Review: Smaller and Smaller Circles

Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This review is also found on Goodreads! :)
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Borrowing from the vocabulary of the great Stephen King, unputdownable.

This book provides a more than your raw and gritty crime fiction. This provides a shrewd look into institutions--both in our criminal justice system and in the Roman Catholic Church. It is laced in politics and for the first time in a long while, I didn't mind. In hindsight, I realized that you really couldn't write about Manila without getting political. This book served like a slap in the face of our political system and even the piousness of the Church. It's a juicy and interesting take on Philippine politics set in a whodunit. It's layered and multi-faceted. It gives the readers a glimpse at the affluence of the rich marred with corruption, and a jarring picture of poverty deeply rooted in even more corruption and social diseases.

The Romantic Allure of Paoay Church

The Church of Paoay, also known as the Church of Saint Augustine, whose cornerstone was laid on 1704, is one of the four remaining Baroque Churches in the country.  We got to the Church mid-afternoon and the place was breathtaking.

Paoay Church grounds

Its bell tower is detached and stands in its glorious gothic glamour few meters besides it. The wide vast grounds is littered with beautiful flowers (I'm sorry, I don't know what kind of flowers they are. If you do, please comment it. :D) and the vast grounds are calling out for a picnic.

The cobblestone path leading to the Church's entrance

And behold, we laid our eyes on the stunning Church of Paoay. Aside from its resplendence, another thing that will catch your eye are the thick Gothic buttresses that run along its sides. Buttresses are structures built agains the wall which supports the Church. Hence, a "fortress".

This is probably the most romantic Church I have ever laid eyes on, with its mix of gothic, baroque, and oriental structure. For those of you who does not know what a "Baroque architecture" means. This entails that the churches structure resembles a fortress. This is especially noteworthy for the Paoay Church because of its adaptation to European Baroque architecture which served as its protection from earthquakes. 

Paoay Church Interior

This Spanish-era church was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its cultural significance.  Its tower was also used as an observation post by Katipuneros during the revolution and by guerilleros during the Japanese Occupation. Okay, that does not sound very romantic but, my point is, it is one of the most impressive and elegant Church I have ever seen.

More on Ilocos here! :)