Romell Ian B. De La CruzR31 10 September 2013

FIRST HALF

In the first half of the novella “Smaller and Smaller Circles” by FH Batacan, we are introduced to the characters, including a short description of their backgrounds. The setting was well fleshed out in such a way that we get ourselves totally immersed in the narrative.

What was striking for me in this first half was how quick its pace was. The author really did a good job in creating a hook with the pace of the events. There would be a significant event, and a few moments of contemplation on it would follow. This moments in the story helped me to get even more engrossed in the story. With what the author did, you were being invited to solve the mystery with them. It became a personal experience, like you were following them, having your own deductions and ideas that could be supported by what the priests say.

But what made me wonder, more than the story, are the random pages of italicized type. It feels out of place and disconnected to the whole narrative, until the part that these pages preceded. I first thought of it as the thoughts of Father Gus, or Father Jerome. But as I will later find out, I am so wrong.

Up to the halfway point of the story, the characters were being fleshed out of all the little details that would endear us to them. There was so much effort put into a concise description of the events and the characters. We were being lured into this world.

Because of the detailed description of the characters and setting, we become part of the story. It is our own narrative. We become part of the whole drama. It humanized the characters to the point that we can identify ourselves with them. They are not mere fictional beings that look and feel artificial. Their reactions and mannerism feel so natural.

A question, though, lingered on me. Why would the author choose to make the protagonists priests? This is a detective/criminal fiction/thriller, after all. This question of mine was answered by the novella’s end. Also, why call it smaller and smaller circles? There is no evidence of the relation of the title to the story in the first half on the novella.

By the end of the first half, there are more than a few questions that came out of my mind.1) Why are the main characters priests, with other fields of specializations?2) Why is it entitled Smaller and Smaller Circles?3) Who is the killer? There has been no mention of any possible person in the first half.

SECOND HALF

By the second half, the dynamic changes. From the laid back, yet engaging, pace of the first half, it became a sprint. If we were in the movies, this would be the time of montages and chase scenes. It is a flurry of action that you wouldn’t notice the time passing you by. Chapter after chapter, you were being caught in the web of action. Especially, since action is something that this novella definitely does not lack.

With the killer’s start of correspondence with the priests, an added level of mystery is put into place. What kind of killer would want to pursue those that are trying to catch him? He was tempting fate with his actions. This event really started the whirlwind of an ending that definitely left me breathless at the end.

The novella is not only a work that makes you think, but it also tugs your heart. It may not be a tear-jerker but it definitely begins to make you feel mushy, especially with the way the descriptions of the families left behind by the murdered boys. I noticed that the description of these poor families sound very

Romell Ian B. De La CruzR31 10 September 2013

familiar. These stories are the typical poor family stories that come out of TV shows, in the time of the novella’s writing until the present, that are always featured to garner interest and create an emotional connection, an emotional investment, into whatever these pitiful situations are attached to.

This emotional investment that is being created by these short narratives makes the whole novella, as I have pointed out earlier, a personal journey of the reader. At the end of the whole thing, you start to anticipate what the characters are feeling or thinking.

What this second half really did was to keep you on your toes. With every twist and turn, the action never seems to stop. You are always wanting to know who it is, and why he did it.

On another note, though, I found the characterization of Alex’s parents as out of the ordinary. It feels as if it became a reality check that what I am reading is fictional, and not an adaptation of a true story.

By the final ten, or so, chapters, the questions that have been raised by the first half are slowly answered.

Why are the main characters priests and the killer a dentist?

I think this was done so that the stereotypical images of these people are broken. Priests are known to be the quiet, reflective type and spend their days in prayer. By making Father Gus and Father Jerome a forensic anthropologist and a clinical psychologist, respectively, the author showed that stereotypes do not work. This point is definitely pointed out by the fact that the killer is a dentist. A dentist is known to be the good guys, since they need to be in order for them to do their jobs. But in this story, this image of the dentist is broken. As one of the priests said, Alex gives dentists a bad image. By saying this, the author is showing us that images we hold of people, especially the stereotypes we hold, are never true. We can never encompass the entirety of the human condition. We can only deduce so much and we need the person’s own action and volition to understand that person as deep as that person wants.

In the story, Alex was seen as a good man, quiet yet efficient. There was no way of knowing that he was the killer. But by his own actions, he was slowly revealing himself, but only to a certain degree. The deeper part of him was only reached when he was cornered and there was nowhere for him to go.

Why was it entitled Smaller and Smaller Circles?

In the latter part of the novella, one of the priests mentions that they are just circling around until they have found the suspect. This idea was further put into the light by the thoughts of the killer, which, by the end of the book, is known to be the single pages of italicized type. In one of his thoughts, he was saying that those who are after him are just circling around him. As the circle becomes smaller, the evidences zero in on one person.