I give 2* to this edition, not the original and complete book.
I downloaded this ebook a couple of years ago from Goodreads and I really don't know why seen that I never read abridged editions. Well, seen that I had it on my kindle, I finally decided to read it.
The book talks about the colonization of the Philippines by the Spaniards and how life was in those centuries. Above all it talks about how everything was under the control and rule of Catholic religious orders.
Sadly this edition is an abridged edition and the reader feels it because from one chapter to the next, I felt that something was missing. The events happen too fast and more than once I had the feeling to have missed something. Also the end is abrupt. I also don't know if the writing style of the translation is faithful to the original book.
I really would have liked to read this book seen that it's such an important one to know more about Philippines, but I will have to look for the complete edition. My fault that I downloaded it despite being it an abridged edition. Argh!
If you are interested in Philippines history, don't read this edition, but take the original work: [b:Noli Me Tángere|418285|Noli Me Tángere|José Rizal|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1309199939s/418285.jpg|407434].

Noli Me Tangere, along with the sequel El Filibusterismo, are the national books of the Philippines; required reading in high schools across the country. Written by martyred revolutionary Joze Rizal and published in Europe, Noli Me Tangere is a cutting anti-clerical satire, a rich depiction of life in the colonial Philippines, and a clarion call to action and reform. It's also flawed as a novel, and while this may be the fault of my 1922 translation, I think the issues are structural, in the characters and plot rather than the language.

The plot, for all its circumlocutions, is simple. Ibarra is a good and ambitious young man, recently returned from seven years in Europe, to find that his father has died alone and disgraced in jail due to his independent mind and feud with the Catholic church. Ibarra continues his engagement with his childhood love, and embarks on a peaceful plan of reform through education, which runs afoul of the Church and the cabal of wealthy and corrupt landowners who control his home town of San Diego. He narrowly evades an assassination attempt, but is unable to stop his enemies from tying his name to an attempted revolution. Ibarra is exiled, his fiance Maria Clara enters a nunnery, and even his enemies wind up destroying their reputations and lives. In the end, it all comes to naught, and Ibarra is a mostly reactive protagonist, who only lets his ideals and passions drive the plot in a few instances.

The major questions that Rizal opens and does not adequately disclose, and "who pays for the sins of our ancestors?", and the relationship between the Philippines and the modern world. Ibarra and his young friends are pawns in a game played by their fathers and grandfathers, seemingly all the way back to Magellan. The question is-what separates these young nationalist revolutionaries from the sins of their fathers? How might their ideals be better from the Catholic ideals that made the nation? Rizal is relentless is criticizing Catholicism as the source of all evils in the Philippines, the greed and the hypocrisy of the priests, and the indolence and arrogance of the colonial authorities, the hopeless lives of the peasants. And while I will not defend the Church, modernity is no better master.

Noli Me Tangere is a novel obsessed with patrimony, giving fathers due respect, with finding the necessary independence from your own father, with correcting the sins and errors of the past. As with all such matters of the soul, and answers that it provides are partial and obscured. And at the distance of 130 years, a history of colonization by Spain, America, and Japan, of exploitation by the Marcos family, and now with Duarte, it seems that the issue of national fatherhood is still unresolved.

EDIT: i did end up rating the book, giving it the 5 star rating that it deserves

ORIGINAL:
no rating because i have no idea how to appropriately rate a book that is also a huge part of filipino culture, but when i read this i understood why it's such a huge part of filipino culture. it's funny and biting but also utterly devastating.

like everyone in the philippines who finished high school here, i had to read this in filipino as required reading... and most of it flew over my head. rereading it in english made me understand why: rizal's prose can get thick with descriptions and allusions to other artistic/literary works or historical events, which would have flown over my head. reading the prose in english took me a long time to do because even short chapters are packed, and i'm more comfortable reading literary english than literary filipino, especially so back in high school, so...

one thing that struck me about the novel on my reread is that it's really an ensemble piece; the town of san diego is practically a character all its own and serves as a microcosm for the society rizal lived in. yes ibarra is the main character but chapters go by without him appearing in the narrative. noli is not a plot-driven book; it's about this cast of characters and their relationships (particularly unequal relationships!), and how those relationships can save or doom someone. (it's no wonder that, even today, the characters are well-known among filipinos and have become archetypes of their own: crisostomo ibarra, maria clara, padre damaso, elias, sisa, and so on.) town gossip is an important recurring theme - at first it's used to poke fun at the characters' faults and san diego's traditions, but later becomes part of ibarra's downfall.

(it annoys me, then, that filipino schools teach noli as if it's a plot-driven novel, with chapter-by-chapter summaries and recounting of important events. that's not how rizal uses his chapters!!)

anyway if you're filipino and had to read this in high school but didn't appreciate it, please please give it another chance, i promise you it is so much more illuminating when you read it as it is instead of part of a school requirement

Classic Philippines novel from the late 1800's which skewers the corrupt catholic church and spanish controlled government of the time. This and his novel which followed it angered the (spanish) Philippine government, it accused him of inciting revolution and he was later executed by firing squad. His execution was one of the catalysts for the Philippine revolution (which inadvertently led to rule by the U.S.).egular mocking and sarcasm make up for overly flowery passages and somewhat contrived plot. The protagonists are stiff and one dimensional compared to the handful of comical and tragic supporting characters. Overall its a good read.The copy I read was a heavy handed translation (acknowledged by the translator). Would have preferred less meddling.

it’s like catch-22 but old and filipino

As a story? 3 stars. As a critique of the Philippines' Spanish colonial government and Catholic church? 5 stars.