Surreality (My Book Review)
Surreality by Carissa VillacortaMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I got to finish reading this book while at the ferry crossing to Manhattan; it's an easy read such that you can breeze through its pages. I found great essays included in it, most specially "The Prodigal Daughter," "The Largest Rollercoaster in the World," and "Time is Gold, Money is Paper," such that they got me into pondering over my own existence as a transported individual who has lived the first 40 years of his life back in the Philippines.
This book's actually a gift from a long time friend (from high school days) who thought I'd appreciate reading this one - it could very well be an indirect message that could have been clipped together with the book, on how he's got me in his thoughts, particularly of me eventually landing the headlines here in NYC. Do I really want that? Honestly, yes! but I'd certainly like to know the price I need to dole out, so that I can prepare accordingly (loud vicious laughter!). But personally, I would have not bought this book myself, as it's just too sugar coated for my usual reading fare. I'm delighted there are books like this written by writers from the Philippines, such that they show a different set of Filipinos who grew up relatively well off, and not sorry nor guilty about it. My family's too middle class (we both got very rich relatives as well as very poor relatives) to even bother with such existence that the author of this book has probably led (based on the brief indirect descriptions in the book), which is not apparently typical among average lifestyle back in the Philippines, even if you grew up in one of the major cities. At least, non Filipino readers will become more than aware that there exists a powerful, and very influential segment of Philippine society whose members live better quality of lives than what is actually led by elites in other bigger, powerful countries.
I'm happy to learn that the author has the first record on having her own book being launched (of this book) at Borders Bookstores - she very well deserves it (it's a big accomplishment, indeed!). This book's well worth the attention it could be gathering now, including Filipinos like my friend who bought the copy he gifted me from "Powerbooks" back in the Philippines (a sort of a snotty bookstore catering to the elite reading segment in Metro Manila, which city reminds me strongly of New York City (NYC) in the sense that both, minus the four seasons in NYC, are crowded, densely populated, and require its residents to be extra smart or else - they'll be gobbled by the prevailing systems that control the very detailed but not apparently clear distribution of political power and influence in the societies where these cities are geographically located).
Try to get to read the book because the essays are well crafted. They'll remind you of what's important in life, of how to get to lead a meaningful life for yourself - according to how you've envisioned it to be even though you come from a background with definite built-in privileges practically thrown your way. It's actually a surprise that a book like this gets to be published, which presents a different, almost fancy way of describing certain lifestyles led by people who have transported themselves from the Philippines to the "greatest city in the world," New York.
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