A Critique of Reviews

Book reviews reveal more about the reviewer than the book itself. So it goes with other materials critiqued like movies, food, reports, papers, students.

Reconsidering Mr. Tan's Faith

A few months ago, I wrote about the concept of faith that Amy Tan acquired from her parents, saying that both concepts of her mother and father assume that God’s will is to grant our wishes. Her mother was Chinese, who heavily believed in the Chinese concept of luck. Her father was a minister who wrote this as his definition of faith in his own journal:

Faith is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us even though we still cannot see it ahead of us.

I said that what Mr. Tan meant by “something we want” is exactly that, something we want, our own self-centered desires. But after reading this article about George Müller, I started to think that maybe I’ve misunderstood what Mr. Tan really meant, as I was reading him only through Amy’s interpretation. Perhaps I’ve harshly scrutinized what he said based on strict semantics-- an elitist error that merely intellectualizes, instead of seeking to understand or be understood-- when I should’ve looked first at the context. And here was the context:

Jean-Paul Sarte's Concept of Hell

He sums it up in four words: "Hell is other people!" And these words may be found in his play No Exit.

[SPOILER ALERT!]

Amy Tan's Faith vs. Fate Dichotomy

Some years ago, a friend who knew I was into writing recommended that I read Amy Tan's memoir, The Opposite of Fate. This year, I finally did in hopes of appeasing my frustrations in writing fiction. I loved how she wrote the memoir that I decided to read The Joy Luck Club, her first book. I liked it, too, that it convinced me to learn chess. I learned that fiction writing did not necessarily mean use of only pure imagination (I suck at that) and one can start as old as I am and still be good at it (Amy Tan began even older!).

But there was one thing about both writings that struck me, and not in the good way: her faith vs. fate dichotomy.

There is this passage in The Joy Luck Club:

My mother believed in God's will for many years. It was as if she had turned on a celestial faucet and goodness kept pouring out. She said it was faith that kept all these good things coming our way, only I thought she said "fate," because she couldn't pronounce the "th" sound in "faith."

And later, I discovered that maybe it was fate all along, that faith was just an illusion that somehow you're in control.

Book Tales

It was through my mother’s efforts that I came to love reading. I don’t remember but I’m pretty sure she taught me to read like Teodora Alonzo to Pepe. While cleaning stuff that haven’t been touched for decades, I found evidence: the letter S cut out from green art paper and pasted on cardboard (totally her style), along with the first books I probably owned as a child. I remember looking at the pictures of those books before learning to read. When we got a piano, I would open them on the piano, and then press piano keys, telling my little sister that that page was played as such.

My mother bought us books althroughout our childhood. There were storybooks of various sizes in either English or Filipino, mini illustrated dictionaries and encyclopedias and other illustrated educational materials. I think I read every book she bought, not once but multiple times.

14-Year-Old Me's Coveted Characters

Still from this list. I'm pretty sure it would've looked like this:

1. Keiko Yukimura, from Japanese anime "Yuyu Hakusho"
2. Yanagi Sakoshita, from Japanese anime "Recca no Honoo"
3. Mary Ann Spier, from Baby-sitter's Club by Ann M. Martin
4. Sarah Alagao, from TV series "Sarah the Teen Princess"
5. Mia Thermopolis, from "Princess Diaries"

A Guide to the 10 Books Law from Hell

The original #1's government from hell scenario is my favorite among the lists:

A heinous government from the depths of hell passed a law that you can only have 10 books in your library. List the 10 books you'd fight to keep.

The IE Book Challenge Tweak

Not so long ago, I finally came up with one thing I can constantly write about: books. Aside from book reviews and reflections on certain things I read, I can write about my own experiences with books -- some sort of meta-story, kind of like the story behind a book. Or simply what Philippine Star's "My Favorite Book" contest asks contestants to write.

In the Pensieve

SPOILER ALERT!

Harry Potter rose into fame when I was ten years old. It was his first year in Hogwarts, I was in the fourth grade. Everyone at school talked about him, his friends, and their adventures. Items were sold, and quiz bees held in his honor. Put off by the popularity more than not having friends to borrow from, I didn’t read the book, nor watch the movie.