First and foremost, I would like to tell my first encounter with this book. In my senior year in high school, my English teacher told us that one of his favourite novels is the “Mass” by F. Sionil Jose. My seatmate that time seconded and told me that F. Sionil Jose is her favourite author but I didn’t have any reaction because of the fact that I don’t know him or ever heard his creations.
When I first heard the title of this book, the thought that entered my mind is the ceremony done in church and I was surprised that the mass that has been referred is a group of people or even a nation. I thought my reading will be super boring because of the theme but I was wrong, instead of being super boring it was SUPERB!
Comparing this novel from Amapola, this one is much serious than Amapola not only because of the theme but also the mood of the characters. Even though the story is serious, F. Sionil didn’t miss to insert humors on his novel using his primary character. The story is very realistic because of the setting which is during Marcos’ regime and the experiences of the characters involved.
The whole story revolves around Jose “Pepe” Samson who is also the storyteller of the book. He is an illegitimate child because his mother and his father were cousins. Pepe doesn’t know much of his father because her aunt and her mother decided to keep it because for them, it is the best thing to do. He considers his hometown, Cabugawan, as limbo because of the poverty and difficulty of living there. Because of that, he and her mother agreed that he will take up college in Manila and be like his father. But he doesn’t want to be like his father because first, he didn’t even know or even see his father and second, he thinks that his father doesn’t care for them at all.
Jose Samson is the main character in the story. He loves his mother as much as he hates his father. He is an intelligent and clever man but sometimes, he is lazy and naughty. He is a happy go lucky person