Love Letters–Mister Heartbreak Summary
Love Letters
Dogeaters opens in Manila’s first “English only” movie theater in 1965. The chapter’s narrator, Rio Gonzaga, watches All that Heaven Allows with her chaperone, Lorenza, and her cousin Pucha. After the movie, at a café, Pucha complains about some of the actors’ and actresses’ faces. Rio feels she is more mature than her cousin, resenting the fact that her cousin is four years older, cruel and judgmental, and conventionally attractive. The café begins filling up with patrons, and a group of teenage boys begins trying to attract Pucha’s attention. Pucha, aware of the boys’ attention, orders more food and eats it slowly, even though Rio and Lorenza would like to leave. One of the boys is Boomboom Alacran, whom Pucha claims is “cute enough” for her.
The text then moves to 1956, before Rio’s mother and father, Delores and Freddie, split up. Rio’s father moved to Spain and developed a terminal disease, although he ultimately lived to an old age. Rio remembers a letter she received from Pucha. In the letter, Pucha explained that she needed to come to the United States to get a “divorse” because it is a sin to divorce in the Philippines. She closed by acknowledging that Rio’s father was sick and suggested Rio come to see him.
Rio’s grandmother, “Lola” Narcisa Divino, lives with her family, but Rio’s sick grandfather, Whitman Logan, is hospitalized. The family sees Lola as eccentric, but Freddie treats Lola with respect and pays for her and her husband’s medical bills. She spends time with the servants and listens to Love Letters, a radio serial. Each Sunday a new storyline starts, with an episode every night of the week. The show always ends in tragedy, and Rio cries with her grandmother each week after listening. As Rio and Lola listen to this week’s story, it is raining torrentially outside. Rio thinks about her grandfather, sick in a hospital bed. Lola claims that he is the first white man to ever contract bangungot, a Filipino disease that causes fever and night terrors, although the doctors suggest that bangungot is island superstition.
Love Letters ends at midnight, and the servants leave. Rio’s grandmother, still eating, begins to cry, as does Rio, who stays for the night.
The next scene opens at another movie, A Place in the Sun, which the Archdiocese of Manila has labeled obscene. Pucha’s older brother falls asleep halfway through, and the girls are disappointed that there are no obscene images. At the end, Jane Wyman wakes up a comatose Rock Hudson with a confession of her love; Rio begins to imagine Lola trying to wake up Whitman in this way, but in her mind, he begins shrieking and cannot wake up.
The King of Coconuts
“The King of Coconuts” refers to Severo “Don Luis” Alacran, a man with a great sense of entitlement and charisma, self-made wealth, various digestive health problems, a legitimate daughter, and several illegitimate sons. He often fights with his wife, Isabel, a starlet who receives small movie roles because of her beauty. Despite angry yelling, name calling, and sometimes throwing objects at each other, they claim to love each other and hold their daughter, Rosario (Baby) in contempt. In an interview with an American news correspondent, Severo displays his wealth and awards, explaining that his last name means “scorpion.” In an interview with Cora Camacho, the “Barbara Walters of the Philippines,” he flirts with Cora and makes small talk. Cora hopes that he will invite her to ride home with him and is glad that she always carries an extra...
(This entire section contains 1330 words.)
Unlock this Study Guide Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
toothbrush.
The White Bouquet
Baby Alacran plans to marry Pepe Carreon. Isabel forbids it because Pepe is too old and works for the army, but Severo argues that he is a nice fellow. Severo’s mind wanders to how much he wishes he were not on a low-sodium diet, and he notes that he needs to “corner” the young servant girl later to find out her name. Severo and Isabel continue to argue over Baby’s engagement. Isabel also complains that they will have ugly children, reminding Baby of her relatively unfeminine appearance. The three drink coffee as Isabel continues to demean her daughter and Severo considers her hypothetical future in a finishing school or college. Baby wishes she could go back to her room and speak to Pepe on the phone. She does not understand why he is attracted to her, and she is not particularly attracted to him, but she loves his voice on the phone, especially when he tells her that he loves her.
Baby suffered from a nail-biting habit and hyperhidrosis at nine, which her parents tried to counter with expensive powders. The doctor said that her sweating was due to anxiety and that she must learn to calm down. She then developed a painful rash that turned into blisters and sores on her extremities, which was explained by her doctors as an unspecified tropical fungus growing on her sweaty body. She was forced to stay home from school, bathe in ointments, and stay confined to bed or a wheelchair.
She waits for her phone call from Pepe, thinking about how her parents used to feign concern over her health. Three days later, she elopes with Pepe and reveals that she is pregnant. Tabloids claim that Baby was kidnapped by communists, and the family is generally shamed. Baby plans her wedding, which is touted as the wedding of the decade. She wears an impressive white gown, and “everyone who is anyone is invited.” Although her mother and grandmother are angry at this turn of events, Severo seems pleased.
Mister Heartbreak
Joey, a DJ and sex worker (and the chapter’s narrator), also known as “Mister Heartbreak,” walks into the CocoRico, a gay club. He banters with Andres Alacran, the bartender who gave him his nickname, before turning to look at the empty dance floor. Andres complains about Pedro, CocoRico’s janitor, and claims that as an Alacran, he has an image to uphold. Andres gives Joey some rum, and Joey thinks about how he feels safe at the CocoRico. He also thinks about how disciplined he is with his “own special diet,” which Joey implies means occasional drug use. Andres yells at Pedro, who wants to stock the bathroom with paper towels and toilet paper. Andres is infuriated that Pedro needs supplies and reluctantly gives him a roll of toilet paper.
Andres cannot admit that Joey is the real star of the club. Formerly, Andres taught movie stars how to dance the tango, and he has a scrapbook to prove it. Andres fell in love with Eugenio/Eugenia, an intersex performer in a traveling freak show. Pictures of Eugenio/a are also in the scrapbook, faded yellow. Andres reminisces about Eugenio/a and how he could not break into the movie industry because of his identity. One night, Eugenio/a left without a trace, shortly after Japan occupied Manila, although there are plenty of rumors about what happened to him. Joey toasts Andres’s lost love, and Andres toasts love itself.
Joey thinks about his nights as a sex worker. He loves to sleep in and only comes alive at night. He dislikes waking up next to strangers and trying to remember their names and details about them, but he loves waking up in fancy hotels or bachelor pads. He occasionally steals a trinket from his clients. Home for Joey is Uncle’s house, “a step above a squatter’s house.” Uncle raised Joey along with several other boys. Joey remembers a time when he and one of the others, Boy-Boy, were drunk at Uncle’s house and tormenting Uncle’s dog. Uncle interrupted them and slapped Boy-Boy. While he is easy to underestimate, Uncle is fast and sharp. Since then, all the others have left. Joey hopes that he will have an opportunity to leave soon as well.
