Literary Executive Review: Maya Butalid, “Chasing Windmills”
by ReadersMagnet | September 19, 2025 | Literary Executive Review | 0 Comments
Maya Butalid’s “Chasing Windmills” showcases the life of a Filipino who found home in the Netherlands in a series of essays.
Chasing Windmills by Maya Butalid offers a glimpse into the life of a Filipino as they start anew in the Netherlands. This book is a compilation of essays that present Butalid’s thoughts in her experiences from being a student activist in the University of the Philippines to finding her way to the Netherlands and pursuing her master’s degree to pursuing a government office in her new country. Butalid’s essays illustrate how an immigrant acclimates to their new environment and finds a new life in their second home.
What makes Maya Butalid’s Chasing Windmills a standout is that it is an amalgamation of Butalid’s personal experiences and creative storytelling. With this, readers can actually get a glimpse of her life as a girl from Cebu, Philippines, to a wordsmith who has a story to tell, incorporating imagination and reality.
The book’s title itself is catchy – “Chasing Windmills.” Butalid shares two sets of stories in her life: the outer events that happen in her life, and the inner events that changed her as a person. Reading her essays felt like immersing in some sort of poetic prose. Her words and stories weave together to form strong images, as if the events happen before your eyes.
Maya also included two articles based on imagined scenarios: “Once Upon a Time in Heaven” and “Fair Secret.” In these essays, Maya showcases her creative storytelling prowess, letting her readers get into her world of words, symbolism, and “what ifs.” Moreover, it makes her book a journey, where stories unravel while the narrator chases her windmills through the winding road to success.
From a writer’s perspective, Chasing Windmills takes its readers on a trip, using the events in Butalid’s life. She does know how to keep her readers engaged. Her essays introduce terminologies using English, Dutch, and Filipino. Reading the book becomes an educational trip and a sightseeing into the author’s life.
Maya Butalid also mentioned that the “windmills” in this book symbolize the different challenges that she encountered and triumphed over. As you go through her essays, you will notice the different atmospheres they present. The book explores several themes crucial to her journey: The Struggle, Being Part of Dutch Society, Identity, Roots, and Touching Base.
Chasing Windmills also caters to readers who would only read specific chapters in a book. Each chapter in this book is a stand-alone essay. So, no matter where you start, you will still understand Butalid’s narrative. Each essay invites you to see the different lives she led: A life that braves through the events that happen, and a life that transforms into a better version of herself.
The author knows how to keep her readers. Her storytelling lets you form images in your mind. It also inspires you to fight for the ideals that you stand for, brave through the strength of the wind before you, and achieve your goals for a better tomorrow.
Maya Butalid does not shy away from mentioning personal struggles, like dealing with a cancer diagnosis or leaving her activist group that doesn’t represent her ideals anymore. Reading her book is like talking to a friend with a life update. She effectively compares and contrasts her life as a Filipino in her country and as an immigrant trying to start from scratch in the Netherlands.
Speaking of a friend, the book cover permeates a friendly atmosphere. It presents an image that could be from a watercolor painting. The cover features a scenery that mirrors one side of Amsterdam: blue skies with white clouds, a canal with a boat, a bridge, bicycles, trees, and buildings near the water. It captures a life that’s chasing an ambition of a better future. The title is written in cursive. It could signify that the author’s journey involves refining the curves of her life journey. Despite the title, the book cover does not feature a windmill, which would make you question as a reader, “Where are the windmills?” This question will then become a foundation in getting to know Maya Butalid more as she introduces the “windmills” in her first few words of the book.
From the brand and marketing perspective, Maya Butalid knows how to provoke the thoughts of the readers through the cover. It has a sunny vibe that would really let you think about what’s inside it. When you read the book, it opens doors to imagery and symbolism to decode. As a reader, it also makes you think about the “windmills” that you would encounter in your life.
Overall, Chasing Windmills by Maya Butalid is an entertaining, insightful, and educational book that takes readers on an experience that’s both inspirational and transformative.
Book rating: 5/5
Buy this book on Amazon. Learn more about the author by visiting her website: https://www.mayabutalid.com/
