Review: Book
Rolling the R's
by R. Zamora Linmark
by Nanna Noneit, Special Contributor

"Last night, I had sex with Scott Baio, Leif Garrett, Matt Dillon, too. We was workin' it, free for all, rough take. Scott was in my mouth and Leif was in Scott's, and Matt was in his briefs, lyin' on his side, same pose he had in the hayloft scene in Little Darlings…Of course was one dream, stupid head. You think Scott and Leif gonna go down on their knees, suck tongues and ding-dings, too?" - Rolling the R's, p. 1

R. Zamora Linmark's book, "Rolling the R's", was a hard read for me initially. Terse, pidgin English from the streets of ghetto Hawaii taking me on a journey through a roller coaster ride of adolescent sexuality was not a smooth ride and it took a second reading before adjustment to linguistic jet lag set in and made the speech understandable.

If you are naïve as to what the terms "oof" and "ding-dings" are, you will walk away from this book with information about gay and hetero sex imprinted on your brain. Not only will you know what "oof" means, but you will also have vicariously experienced gay sex through one of the narrators. The chapters are arranged in a way to give brief windows into the Filipino community members' individual lives and depict how the tension woven into their lives draws them together for better or worse as a community. Quirky characters add spice and stir things up from time to time. There is Mr. Batongbacal, a married man with a teenage son, who is obsessed with a high school cheerleader and makes pathetic, futile, continuous passes at her, somehow forgetting the nearly unbreakable, unwritten code that a high school cheerleader just does not fall prey to passionate lust with an unattractive, middle-aged, married man with no flair for romance.

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If you are naïve as to what the terms "oof" and "ding-dings" are, you will walk away from this book with information about gay and hetero sex imprinted on your brain.

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If that is not enough to pique a reader's curiosity, Katharine's advice to her teacher (conveyed through her book report) to dump her husband who is having an affair with Katharine's mother should keep the reader interested till the very end of the book. The book also includes many tidbits from the lives of gay male Filipino characters exploring their sexuality. It provides a good introspective view into the lives of adolescent Filipino gays who are stuck in a similar rut, as many undeniably and unfortunately were. Linmark does a fine job of transferring speech dialogue onto the page in its native rhythm. Difficult to read at first, the reader must first have the patience, tenacity, and determination to discover the direction of the flow of the dialogue, only then will the foibles, tarnished dreams, and internal struggles of the Hawaiian community open themselves up for readers and draw them into a world they may have never known before. "Rolling the R's" is a unique and insightful look into an Asian community and is a great read to boot. Try it, you just might end up liking it.