-old Excel Maxino, an undocumented Filipino teenager who frequently tells himself he isn’t “really there.” Poignant, tender, and surprisingly humorous all at once, The Son of Good Fortune is a coming-of-age story that reflects on the often untold Filipinx immigrant experience shared by both Excel and his mother Maxima, a former B-movie action star. While Excel and Maxima’s story is not new to the world, stories like theirs are underrepresented, and I strongly urge everyone to give Tenorio’s novel a read. The Son of Good Fortune was released on July 7, 2020.
As a Filipina American and daughter of immigrants, I hold this novel especially close. And although Tenorio masterfully develops Excel’s relationships with characters such as his girlfriend, Sab, and Z, the Serbian grandfather of his boss at The Pie (a spy-themed pizza parlor), I would like to focus primarily on Excel’s relationship with his mother. The Son of Good Fortune cleanly jumps back and forth in time, alternating between Excel’s current life with Maxima in his hometown of Colma, California and his past stint in Hello City with Sab—a period of nine months during which Excel disappears from his mother’s life under the guise of taking a job to make “important discoveries” in the faraway desert town. The novel opens with Excel returning home to Maxima, but his silent escape from the life they shared creates a wall between them, and the complications in their relationship are far from over.
While Excel and Maxima’s story is not new to the world, stories like theirs are underrepresented.
While once an action movie star, throughout much of Excel’s childhood and into the present, Maxima makes ends meet by scamming American men in pursuit of a “perfect Asian wife.” At first glance, Maxima’s character may seem to feed the stereotype that Filipinx women are “gold diggers”; however, Tenorio portrays Maxima with nuance, sensitivity, and respect. In fact, only through Maxima do we learn about the loneliness that immigrant parents often face and the unending burdens that immigrant parents often carry. Excel himself may seem uncomfortable by his mother’s choice of profession and even refuse to wear the shoes she buys him with her newly earned money, but Maxima’s work and love for her son are ultimately what save him from the trouble he stumbles into at Hello City. Even as Excel continually shields his mother from many aspects of his life, such as the fact that his girlfriend is currently pregnant and that he owes Hello City no less than $10,000, Maxima’s love for and loyalty to him is undeniable.
Perhaps the largest complication for Excel is his and his mother’s undocumented status. On Excel’s tenth birthday, Maxima brings him to San Francisco to celebrate—and tell him the truth. She explains that they’re “TNT,” tago ng tago, or hiding and hiding. Born on a plane somewhere between the Philippines and California, Excel is undocumented, and even at ten years old, he finds that many things in his life begin to make sense. Throughout the novel, we see how Excel’s awareness of his “TNT” label influences his life as he retreats to the shadows and aches for an escape.
On Excel’s tenth birthday, Maxima brings him to San Francisco to celebrate—and tell him the truth. She explains that they’re “TNT,” tago ng tago, or hiding and hiding.
Despite all obstacles that create distance between mother and son, Tenorio gives us tenderness and light as much as everything else. Excel and Maxima visit the grave of a loved one together and mourn; they attend the first-ever American screening of Maxima’s most successful movie, Ang Puso VS. Ang Baril Mo (The Heart Vs. Your Gun); Maxima saves Excel from his surprisingly bad fortune again, again, and again. There is love on every page, in every moment, and I believe this novel is a gift, especially as a Filipina American reader. On a small scale, it is always exciting to see my culture reflected in media I consume as I don’t always get to read about characters enjoying pancit, one of my favorite noodle dishes, or talking about balikbayan boxes, which are often used by diaspora Filipinxs to send gifts back home. On a much larger scale, I am so proud and grateful to see underheard stories like Excel’s amplified through such smart and enjoyable literature.
THE SON OF GOOD FORTUNE
By Lysley Tenorio
304 pp. Ecco. $27.99.
Order here.
Noreen Ocampo is a Filipina American writer from metro-Atlanta. Her poetry appears or is forthcoming in Taco Bell Quarterly, Depth Cues, and Marías at Sampaguitas, among others. She was also a music fellow in the 2019 COUNTERCLOCK Arts Collective and enjoys experimenting with various artistic mediums. An undergraduate at Emory University, she majors in Film and Media Studies as well as English with a concentration in multi-ethnic literature.