Fil-Am fathers, sons in new novel ‘Everything We Never Had’

Filipino American Randy Ribay’s latest book, “Everything We Never Had,” is for ages 12 and up. CONTRIBUTED

SAN FRANCISCO — Becoming a father inspired Filipino American Randy Ribay to write his new YA (young adult) novel Everything We Never Had.

Ribay’s son was born in 2020. His arrival during such a fraught period, when “much about the future was unknown,” compelled him to look inward and consider what kind of father he wanted to be.

He considered not only the way he was parented, but also how he and his immediate family members were shaped by the community, society and historical circumstances around them.

The result is this new tome for ages 12 and up, described as “an emotionally charged and moving” novel about four generations of boys in the Filipino American Maghabol family, who grapple with “identity, masculinity, and their fraught father-son relationships.”

Multiple perspectives

The thread begins in the 1930s with Francisco Maghabol, who moves to California from the Philippines but struggles to eke a living in the fields and faces violence from white men in town.

Later, Francisco has become a labor organizer. His son Emil refuses to follow in his footsteps.

In the 1980s, Chris is determined to prove that his overbearing father Emil can’t control him.

In 2020, Enzo struggles to keep his anxiety in check as a pandemic breaks out and his abrasive Lolo Emil moves in. He begins to wonder if maybe he can help bridge the decades-long rift between his father and grandfather.

Told in multiple perspectives, each Maghabol boy forges his own path amid heavy family and societal expectations, passing down flaws, values and virtues to the next generation. How will Enzo be able to braid all these strands and men together?

 Healing

Publishers Weekly has praised the book as having “[an] emotionally resonant tale … Compact storytelling richly layered with Filipino American culture and history provides the backdrop for each father-son relationship as the Maghabols confront personal and familial expectations in both past and present narratives.”

Kirkus Reviews estimation of the book notes that “[this] strongly characterized novel covers the boys’ struggles with identity against the backdrop of changes in American society. The many heartwarming and heartbreaking moments offer deep insights into intergenerational patterns and how one’s life experiences and upbringing affect parenting and relationships … A powerful and moving family saga.”

Ribay’s other works include An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes, After the Shot Drops and Patron Saints of Nothing.

For the Chronicles of the Avatar series, he’s written Avatar, the Last Airbender: The Reckoning of Roku.

“As I’d hoped, the process of writing helped me think through the questions that prompted me to draft the novel, but it also helped me heal,” says Ribay.

“It gave me a deeper understanding of and appreciation for my own family, Filipino American history, intergenerational relationships, and love as an intentional practice.”

Walter Ang is the author of Barangay to Broadway: Filipino American Theater. Available at Amazon, Bookshop and other online booksellers.