Dekada 70 Book Epub Info

On the surface, it’s the story of Amanda Bartolome, a middle-class housewife in Manila, and her husband Julian, a conservative, rule-following office worker. They have five sons. The book spans the ten years of Ferdinand Marcos’s Martial Law (1972–1981). But don’t let the historical setting fool you. This is not a history textbook. This is a horror novel disguised as family drama.

If you only know Dekada '70 from the 2002 Vilma Santos film, you know the skeleton of the story. But reading Lualhati Bautista’s original 1983 novel—especially in a crisp EPUB format where you can highlight its savage one-liners—is like feeling the marrow being scooped out of your bones.

Format discussed: EPUB (for its portability, searchable highlights, and the eerie timelessness of reading it on a backlit screen at 2 AM). dekada 70 book epub

Pick it up. Stay past curfew. Let Amanda’s quiet fury change you.

The genius of the novel is how it asks a terrifying question: What if your greatest enemy is not the dictator, but the man sleeping next to you who refuses to see the blood on the street? On the surface, it’s the story of Amanda

5/5 broken curfews.

What makes Dekada '70 devastating is not the street protests or the disappearances (though those are there). It’s the dinner table. Bautista masterfully traps you inside Amanda’s head as she watches her family disintegrate. Her eldest son, Jules, becomes a “Model Citizen” (read: government informant). Her rebellious son, Gani, joins the underground. Her husband, Julian, is the real villain of the first half—not because he is evil, but because he is weak . He keeps shouting, “Just follow the law. We are not politicians.” But don’t let the historical setting fool you

Check official Philippine eBook retailers (like Buqo or Amazon’s Kindle store) to ensure Lualhati Bautista’s estate gets paid. This book is too important to pirate—ironic, given it’s about fighting an authoritarian regime, but pay the woman for her genius.