Blind Loyalty, Neglect, and Survival

In Monsoon Mansion, Cinelle's character worships her mother despite her failings. She is neglected by her significantly, yet Cinelle is always ready to take her back, even when she steals her piggy bank savings and leaves unexpectedly, or when she takes over the jeepney scheme that Cinelle and Paolo worked hard to put together. Throughout the story the mother consistently displays selfishness and disregard for her children, yet Cinelle tries to show the humanity of her spirit. She paints a portrait of a wife wronged by the external forces that make her lose her social standing, and her struggle to maintain her standard of living. Cinelle writes in the author's note that she wanted to create beauty out of truth, and I think she does that very well in the construction of her mother's character. We see a woman who is dedicated to a certain way of life, who prioritizes fashion (keeping her hundreds of pairs of shoes when the family is trying to sell things to make money) and breakfast rituals to keep the family together. After the death of her infant son, she goes into a depression that she never fully recovers from. Yet she works hard to keep the family afloat, whether it is by selling illegal deeds with Norman or concocting schemes to rent out the ballroom, we see her doing what she can to maintain the lifestyle. Cinelle shows her three dimensionally, beautiful in her habits and smells, and gentle with her as long as she is in a good mood, while all the same exhibiting colorism, "A young lady like you should never be out in the sun. Besides, you're already dark. Too dark. We have to keep you out of the sun or you'll look like those poor farmers." (prologue, 5) and questionable morals stealing from both her children and expecting them to contribute money to the household.
Cinelle remains devoted through out the narrative, both to her parents and her brother Paolo, as well to Elma, her friend across class barriers. When the family has lost their wealth and begins to rely on a meal and a half per day, lose power and even running water, Cinelle never blames anyone in her family for the descent, but becomes increasingly loyal. She treasures her relationships and the memories she has with her brother and her young playmate. She is particularly devoted to her father, who she portrays with dignity. He grew up poor and made his living being clever with people, charismatic and great at planning, adaptable and in the right place at the right time—to be able to strategically import workers from the Philippines to Saudi Arabia takes a lot of organization and trust between people. It's no wonder that she ultimately goes back to him when it's time to save herself from the Mansion. I find the ending beautiful, that she connects with her brother again, and the family she never knew, while her father was strategically trying to earn the right to parent her again when he had it all along.
I was horrified by the cockfighting, and the way that the Mansion began to fall into moldy disrepair and decay because of the storms and the family resorting to renting so much of it to gamblers and housing the birds. Norman was such a despicable character, larger than life, I wonder if most of the memories she has of him are exaggerated because she was young when she dealt with him, but then, a lot of the story takes place before she reaches puberty. I was relieved when he didn't become governor, and relieved when the children that labored over the campaign materials didn't get sucked into some other enterprise that Norman could come up with to exploit people. Still, it seems that Cinelle was a loyal stepdaughter throughout this time period.
Does memoir need plot? Absolutely! It's still a book, it's still a story. I think Cinelle pulls it off, going fairly linearly through her childhood pulling out the interesting and the dark, weird and charming bits of her life. Thematically she rendered the travails of poverty beautifully, and the trauma of neglect with care. She dealt with different threads of conflict woven through the characters' lives, loss of Tachio, loss of wealth, strength of survival, betrayal, and friendships. What a sad and epic household.