Blurbology

Appetite for Sob Stories?

2011-02-01T02:10:00.000-08:00

On Banana Heart Summer (2005) by Merlinda Bobis

A Pinay maid in the US recalls her starving girlhood in a somber 1960s Third World neighborhood. She finds inspiration in the myth of the banana heart, turns to cooking for comfort, and discovers that her hunger can be appeased only in dreams. Cuisine clashing with grief can cause indigestion.

Paperback. Pasig: Anvil.

The Impersonal is Political

2011-01-31T08:11:00.000-08:00

On Pacman: My Story of Hope, Resilience, and Never-Say-Never Determination (2010) by Manny Paquiao

The story of Manny Pacquiao’s life is told, or so we are told, by Pacquiao himself, in this “personal autobiography” written (with a certain Timothy James) in exotified English. Reasonable doubt surrounds the lyrical and disembodied narrative voice, which confuses rather clarifies. Part biography, part fiction, totally shameless advertising.

Paperback. Pasig: Anvil.

Metamorphosis, Shmetamorphosis

2010-06-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

On Hope For the Flowers (1973) by Trina Paulus

A tale essentially about the human condition told through the lives of two insecure and naïve caterpillars with deep-seated neuroses in search of individuality while struggling with sexuality. And they never realize that their fate is to be unwitting slaves of ecology.

Non Review

2009-09-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

On Blank: The Power of Not Actually Thinking at All (2006) by Noah Tall

Chronic Monarch

2009-08-19T02:34:00.000-07:00

On The King (1990) by Donald Barthelme

Camelot in WWII UK: Arthur upholds medieval warfare, Winston be damned; the radio airs Guinevere's a-Maying with Launcelot; Ezra chastises the Jews and calls FDR an imbecile; Merlin's prophecy looms still; and the Quest for a new Grail promises great irony. This brilliant conjecture hopscotches happily along the boundaries of fiction and reality.

Screwing the Nation

2009-06-05T11:49:00.001-07:00

On the Hayden Kho videos (2009)

If there be a National Fist, why not a National Prick? Delirious as if virginal, this nation writhes in carnality at every newsflash. Each buzz is a solid thrust, adding to the ecstasy. And everyone has to partake in the debauchery, the politicians, most especially. One wonders how long this National Orgasm will last.

Love, Kill, Live

2009-05-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

On Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (1986) by Patrick Süskind

In Grenouille, Süskind has created a beloved serial killer with a powerful sense of smell. His beginning, a Dickens novel; his journey, a bildungsroman; his end, a Sartrian exit. More than an inspirational manual for murderers, Perfume is a treatise on the implosive relation between love and existence.

Bunch of Book Flips

2009-05-22T05:01:00.000-07:00

On Flips Flipping Pages in Shelfari.com

Unabashedly socially irrelevant, Flips Flipping Pages was initially an online group of Filipino book lovers--before the petit-bourgeois brats met up and agreed to meet monthly to gush about books. Since then, these bookworms have spread book geekiness, with astonishing results. As a member, I would never be the same again.

Spiffier than Slumdog

2009-05-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

On Millions (2004) by Danny Boyle, Director and Frank Boyce, Screenplay

Days before the UK embraces the Euro, a bag of quid falls upon a saintly boy’s playhouse, propelling him on a crusade to give the money away to the poor, against time, a robber, and his family thrown into the ethical dilemma. A poignant and colorful tale of money and humanity.

The Butt of the Joke

2009-05-19T21:25:00.000-07:00

On the fuss over Alec Balwin's quip on Filipino mail order brides (2009)

If only the government provided enough jobs with decent wages, Pinoys would not have to raise a ruckus each time someone pokes fun at their fragile identities. No laughs from the government. But why would the joke's butt join the laugh?

A Not So Sorry Story

2009-05-12T06:50:00.000-07:00

On Love Story (1970) by Erich Segal

Oliver Barrett IV and Jennifer Cavilleri will be remembered by generations of lovers. Segal is a manipulative genius, juggling simplicity, restraint and surprise. Only a well-read mind so sick of trashy, bestselling romance novels could have written this short and sweet concoction of the finest ingredients of love stories through the ages.

Authoring an Author

2009-05-11T03:49:00.000-07:00

On Bech is Back (1982) by John Updike

An uncanny and hilarious surfacing of a writer's mind as he enters his twilight years, dealing with writer's block, a global readership, marriage, and a much-changed publishing world. Will Updike’s Henry Bech hit another bestseller or are his few books doomed to shelf wear?

Dozing with Discomfort

2009-05-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

On The Comfort of Strangers (1981) by Ian McEwan

Two couples, never alike in dignity, meet, and disaster could not have been spelled out more clearly. The unfolding, however, is excruciatingly slow. McEwan’s novella could be the most effective sedative since counting sheep. Sexual perversity has never been made so boring.