KwesiFriends

• Rated 0 stars

“When I and my family went to Hong Kong last 2007 to enjoy our summer vacation, it only made our summer worst like an acupuncturist pin you with thousand of needles one at a time, slowly but surely. It was a nightmare that until now I can't help but to regret everything I spent to that trip but one thing that really struck me most, it was the number of OFWs or Overseas Filipino Workers in Central, Victoria Park.

You can't imagine, the whole park was populated by Filipinos who works as a nurse, domestic helper, drivers and many more. They went there to mingle with co-Filipinos and have their spare time relaxing and picnicking with friends. There are also stores that sold Filipino delicacies and products like our local junk food, canned goods and instant noodle. Even a foreigner or newly worked Filipinos can feel the presence of the spirit of his own culture in Victoria Park. When you are planning to go to Hong Kong don't forget to visit Victoria Park, I'm sure you'll enjoy the view and the chirping voices of everyone, and we're lucky enough that my cousin had a friend there working and she guide us to the park. It was the whole replica of the Philippines in a very small rectangular land of Hong Kong.

How many Filipinos do you think died every year because of maltreatment of their employers? Well, only 600 of OFWs died every year and they were played by their employer like a toy that they didn't even think of a single soul living to the body of the innocent worker. When I heard that my cousin was willing to go to Israel to work as a caregiver I was shocked and I want to force her to stop, fortunately she successfully went to Israel and worked like what she planned and met a Jew family that cared her. Not all of them really have the chance to meet nice people, but what really forced them to work outside the country?

When you tried to search the word OFW or google it, you will see 5,990,000 results are currently been searched by Google in .14 seconds. That must be so impossible for a librarian to look for but the numbers of results have two in common, it was the promised work and money you'll get abroad. How promising, it was like watching a TV commercial that repeats every 10 to 30 minutes that persuade the watchers to buy the product. Money and work, yes, we need them to live but if you are willing to work and gain money you don't need to go outside the country and become a slave. It's because people don't have contentment in life, they want more money they work outside, they want foreign goods they went outside, they want green bucks they went outside and so on. WTH, can we even stop thinking of other countries and tried to work our countries political showbizness?

The event in Jose Dalisay's book, Soledad's Sister, happened in the Philippines but the story mentioned a lot of places around the world like Hong Kong, San Francisco, Jeddah and many more were Filipinos migrated and worked to sustain the needs of their family back to their country.

The story evolves in the three main characters, two still alive and the other died to unknown incident, they have different stories to tell and each have different problem to be solve. Soledad Cabahug corpse delivered to NAIA International Airport to be received by her family, 26, lost and drowned. Before the incident she was dedicated to her work to be a nanny of a King's son to save money for her son and sister's future. Aurora Z. Cabahug or Rory a promising singer and worked as entertainer at Flame Tree, she lives with Sole's son in an expensive subdivision. When SPO2 Walter G. Zamora, a policeman who had been forgotten by his family and wife who worked outside the country, received a letter from NAIA and fall in love to Rory. They went to Manila and received the corpse of Soledad and in a minute the corpse was stolen by an unknown thief. What really happened to the corpse of Soledad? Will Rory find light and peace after the incident? Will Walter find his true love and his family in Marikina?

The characters of the book are unforgettable they are well developed but the writer. But the problem of reading this book is the changing perspective of every set of paragraphs and sometimes the whole chapter, nobody knows whom and nobody knows what really they discuss. The whole book not only relates to the life of OFW but also relates to the problems of the whole society. If I only have the chance to write a journal or an article to our school newspaper, no doubt I'll write articles related to the society's anxieties.

The story end up open to readers, there is no ending and it was like you are still in the beginning of everything. There are still questions that may ask like What really happened to Soledad before she died? I asked myself the question for a week and I understand why, because some OFWs died without any reason or cause because they were guarded by national guards. If I can still remember if you worked in a King's household, the national police are not allowed to investigate the cause of death but to stay the decaying body for three days. It must be so awful for the family of the victim not knowing the killer.

A friend of mine reviewed the book and mentioned lack of identity. It must be but not in the point of lacking her own personality identity but the personal identity that we search for the freedom of the victims. They are unknown, they become shadows and they become lost memories of everyone.

Rating - Soledad's Sister by José Y. Dalisay Jr., 4 Sweets and the tragic events of every OFWs who worked hard abroad and abused like animals. (It's been awhile that I write reviews and I really missed reading books again. Swear, a week of no reading was like living in an island alone. My most loved review. Complimentary copy from Anvil http://www.anvilpublishing.com/ and special thanks to Fanta and Gege of Flips Flipping Pages.)

Challenges:
Book #24 for 2011”

KwesiFriends wrote this review Friday, February 11, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 0 stars

“While reading this book, you'll remember everything what your mother told you when you were young. Her old classic stories and the tragedies that she embark growing with her own family. My mother lived in a bariotic place of Mindanao, somewhere were gadgets and even electricity were never a hindrance to their living. She always talks about her siblings and the days that they enjoyed in there small kitchen cooking, chatting and revealing secrets like the old tale of The Red Tent.

She talks mostly about food, they are the family of best chef. From local delicacies to there own invented recipes, to the sweetest or the most bitter dish they ever made. I must be envy of her past and her siblings but all I can do for now is to concentrate and read the story of Merlinda Bobis while she travels her own character to Bicol, where two Gods meet face-to-face with the powerful power of food and passion from her book Banana Heart Summer.

After reading this book, I must be dreaming eating Atchara, a Philippines condiment cooked from pickled papaya and usually served as a side dish. Every time Inday fried or grilled a fish, chicken or a pork, she always served pickled papaya to increase our appetite. Cooking a delicious papaya pickled a person must have the power to supply the joy and sadness of the local delicacy, from chopping, boiling up to preparing the pickled papaya to be exiled in a sealed container.

Like the life of Nenita, a 12 year old girl who quit school to sustain the needs of her family. She ventured to the one way street of there town looking for job and met people whom she enjoyed and loved until their last breath. She enjoyed cooking like the other girls, she enjoyed every movement, every gesture and every meaning of every sound she heard. From the bubbling hot oil that she experienced and heard the sound of joy.

She must be parallel to atchara, from the day she was born and prepared for the development of her life, the vegetables and the fruits that nurture her and the vinegar who gives sourness. Slicing every ingredients to be prepared, slicing native onion is like sadness, sadness that will never be forgotten from the first touch to the last little piece of large sliced onions. Squeezing the sap of ginger and the papaya, makes you suffer of body pain from working day and night. The smell of the boiling solution of salt, vinegar and ginger sap makes you dizzy and fall from every trap that appears at your side and lastly, the mixing of fresh ingredients like fresh memories and the sourness of the vinegar solution creating a balance taste of a perfect side dish, atchara. A Filipino delicacy that will be never forget by the person who first sinned by the apple.

This book was like a straight line, no humps, no curves not even a small dirt of pen can bent. While reading this book, I must confess that the book was lack of what we call climax and rising action. I can't feel my body get excited reading every prose she wrote but my salivary gland nonstop from producing sticky mucus. Mentioning hundreds of local delicacies makes my tongue jump and lick every pages of the book, I may be crying remembering my mother, how sweet and bitter a life can be.

Before you start reading her novel I must invite you guys to enter her Fruit Stall, a short story she wrote for Filipino especially the beautiful body of the papayas, who work abroad and lost counts of there dignity and wishing a better future. A story of an OFW who sold by her father to a foreigner and become a prostitute to send small little grapes to her family. A shameful Filipina, lost her own dignity and name.

Rating - Banana Heart Summer by Merlinda Bobis, 4 Sweets and the passion of cooking. ( A merienda must serve and a cool iced tea to enjoyed reading this book, don't forget to ask for atchara. Next time if you want to have a food trip here in the Philippines you must order pork adobo, a not-to-be-miss here in the island of Philippines! Complimentary copy from Anvi - http://www.anvilpublishing.com/ and special thanks to Fanta and Gege of Flips Flipping Pages.)

Challenges:
Book #20 for 2011

Visit me at - http://oldfashionedreader.blogspot.com/”

KwesiFriends wrote this review Tuesday, February 1, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 0 stars

“I was hoping I can finish this short book for one day, unfortunately I volunteered last night's Green Intensity. There are invited bands like Kamikazee, Sponge Cola and Secondhand Serenade sponsored by our school, Globe TeleCom and Magic 89.9. Since I'm not a party animal or a noise fanatic, all I did last night was to read this book with the intense noise of the band, but I fall chatting with my friends.

This book was set in the mid 90s with the growing word, teen-ager and society. While reading this book, I can't help but to be scared of the past and vomit until I realized that some old people outshone there past with beautiful markings. But a book as a part of art had its own characteristic of being timelessness, there is no death to books but to be revived and loved by the new generations.

Teen-ager are usually a group of teens who are in a society. What I mean of a Society is high-toned, high-priced, high-spirited and hifalutin people, for short rich. And gangster are for people who don't have higher social status in life. I think until now, people are still using this kind of words but not as vulgar as Nick Joaquin's books plus people are still categorize by there social status.

Our own generation were lucky enough and our parents were family oriented, I don't mean that our grandparents were non-family oriented, but I mean our parents knows what is right and what is wrong in our current status with the society. We were also given a chance to mingle with the other people freely. Candido's Apocalypse is a story of a young teen-ager who search for his own identity.

Bobby Heredia, a 17 year old kid, a stowaway and a kid who thought that he knows everything. His eyes started to see naked people when he thinks that his name should be somewhat derived to a calendar name. Like the old times when your grandparents named your mom or dad with names in the calendar, they represents who you are and the shadow that lurks inside you. So his shadow was Candido, a boy who wants to be free and he can see people naked and can read the thoughts of others.

Candido always describes things as offkey and overacting to everything a person reacts to a certain thing. In fact he believes that everything should be done the way he thinks. So one day he decided to leave the burlesque mansion because of his depressing situation of being Candido, until he came back home and his situation is getting worst. He can't see people naked but he sees them without a skin! Nick Joaquin's interpretation of the odd body system of human makes me vomit and frightened of my own body.In the end he realizes that he needed companion to live in peace, with God, family and friends.

Compared to his other short stories, there are sentences or maybe the first half part of the book was lost in translation. It makes my minute of reading confusing and I thought of myself stupid like Bobby. But in the end, he added God as the solution of the story making it more profound to read but weird since if you're going to read the whole story only his grandmother was a religious character and you won't expect something too religious that will be pop in the end.

In some point, the story was hilarious when Bobby imagined his own grandmother naked and when he saw her walking in the stair without clothes. Lol! Don't mention that he can also see skin diseases of commoners walking from side to side, can't help be to laugh. My own interpretation of his eyes is that it shows he need freedom of expression, he can heard people thoughts, he judges people first without knowing them until he realized he or she was different. Another major problem of the book is the shifting of the 1st person narration, sometimes his mother will be the narrator or sometimes their maid. Lastly I want readers to read it slowly as possible while Bobby is in search of his own persona.

Rating - Candido's Apocalypse by Nick Joaquín, 4 Sweets and the eyes that can see naked people. (So far I've read 2 books of Nick Joaquin and I find him interesting in his own way of writing. Can't wait to grab another Nick Joaquin books soon. Complimentary copy from Anvil - http://www.anvilpublishing.com/ and special thanks to Fanta and Gege of Flips Flipping Pages.)

Challenges:
Book #18 for 2011”

KwesiFriends wrote this review Saturday, January 29, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 0 stars

“I don't know what really happened to the Filipino youth now a days, including me. I never understand why we love to read foreign novels and never tried to read books and short stories of our local authors and samples of our national artist, Nick Joaquin. Is it the youth or the education that mistakenly made Filipinos innocent to the beauty of there own people?

I've heard lots of praises bout Rizal and the other old bayanis (heroes) that I'm sickeningly bursting of knowledge of there lives and history, why not help ourselves understand and know our current heroes that help Philippines well known because of there name through there works.

Unfortunately, Nick Joaquin was one of the unlucky hero that had been erased to the mind of Filipinos, even my parents and old mates. I asked them if they really knew Nick Joaquin, and they answered no. How disappointing that even the old Filipino generation is too innocent of his works. Thanks to my college Phil. Lit. professor, he helped us understand and knew Nick Joaquin by reading his short story, The Summer Solstice, from the first word until the end of the story, he never disappointed me from liking his work even I have hard time understanding every details, the running imagination and the supernatural culture of the characters. (The Summer Solstice, is not suitable for young readers since it shows sensual scenes and demoralized characters of females. - I'm not here to defy the female but simply shows that females are equal to male.) Below is a short introduction of Nick Joaquin, copied from Wikipedia.

Nicomedes Márquez Joaquín (May 4, 1917–April 29, 2004) was a Filipino writer, historian and journalist, best known for his short stories and novels in the English language. He also wrote using the pen name Quijano de Manila. Joaquin was conferred the rank and title of National Artist of the Philippines for Literature.

After Jose Rizal and Claro M. Recto, both writers in Spanish language, he is considered the third most important Filipino writer (but the most important writer writing in the English language). - Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Joaquin

Reportage of Crime: Thirteen Horror Happenings That Hit the Headlines, is composed of 13 narratives of true crime stories (I have doubt that the articles were fiction) transcend journalism by attempting analyses of character, motive, period and ambiance. What emerges is the picture of a fascinating decade: the 1960's. And yes, it really put me in a time machine and it gives me the chance to see the past of so called teen-ager and society.

The number thirteen (13) itself means unlucky to numerology and Feng Shui and I'm fascinated with the fact that hotel floor, rooms and even streets don't have thirteen (13), in fact number 13 in the Tarot card is The Death. I can't help myself get scared while reading the book and analyzing every articles, not to mention number thirteen (13) will always pops in your mind. Below are my top 3 most wanted crime and most interesting so far!

1. Chapter 2: The Boy Who Wanted to Become 'Society' - In the world of rich and poor, a young boy wanted to become a 'society' - high-toned, high-priced, high-spirited and hifalutin - but what he wanted to be better become worst. He become the victim of his own wish and coward to his own social status. The practice of what Rizal called Social Cancer.

2. Chapter 3: Gun Duel at LVN and Chapter 7: The Short, Unhappy Life of Boy Virgil - Hollywood movies become popular, cowboys, gunslinger and even high powered and well-weaponed villains exist in the world of movie or in the real world itself. When Filipinos adopted such movies, a group of young man (teen-ager) become particular of the movies in the past, gun killing and womanizing increases in number. It become a big problem for the community, and become the cause of deaths of one of riches and well known actors of Erap's generation. How can a drop-out of Ateneo and a frat member become the president of the Philippines? Is he the mirror of what we call poverty or the mirror of the rebells?

3. Chapter 8: The Lodger - One day a building burned and 21 people died from the incident, it shows difference of the society, race and individual. The power of the higher rank and the effect of poverty. Everyone receives death, destiny.

Nobody knows who's next in the headline, maybe you or the person at your back.

Rating: Reportage of Crime: Thirteen Horror Happenings That Hit the Headlines by Nick Joaquin, 3 Sweets. (One thing for sure, I liked the book but I have hard time reading it, I don't know if my recklessness or the Christmas season gave me the guts to gave it 3. I never tried to read such a hard and wonderful facts of the past by a National Artist and he mentioned a lot of interesting crimes that have symbols depicted to each stories.)”

KwesiFriends wrote this review Thursday, December 23, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 0 stars

“When I was still in my high school years, a friend of mine wrote a chapter or a partial content of a certain story in a notebook and gave it to somebody who wants to continue to write until the whole story end. I never knew that a certain style or technique was popularized in the past and it was called dugtungan or connecting novel.

A dugtungan or connecting novel, is a unique Filipino tradition popularize in the 19th to 20th century that draws on the spirit of teamwork and collaboration, in which a writer writes a chapter and hands it off to the other writer and so on, creating unpredictable and exciting story.

Till now, the memories are still fresh and time to time, I discovered that dugtungan was on its feet to start its journey to be read and love again by Filipinos.

Hopefully, a group of Filipinos around Philippines, Singapore and San Francisco were able to create a masterpiece using dugtungan, a novel that surrounds with great sorrow, rejection, destiny, age and curse that caused by love and beauty. Half chic-lit and half historical fiction, Angelica's Daughters: A Dugtungan Novel, creates a dark atmosphere of love and mix-Filipino culture making the reader interested to know Angelica's past and future daughters.

In 8 years of marriage, Tess, the protagonist, an obsessive wife trying to move on of her broken marriage to Tonio by going back to the Philippines, meeting with her favorite cousin Paolo and Lola Josefina (who fall in love to her young dance instructor), suggested by her mother and sister Luz. Hoping to forget everything in the past by knowing Angelica, through her written words by letters and thorned journal given by Jesusa. Tess realized, that the answers that she's looking for can be found in her past and in the place where she belong.

Day by day, by reading letters of Angelica, solved there problem until a caller from Cebu, invited them to come and share facts bout Angelica. They met Dina, the daughter of Elenita and the girl who fall in love to Mike who have a wife and a child. Another problem to be solve, after a great disaster in the Cebu, they realized that they need to attend the Tayabas festival which held for 4 days.

The went back and enjoyed the life in the province, the freshness of the air, the delicious food served by the family and a happy reunion of Angelica's daughters.

In the end, Angelica and her daughters realized, that love can cause trouble and sorrow but only God who helps and find your true destined partner in the Earth. There are thousands or millions of chances to be with somebody, don't be so fool, believing to only one person that can be with you. For the grandmother, age doesn't matter, if you love each other, go for it. Think of the possibilities before working with a new relationship.

I do recommend this book to everyone who really interested in reading new style of writing and chic-lit, an easy read and very interesting. I can't stop from reading yesterday, the void and the space between the book and characters are feared to be the best. Thumbs up!

Thanks to Anvil, for giving me the chance to read a free book to be reviewed. Status, 1 out of 2 books, done reading and hoping to finish it till the end of the month and special thanks to Fantanghiro.

Rating - Angelica's Daughters: A Dugtungan Novel by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, Susan Evangelista, Veronica Montes, Nadine Sarreal and Erma M. Cuizon. 5 Sweets added with Angelica's special tsokolate-espeso (mixture of egg, milk and chocolate, producing a stickier chocolate solution, you should need to spoon it rather than sip it). I gave it 5 since the whole thing was well-written and very unique in a sense of writing technique. Not only that, it shows what love can cause and affect negative and positive towards the person itself. Soon in your life you can find the perfect match for you.”

KwesiFriends wrote this review Thursday, December 16, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 0 stars

“Here's my review, this 4 books gonna kill me.

http://kwesifriends.blogspot.com/2009/05/review-eclipse-by-stephenie-meyer.html”

KwesiFriends wrote this review Thursday, May 7, 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“A good France map for the travelers.”

KwesiFriends wrote this review Thursday, September 25, 2008. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 4 stars

“A good book for everyone. A story of a young girl named Wendy she is rich, smart and funny. When suddenly she saw her father kiss someone and that was the start of there misfortune days. You will explore the 19th century, there fashion and moral. A story were the child loss of innocence set amid tumultuous changes in society. This is base on Peter Pan, I wish everyone likes to read this book and have fun!”

KwesiFriends wrote this review Saturday, September 13, 2008. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 0 stars

“I'm not a fan of Gary Soto's book and I feel sorry about this book. Because I don't like the story and the twist of the characters. I feel sleepy this morning because of this book and so boring, especially the last part of the story. In the first chapter of the story is all about the story of a girl (I forgot the name) who live in the city and teach her barrio cousins how to steal and the second is the story of 2 girls and how they become friends and the story goes on. I can't understand what is the link between all the characters of the story.”

KwesiFriends wrote this review Monday, September 8, 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“A good book for Santa Claus believer and non. A very inspiring journey of Saint Nicholas and some famous historian characters as they move on to the new world and gift giving ideas. You will learn here why Santa Claus wear red, why did he use chimney, why did he use the socks for putting the gifts, whats the reason why he ride on a flying sleigh and many more. I want everyone to explore the very interesting journey of Santa Claus and his friends. "You're right to believe in me....."”

KwesiFriends wrote this review Tuesday, September 2, 2008. ( reply | permalink )