According to The Atlantic National Correspondent James Fallows, the novel is dedicated to the author’s wife Teresita José.[3] The novel, which can be read in one sitting,[4] was described by Li-an de la Cruz-Busto, a reporter for Sun.Star Davao as “very light but candid and insightful”,[5] a description that complements The Manila Times reporter Perry Gil S. Mallari’s calling José’s Sherds as an “easy read and a guaranteed page-turner”. A novel composed of twelve chapters with a "tight and palpable" narrative pacing, Sherds deals with topics related to "personal conscience, greed and the position of art" in social class struggle, thus serving as a cogitation on "what is wrong" with the Philippines as a nation.[1] José wrote Sherds while he was in Japan.[1]