Book Review: Desire Provoked

Cliched as it is, remember never to judge a book by its cover.

I found this book from my dad's "To sell" pile as we were cleaning my grandma's workshop. I did not know the author and the book had one of the back covers that usually turn me off- a large picture of the author.

Old, to be sold(rejected), with a bad cover, with low goodreads ratings/readers, and written by an unfamiliar author, this book surprisingly turned out to be one of my best reads this month reminding me never ever to judge a book by its cover or its reviews. 

If you are into literary theory, you will mine this book for its "post"ness - rife with what is postcolonial(seen through his friend Than), postfeminist(through his wife), postmodern( through his neighbor Rosa). 

And through its main character Addams, we get to see how intelligent people do and think weird things, deal with their increasingly fragmented existence and still emerge victorious.

The story is masterfully told through a cycle of dreams, real life, maps, seances, and memories. 

Fast and fun facts:
Got it from: My dad's "To sell" pile of books
Finished: at a beach somewhere in La Union
Quotes: Saussere, Hegel and a whole lot more

ending this review with a quotable quote: 

"Attending one cause to the neglect of others inevitably foreshortens knowledge of the overall effect...the right breast is just as marvelous as the left..."

Book Review: The Seven Fires of Mademoiselle

By Aby Weygan

"The man must make the first move" so declares the unbelievably beautiful nanny Mademoiselle who finally falls in love not among with her many admirers but with a disinterested, balding fireman. Why with him when there are more handsome, and well off others? More importantly, how do you make a man make the first move?

Written by Buenos Aires born playwright Esther Vilar, The Seven Fires of Mademoiselle is a warm, funny, and instructive tale of a series of fires around Washington D.C and set against the backdrop of figures like JFK and Martin Luther King. Narrated by Carlota whose unique intellectual scrutiny misses nothing like: The hypocrisy of friendship, the hypocrisy of people who call themselves pro-poor or leftist-like her parents, the logic of crime, and the euphoria of arson. 

She is twelve years old. And has much to learn. With her diplomat parent always away, she spends most of her time with her French nanny, who in turn instructs her not only in French, as was commissioned, but also on love, courtship, manliness, and on a topic the Mademoiselle knows best, the arithmetic of beauty.

Fast and Fun Facts:
Got it from: Bookends Baguio
Relate much? I Think I too am balding :)

Book Review: Embers by Sándor Márai

From Hungarian author Sándor Márai comes a meditation on many topics: friendship, betrayal and revenge; old age, with its solitude; music and hunting; and an excursus on love and fidelity.

Two men, friends since their youth, meet again after 42 years of their own self-imposed exiles from each other and from the world. Their last meeting was with a woman, now dead.  So what happened during the last meeting that proved so detrimental it shattered all the lives of those three? why did it happen? and why after 42 years must these two friends, a General and an "Artist", meet again?

These questions were enough to keep me glued with the novel but I was exasperated since (1) while the event should be about two friends who are meeting again for one last talk, we instead get to hear almost all the supposed "talk/dialogue" from only one of them. (2) This is magnified by the fact that no other character is explored save from those mentioned by the one character who does all the talking and reminiscing-often with a matter of-factly tone.

I was not approaching the story properly.

Often, however, novels like these need be read like poems. So instead of looking at poor word choice like how in a segment, the character had to referred to time and again as "the son of the officer of the guards said.. the son of the officer of the guards, the officer of the guards", or why "Embers" in the first place? all of which becomes becomes clearer towards the end. Instead of expecting characters, , scenes, events, descriptions, and resolutions of conflicts, I was now looking at expressions, insights, and be contended with the few but cryptic scenes-especially the one at the end.

Witty, unexpected observations on the human drama, and enough questions on truth makes this 240 page novel interesting enough to finish in almost a day

Fast and Fun Facts:
Got it from: Bookends Baguio
paraphrased quote and unwarranted reflection:
Only men, never women, know true friendship. Which brings to mind the fact of fickle reasons women fight each other, and how long those grudges last.