Edgar Calabia Samar. Halos Isang Buhay: Ang Manananggal sa Pagsusulat ng Nobela. Manila: University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, 2012. 200 pages.

• Main Author: Salazar, Jaime Oscar M.
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2015
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/paha/vol5/iss2/10; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/paha/article/1163/viewcontent/PAHA_205.2_2010_20Book_20reviews_20__20Salazar.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Excerpt: In the wake of his Sa Kasunod ng 909 (2012), Edgar Calabia Samar decided to bring his energies to bear on a different sort of enterprise guided by the following questions: Over the course of developing the novel, who were his sources and influences? On what history had he sought to draw as he wrote? More generally, how and why does he write novels in the face of the challenges posed by the realities that he lives through and with at present? The result of his efforts was this book, which was conferred in 2013 with the Isagani R. Cruz Prize for Best Book of Literary Criticism or Literary History in a Philippine Language by the National Book Development Board and the Manila Critics Circle.