Arsenic and Adobo

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s treatment of drug addiction and drug overdose.

Lila is the 25-year-old protagonist of Arsenic and Adobo. The pronunciation of her name is debated, “LY-la or LEE-la” (207), and the latter is correct. All events are seen from her perspective, and her first-person narration gives the novel a casual, intimate tone as if she is having a conversation with the reader. Lila puts “on a full face of makeup to go grocery shopping” (25), hates talking on the phone, and prefers lilacs over all other flowers. She also “lean[s] into the bruha image” (3), which is a witchy image in Filipino culture.

At the beginning of the novel, Lila misses living in Chicago and dislikes her hometown of Shady Palms. While Lila’s parents died when she was young, her hometown is filled with relatives and family friends. In addition to her aunt, who runs Tita Rosie’s Kitchen and raised Lila, her grandmother, godmothers, and various cousins all live in Shady Palms. Lila’s identity is tied to making food and food service work. She prefers baking, like her grandmother.