[3] The title of My Sad Republic was derived from a verse in Florante at Laura, a classic narrative poem written by Filipino poet Francisco Baltazar (1789–1862) that intertwines romance and nationalism.

[2] The verse from which the title was adapted from mentions the Tagalog words "Sa loob at labas ng bayan cong saui,/ caliluha,i, siya'ng nangyayaring hari/", meaning "Inside and outside of my sad country,/ it is desolation that reigns supreme/" in the English translation.

Dionisio Magbuela is a peasant, healer, mystic, and religious leader, who later becomes a Filipino revolutionary, hero, and founder of a cult of babaylans (shaman-priests) based on folk Catholicism.

According to book reviewer Vicente G. Groyon III, Martinez is the least remarkable yet the most memorable character in Gamalinda's My Sad Republic.

[2] My Sad Republic is a novel that blends fact and fiction based on events in Philippine history that occurred in Negros approximately from 1880 through 1911.

[2] As a romance novel, My Sad Republic, narrates the love triangle that occurred between Dionisio Magbuela, Asunción de Urquiza, and Tomas Agustin.

[1] According to literary critic Vicente G. Groyon III, one of the most salient scenes in My Sad Republic is when Magbuela finds a copy of the Declaration of Independence of the United States through a Spanish friar, making Magbuela believe that the American occupiers will comprehend the reasons why he is fighting for the Negros Island's and the Philippines' own independence.

[1] Book critic Angela Stuart-Santiago compared the reading of My Sad Republic to reading Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude and Chilean novelist Isabel Allende's The House of Spirits because of Gamalinda's style of combining fact and fiction.