Dogeaters

"A wildly disparate group of characters-including movie stars and waiters, a young junkie and the richest man in the Philippines-becomes ensnared in a spiral of events culminating in a beauty pageant, a film festival, and an assassination. At the center of this maelstrom is Rio, a feisty schoolgirl who will grow up to live in America and look back with longing on the land of her youth"--