Silly Sally - My Fourth Read

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What in the actual— AHAHAHAHA THE ENDING SUCKS BIG TIME AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

The reading journey is entertaining though. Sally Rooney is truly a writer of lusty intervals, a typical novel you can put in a cottage for summer getaways. She can write about sex without being too flowery or to porn-ish. Very transactional, like reading a book, or writing an essay.

Sally fleshed out Frances as the antiheroine, although the prose is a longer version of her short story named Mr. Salary. Frances is such a boring persona outside, but inside she's a screaming introspection. I loved reading her thoughts. They are so unreliable sometimes that you even question your memory.

There's the usual literary engines in this novel that depicts the millenial vibe: Mental Health, Spoken Poetry, and Painful periods. I kind of like that, Sally stamped herself in a literary generation of sorts. Not much like post-Post-modern, but you can place her in a separate table in a bookstore.

In her three novels, I liked Normal People the best (because of the in-betweens), and Beautiful World, Where Are You in the second place (because of her composite character dating a seemingly-Amazon-warehouse employee). This book, not much. But this created the wave for Sally to be known in the literary scene, so kudos to her.

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Tangina ng mga Lalake minsan.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novella is too short! Like an abstract study of Gender inequality in South Korea. With all the footnotes of news and magazine articles and statistics about differences in wage, career choices, and even the mere perception of having a son vs having a daughter, this book IS NOT ENOUGH.

Also, this convinced me more to not have a kid. Witnessing the sister + brother growing up in mama's hands and their studies with lesser intervention of papa's money (view spoiler)[hello, kami ni kuya nagpa-aral kay Kitty + full scholar si Jedi (hide spoiler)], aba'y talagang PUTANGAMA NINYONG LAHAT KUNG PIPILITIN NYO AKO MAGKA-ANAK. Babayaran nyo ba ako ng Php29.6 Million kapag may panganay akong lalake? Di ba, hindi? Puru lang kayo tanong, mga GenX na umaastang boomer (Yes, it's you, Elon Musk. Putangama mo)

Let the Earth be damned but until Patriachy dies, putangama ninyong lahat, ganern.

I HAVE RAGE!!!
lol ok time to watch the movie version.

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The BL I never thought I NEEDED

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My gosh! This is the BL I never thought I really needed. Napakaganda ng pagkakasulat! Highly recommended. It doesn't just talk about Aristotle and Dante. It talked about of being brave, pursuing dreams, writing, moving forward, and the little things that culminate you as you. Ang ganda ng pagkakabitaw ng mga linyahan ng writer. Sometimes, you don't need hifalutin vocabulary to evoke sincerity in a character's voice. Sometimes, Ari's sentiments reflect my day-to-day hanash, to the point of him inspiring me to write again. Reading this book made me want to write in my journal again. Hay. Naiyak ako ahahahahaha

Sorry for this makalat na book review but I will rewrite this in time. Hopefully.

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Reading at Midnight

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Formulaic and fun...?

So weird to have a feel-good moment after you realized the book started with a suicidal character. I dunno. Suddenly I feel guilty for feeling optimistic about the plot when in fact, the writer is simply profiteering with depression kineso like Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life.

Sometimes, a book can give you a toxic positivity vibin'. Hays.

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Silly Sally - My Third Read

Mr Salary by Sally Rooney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

That's helluvah ton of kinikimkim na damndamin! It's a short story, but can actually be a part of a novel. Some say that this is her writing exercise before starting conversations with friends. It's weird though, this is the second time that I encounter a plotline depicting an electra complex. Naol nabibilhan ng bet nya sa shopping eme. Charot not charot.

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Tangina ng mga Sadboi minsan.

All the Sad Young Literary Men by Keith Gessen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Really? Reading a novel with a Russianism-fanatic character? In the middle of Russian imperialism to Ukraine? *trashtalk intensifies*

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Reminiscient of Martial Law

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What in the actual mindfcuk is this novel? I thought this is supposed to be plot-driven, but this speculative fiction is more reminiscient of the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Haruki Murakami, with a splash of Jose Saramago's Blindness. It is very metaphorical! The main character is a novelist who has published books about disappearances. Her last work, about a typist with a disappearing voice, was made throughout the timeline of her life with a draconian world in Memory Police.

I am a bit disappointed with the lack of a plot development on the Memory Police's point-of-view, but I believe Yoko deliberately wrote it this way for us to realize that a fascist regime really hates disclosing their activities and plans. This rings true when a state is under a Martial Law (i.e. Philippines and South Korea) or even under the State of Emergency (i.e. Singapore).

What I loved in the translation is how simple the words were made, and yet, it cuts deep. Perhaps the employment of passive voice bears more power in translating the Japanese soul of the characters rather than the usual active voice (as how the West creates their prose). Also, I love the allegory of holding a ritual when a thing disappears. Remarkable parts are (1) the roses floating in the river and (2) the burning of the library. I am not much aware of the most Japanese, but they really are into hoarding mementos / souvenirs, and as one lets go of it, a ceremony of hand-off is being held.

If only this is more of an action film-like prose, I might get through this novel in one sitting.

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First Read is not a Good Read

Jack by Marilynne Robinson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

First read of the year and I am tired already.

It's a trainwreck of sadboi sentiments splashed with prosaic poetry, random encounters, and religious outtakes. Prince of Darkness, my ass. Jack has a whiny voice, but since it is a male character, it is muted with sadboi dramas circa 1950-1960s boomer energy.

Bad BAAADDD reading experience of Marilynne's work, she shouldn't create another Gilead saga with Jack as the main character. Predestination is not a good literary agency in this work.

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My 2022 Reading Plans

Before the year ends, I hope to read at least one from this list: 

• Carry-forwards from 2018 - other books that are mentioned in Books that Taught us that Love is Painfully Ordinary. 
• I wish HAVE TO FINISH The Infatuations by Javier Marías. Another Gina Apostol work: RAYMUNDO MATA MADE ME UNDERGO A HUGE READING SLUMP, but 
• I am decided to read more of her works. Bibliolepsy is coming out soon. 
• Post-modern work: 1 Foreign. 
• I have a copy of Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson. 
• Get into a Buddy-Reading spree! Hopefully, I won't feel any pressure this year. Audio-book - uh, guys, I appreciate a copy being sent to mariaellabetos[at]gmail[dot]com
• MIRACLE GOAL YEAR 2 is to read at least 5% of the Physical books in my existential-crisis-inducing-bookshelf!!!!
• rawr needed all your prayers and positive push to get this through!!! Oftentimes, Genshin is lifer so hahahahuhuhelp~

Silly Sally - My Second Read

Normal People by Sally Rooney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Gosh, Sally got me here.

Honestly, my comfort read is a novel spanning years, detailing the lives between two people, their on-and-off dynamics, their respective interactions with themselves and with other people. My first encounter of this great read was David Nicholl's One Day; Paolo Giordano's Solitude of Prime Numbers coming in close second. This book was the third.

I saw this book from a youtube teaser of Hulu's miniseries Normal People and its twitter raves of "thirst traps" between Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal, and how the actress looked like Dakota Johnson, only British. With their ASMRs of kissing scenes, that got me intrigued. Sorry not sorry lol.

All the while I thought this novel is how the author encapsulate a young millenial life: sex and cigarettes during high school, facebooking, messenger apps, college applications and scholarships. But then this also gives a glimpse of what the millenials also ignore (view spoiler)[or I guess, not being talked about much (hide spoiler)] in the early days — depression, anxiety, and sado-masochism. Yes, sorry for the spoiler, but it is Marianne who is into this kink. You will learn the hugot as you dwell into her domestic life, her school life, and her love life, Connell or no Connell.

Imagine tackling these difficult topics in a literary form that is not supposed to be preachy! I know that talking about sex or mental health is difficult, and if you want to have an imposing tone, you can go to the self-help section of the bookstore. Sally Rooney did not offer that. She wanted you to come and sit in the corner and read. And listen (or I guess in this novel, have a look). Added in a splash of social class, and how one feels in a world of meritocracy, mediocrity, and how everything seems to be a business, that even the art of writing is not spared. It is not as heavy as the Communist Manifesto, but Sally made a point that some things are tough because of some systemic issues, and its repercussions of one's interaction with the other.

I don't know, just try this book. This is my Sally Rooney's second book and I am entertained. You should try it. (view spoiler)[Personally, Beautiful World, Where are You is better in writing calisthenics, but this is more vibrant and colorful (hide spoiler)].

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