Jet Tagasa blends migrant workers' experience and horror

Jet Tagasa's debut collection The Secret Lives Of OFWs ambitiously merges supernatural horror with the experiences of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

- Dave Chua

THE SECRET LIVES OF OFWS By Jet Tagasa Fiction/Penguin Books/ Paperback/207 pages/$21.69 ★★★★☆

While not every story hits its mark, the collection succeeds in capturing the distress and alienation felt by those displaced from their homeland.

The eight stories, each spanning 20 to 30 pages, explore supernatural elements in migrant workers' lives.

However, the collection would have benefited from including at least one longer, more developed piece to anchor it.

Stories set in the Philippines demonstrate notably stronger atmosphere and character development compared with those set abroad.

The international tales — set in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom — lack immersive details about their locations, reducing these places to mere backdrops rather than fully realised environments.

While the main characters are well fleshed out, supporting characters — particularly the foreign employers who rarely transcend cruel stereotypes — are often flat.