"Please Stop Judging Me"

是-ZE 1 by Yuki Shimizu

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Don't judge me! I was influenced by my brother's interests in these kinds of stories. But to note some citations - the plot is like Fruits Basket, with lots of pairings, back stories, and supernatural. It's about a new housekeeper being thrust into the live of a powerful family who uses paper dolls as their protectors. Not sure if there is a legit Japanese folklore about them, but this perspective is very unique. Sketches are nice, so are ecchi scenes, hahaha. But it is still weird that there are innocent pairings, vulgar beyond repair, and those two-straight-guys-doing-sex-because-they-need-help. LOL.

I would recommend this to the open-minded manga readers who likes the manly sketches. The art reminded me of Kyou Kara Koi Wo Hajimemasu (forgot who's the author, though)



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Back to the Basics: #LaslasReads

Puppy Love and Thirteen Short Stories by F. Sionil José

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"How could two very young people get to know the arcane ways of loving, caring? I did not know then what love was but I did know feeling - unexpressed, compulsive - "
-Puppy Love, an excerpt

A collection of stories by the National Artist F. Sionil Jose, he coincided the them of love into his foray of genres - from magical realism, to taboo tales, to Noir-ish takes, and even a shot of a children's story. The red book is romantic but is not cheesy. He weaves the words like a household chore, like washing the dishes - so mundane, yet so extraordinary.

My personal favorites from the collection is the children's story entitled The Molave and The Orchid, where the author wrote this -

"Someday, I will love someone for we are destined to do so."

THAT SIMPLY GAVE THE FEELS AWAY.
Other notable story here is the Waltz, which appealed to female readers (most of the bookish friends gush in this work, remembering the way the two characters danced and talked).

I suggest you read it in random. You never know what story is in store for you. And if you are a guy who doesn't prefer flowers as a gift to a special someone, give a copy of this instead. Introduce her to that children's story. And give the feels away.



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No. STILL. NO.

Ola, Lang.

Of all the poems that she wrote in this second collection, this is the worst. She made mention:

"Lullabies is a book that, over time, will reveal itself to you slowly."

What actually revealed to me is that she is trying to sell an anticipatory heartbreak, for you to appreciate her "whimsical rhythms". In addition, she is trying to be the next E.L.James, selling BDSM as a YA read. She wants her nursery rhyme about "I’d take you out, fuck you up against the car." to appeal to teenage jejemons who cannot ingest malayang taludturan.

Just saying.

Navigating Connections

Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Our stories are all intertwined. It’s just a matter of connecting the dots."

There is something subliminal in the prose that made me shed a tear or two, or something sincere in the voices of the two boys, Jack and Early, that made me go on reading the adventures. The voyage may be a series of coincidences, but who are we to judge the technicality of fiction-writing to kids when we, kids-at-heart, are ready to receive the message being sent across..?

In the first point-of-view of Jack Baker we see the sentiments of being lost. And yet, it is through the characters around him that create a wonderful landscape, adding tones and texture and sensory overloads. Female readers might find the story too superficial, but again, who are we to judge the book that caters kids of all ages?

The part that marked so special in my heart is when Jack and Early stayed with the "big whale", looking at the stars. I remember imagining myself hearing the telltales - the Sagas - that for me, adds us to the essence of life. Or in Icelandic, I might say, is kvöldvaka.



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Bad Joke?

Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“So when you find yourself locked onto an unpleasant train of thought, heading for the places in your past where the screaming is unbearable, remember there's always madness. Madness is the emergency exit.”

I do not normally read these kinds of Graphic Novels, involving a superhero. But since my chief is a fan of Alan Moore's story and art (and I suppose a fan of this kind) he let me read one of his brother's collections in one sitting.

The Noir vibe of Joker's back-story made us look into the Sepia-colored-past of one of Batman's biggest villains. In the first few panels of this brownish tones, we saw that he lacked the self-esteem, feeling desperate for his wife and the incoming baby. This part of his life portrayed some of the make-or-break scenarios that tug our sensitivity, or might as well, increased our sympathy quotient.

In mere less-than-a-hundred pages, we tried filling in the gaps. The open-ended sequence of 9 panels in the last page - when the police light became visible and the rain got stronger - Alan Moore nailed that cliffhanger.

It made me wonder at our protagonist - if he, known as the more rational, used the emergency exit.



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The First National Hero: Take Two

Lapu-Lapu by Francisco V. Coching

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Iyan si Lapu-lapu... Ang dakilang kayumangging may pusong kasintigas ng kanyang pananalig, na hanggang siya'y buhay, ang Mactan ay hindi malulupig!

That is how the National Artist ended his series of romanticized episodes of battles and adventures of our first National Hero.

In the 50's Manila where the Television is for the upper classes, the masses considered a 25-centavo komiks as their form of entertainment. This is where the Filipino language is very tagalized, and the colloquial terms are not much rampant. This is where the male are drawn as alpha-male, and women are drawn as very feminine. I loved the sketches, the six-panel conversations per page never fails to amaze me - the ability to convey the conversations in mere six boxes is, for me, one of the best inventions comic book writers ever devised in the old times.

What made me realized is that many of us patronize the romantic element in a plot. There are lots of tandems in the series, unlike the thesis that Tepai Pascual formulated in her Mactan 1521. In addition, the sharp contrast of Lapu-lapu's representation between these two novels only enlightened me how fast the time went by - making the first hero a bit metrosexual in the latter's work (view spoiler)[ANG HABA NG HAIR NI LAPU-LAPU, SARAP LANG I-SHAMPOO, HIHI (hide spoiler)].

If you are a curious reader and you want to explore the life of the National Hero, I suggest you start with this one. Start with the oldies style, so that you can see the transition of Coching's work to Pascual's Opus.



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The First National Hero: Take One

Maktan 1521 by Tepai Pascual

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maktan. Ang aking bayan.
Ang islang sapilitang inaangkin ng mga dayuhan.
Ang islang may nag-iisang Lapu-lapu.
Ang aming Datu.
Ang aking ama.

The author might have declared that this work is considered a historical fiction, she gave justice to our Sugbu ancestors by bringing their culture and lifestyle into the limelight. She broke the convention of reiterating the events from Fernando Magallanes' travels, and focused rather on the people of our land.

This work reinforces my belief that the Chief of Mactan island is our very first hero. I am proud of Tepai for influencing me as a Pinoy Reader.



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Throwback Trip to 2014 Komikon

Trip to Tagaytay by Arnold Arre

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Kinurot ang puso ko sa huling panel nito. Gusto kong umiyak pero andaming tao lang nang binabasa ko ito sa Jollibee, habang umoorder ang mga kasama.

It really deserved the National Book Award because it reflected the Society ay a futuristic century where smart phones are already considered as throwback, yet the reality of floods and the dirty society remained. (WOW ME MASABI LANG AHAHAHAHA)

PERO NALUNGKOT AKO SA HULI. HUHUHU



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Life And Loss In A Foreign Yet Familiar Prose

I first encountered Kyung-sook Shin, a renowned South Korean contemporary writer in her bestseller, Please Look After Mom, from one of my thematic reads. Seeing her seventh novel in English translation during the Manila International Book Fair this year, I did not hesitate to buy it, even the discount was so tiny.

What attracted me into reading I'll Be Right There is the significance of the setting used as the backdrop for the novel. Knowing that the country also underwent Martial Law for years, it hit me closer to home.   

The dominant role of Professor Yoon and snippets of European literature added up to the sensitivity of the plot. It captured my sentiments on life and death as the professor imparts his final message upon leaving the university - 

Therefore, I leave you all with one final thought: Live. Until you are down to your final breath, love and fight and rage and grieve and live.

Set in 1980s Korea, the protagonist Jung Yoon recounts the memories of her college life triggered by the phone call of an ex-boyfriend after eight years of silence. Some would have guessed that this is a cheesy love story prologue, but what surprised me is the book is anything but. It reflects the lives of the youth on the Gwangju Uprising - the student and citizen protest and fight for democracy after more than 10 years of authoritarian rule. 

Some readers may find the prose with the same air as Murakami's Norwegian Wood in using 1970s Zengakuren as literary backdrop, but unlike the Japanese author, Kyung-sook Shin manages it without the aid of sex or magical realism or making the character feign indifference throughout the book. What did the latter wrote are true accounts of deaths and disappearances, and the sharp melancholia brought about by the irony of life an death: participating in a massive demonstration without knowing that your close friend is living her remaining days.

Unlike the first translated work of Please Look After Mom, the prose is of lesser guilt-inducing, and rather ending with a hope of re-connection after a long detachment. This touched the raw emotions of the youth in those days, in dealing with ideology of bringing out the change, and carrying the consequences to it - may it be a loss that will never be restored, or a birth of something new.

A certain good read, as I would say.

Returning to Two Homes

The Promise of Iceland by Kári Gíslason

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

'I just want to be home', I replied.
'You are home, dear Kári.'

A heartfelt memoir of keeping a secret and breaking a promise, Gíslason laid out snippets of his life in the dramatic landscapes of Iceland, bringing us to the land of the Sagas, to the sky of the Northern Lights, and to the ashes of Eyjafjallajökull. He also brought stories of the hot summer, the long beaches and the cheap wine of the Australian continent.

What I love about this book is how he wrote his big love with the land at the edge of the world. He made me piqued my interest in the paradoxes of the Icelandic culture - like you are being owned but you are on your own, or how the people are reserved and intrusive, and how much they frown while giving you a warm welcome. As a writer and a PhD in Medieval literature, he convinced me to read the dramatic family sagas of the Iceland, naming Egíl's and Njál's as his top favorites.

The unhurried prose made me imagine how his parents fell in love. And this book does not even try to patronize secret lovers or dangerous liaisons, but it is to see the struggles of the result - a lovechild outside of the wedlock. We are given a point of view of Kari's - for us not to be bitchy about adultery, because prejudice does not help in welcoming a child into the world. By acknowledging one's existence also mean's welcoming in one's home.



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