Book summary
Trama e riassunto di Avventure nelle Isole Filippine
- 8 min di lettura
- 10 key ideas
- Audio a breve
With thirteen dollars, a stranded young French surgeon practices medicine in Manila and becomes lord of Jala-Jala.
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Avventure nelle Isole Filippine in breve
Riassunto: 8 min di lettura
- Tempo di lettura
- Circa 5 h 20 min4 h 15 min fast, 6 h 20 min slow
- Durata
- 75.900 parole
- Livello nella biblioteca
- Medio longer sentences, everyday words
- Prima pubblicazione
- 1853by Paul P. de La Gironière
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Quanto tempo ci vuole per leggere i classici · Aggiornato
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Avventure nelle Isole Filippine in short
The book follows one man from a ruined fortune to a kingdom of his own making, and then to loss. La Gironière survives a massacre, builds a practice with a glass eye and a purchased coat, and marries a widow named Anna. When a quarrel with the governor ends his career, he buys Jala-Jala and turns a pirate stronghold into a farming village.
What Avventure nelle Isole Filippine is about
What would you do if a massacre broke out around you, you had almost no money, and your ship sailed without you? That is where Paul de La Gironière finds himself in Manila in 1820. He is a young French naval surgeon, and he decides to stay.
Adventures in the Philippine Islands is his memoir of about twenty years in the archipelago. He wrote it after seeing his own name in a novel by Alexandre Dumas, and he wanted to prove he really existed. You get battles, buffalo hunts, storms, caves, strange customs, and deep grief. Start with a night in Cavite.
A chi è rivolto. This book suits readers who love true adventure, colonial history, and travel writing with a human voice. It rewards anyone curious about Manila in the 1820s or a surgeon who becomes a lord.
The 10 key ideas
Key idea 1 · free to read
Boldness and past kindness save a life in Cavite
In September 1820 cholera strikes Manila. A rumor runs through the streets that foreigners are poisoning the rivers. Fear turns to rage, and on October 9 a massacre begins in Manila and Cavite. Almost all the French residents are killed, including the captain of La Gironière's own ship.
A mob chases the doctor to a boat. He goes back ashore for Captain Drouant, shoves aside the man about to knife him, and shouts to him to run. Then four hundred men close in on the doctor.
Help comes from people he once treated. A native soldier whose sick wife he cared for without a fee drives the crowd back with his musket. A Chinese tea seller named Yang-Po warns him of a night attack, and friends guide him across the rooftops.
The next morning he walks to the landing with pistols in his belt and offers a dollar to anyone who will work. Two hundred men carry supplies to the boats while he hides the gold in his pockets. He loses nearly everything he owns, and the ship sails without him. Kindness given freely comes back when you need it most.
- 2Inizia gratis per leggere
A borrowed coat and a glass eye make a career
Stranded in Manila, La Gironière decides to practice medicine.
- 3Inizia gratis per leggere
Marriage and fortune arrive, then revolt and illness
La Gironière meets the Marquesa de Las Salinas, a young widow whom he has seen on walks.
- 4Inizia gratis per leggere
A lord of Jala-Jala makes bandits his guard
A quarrel with the governor over a soldier's discharge pushes La Gironière to quit.
- 5Inizia gratis per leggere
Justice, mistakes, and the buffalo test of courage
La Gironière studies the Spanish system of village government.
- 6Inizia gratis per leggere
A night among headhunters and a well of mummies
La Gironière decides to tour northern Luzon and see the Tinguians and Igorrots, peoples little known to outsiders.
- 7Inizia gratis per leggere
Bandits, charms, and a hidden village at the end of the world
At Jala-Jala the old fisherman Relempago tells of pearls, pirates, and loss.
- 8Inizia gratis per leggere
Typhoons, caves, caymans, and snakes test the colonist
La Gironière crosses the lake with a nervous colonist named Balthazard and is caught in a typhoon.
- 9Inizia gratis per leggere
The Ajetas, a stolen skeleton, and a poisoned scratch
After his wife's death, La Gironière joins a final expedition to the Ajetas, small dark people who live by hunting in the forests of Luzon.
- 10Inizia gratis per leggere
Grief, departure, and a changed life in France
The happiest years at Jala-Jala bring a daughter who lives one hour, then a son, Henry.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Domande su Avventure nelle Isole Filippine
What is Adventures in the Philippine Islands about?
It is the memoir of a French surgeon who lives in the Philippines for twenty years. He describes Manila, his marriage, the estate he founds at Jala-Jala, his fights with bandits, and his visits to remote peoples.
Who is Alila in the book?
Alila, also called Mabutiu-Tajo, is a pirate chief whom La Gironière turns into his lieutenant at Jala-Jala. He follows his master on every dangerous trip and brings humor, loyalty, and a deep fear of ghosts.
What peoples does La Gironière describe?
He describes Tagals, Tinguians, Igorrots, the people of Tapuzi, and the Ajetas. He covers their dress, marriage customs, religion, burial, and warfare, based on his own visits and on what guides told him.
When was the book written and why?
La Gironière wrote it in the 1850s after returning to France. He was moved to publish when he saw himself turn up in a Dumas novel. He wanted to set the record straight and share his journal.
Cita questa edizione
La Gironière, Paul de. Adventures in the Philippine Islands. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/adventures-in-the-philippine-islands.
La Gironière, P. de. (2026). Adventures in the Philippine Islands. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/adventures-in-the-philippine-islands (Original work published 1853)
La Gironière, Paul de. Adventures in the Philippine Islands. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/adventures-in-the-philippine-islands.
@book{lagironiere2026adventures,
author = {La Gironière, Paul de},
title = {Adventures in the Philippine Islands},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/adventures-in-the-philippine-islands},
note = {First published 1853}
}
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