Happy Endings

by Luis Joaquin M. Katigbak

Here are stories about reinvented identities, lost loves, thermoacoustic engines and Wednesday afternoons. Award-winning writer Luis Katigbak's collection of fiction takes a look at our world and refracts it through a lens of wild imagination and A girl receives anonymous postcards from otherworldly places. Two people who share a computer start to wonder if tehy share anything deeper. A man wakes up with the knowledge that the world is going to end by next Sunday. Katigbak, once described by Gregorio Brillanted as one of "the new fine writers" who "stand out," has crafted a collection of stories where the miraculous can be an everyday occurrence and the mundane can be immeasurably precious.

Genres: Short Stories

122 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Luis Joaquin M. Katigbak is the Associate Editor of Esquire Magazine (Philippine edition). He has won numerous honors for his writing, including four Palanca Awards, a Philippine Graphic prize, and a Young Artists’ Grant from the NCCA.

Luis has come out with two books so far: THE KING OF NOTHING TO DO (Milflores Publishing, 2006), a collection of essays, and HAPPY ENDINGS (University of the Philippines Press, 2000), a collection of short stories which has gone into multiple reprintings. Both were nominated for National Book Awards by the Manila Critics Circle.

Luis has worked in TV and advertising, and taught Creative Writing at the University of the Philippines. He writes a weekly column for the Philippine Star, called "Senses Working Overtime." He lives in Ortigas and has a cat named Skywise.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7 stars

Renegade Eyeballs: 3/5 stars
Poscards: 3.5/5 stars
Happy Endings: 3/5 stars
Birthday: 3.5/5 stars
What the World is Waiting For: 5/5 stars
Away: 3/5 stars
Document: 4/5 stars
Kara's Place: 4.5/5 stars
The Rain, Rachel, and a Wednesday Afternoon: 3.5/5 stars
The End: 4/5 stars

I really, really like Katigbak's writing style. The way he breathes life into his characters was admirable, which becomes even more prominent when he tells their stories through first-person narration. There's a certain wryness and humor to his style, which really rendered the reading experience to be quite pleasant. Oftentimes it almost seems like you're just listening to a friend sharing a secret, and he does this in his crisp, beautiful prose. I felt like something was lacking in the other stories, however, especially in terms of plot. A lot of them weren't new, either, but Katigbak peppered them with vigor through his seamless narration and characterization. However, the primary danger is that a lot of his characters were too similar to each other, and sometimes it was difficult to distinguish their voices from one another. Other than that, though, this was a great read.

[Don Jaucian · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars! Happy to be in Luis Katigbak's world again thanks to this reissue by Good Intentions Publishing.

Funny how the main characters are mostly romantic dorks haha and that's wonderful.

Some of the stories can be a little empty at times but when Katigbak hits home, they're really great, like in the final story "The End."

[Ysha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rating: 1.5

Nothing from this book was memorable nor impactful. I guess slice of life stories simply aren't for me.

I found each story's main character awfully similar to each other. They didn't have any characteristics or quirks that actually stood out. All bland and forgettable. I had no empathy or some sort of connection towards any them. Neither was I emotionally invested on their narratives. I would've appreciated the slices of these characters' lives more if the author added an element that could make me care about them. At some point, you really would just ask yourself "why am I even reading about a person I don't care about?" My answer is: to not waste the money I spent on buying this book. If not for that, I would've set this book aside and moved on after finishing three stories. Or maybe threw it across the room out of frustration.

The storytelling was mostly dull and tedious. There were pieces that had intriguing concepts (i.e. Postcards, Birthday, and The End), but due to the lack of vivid descriptions, of fleshed out scenes/ideas, of twists/turns/a "wow" factor, of an impactful ending, or even of remarkable lines/dialogues, they ended up being underwhelming. They weren't able to sustain the initial awe I felt for the story's concept, while the rest of the pieces were merely frustrating to read. Finishing until the last punctuation gave me a feeling of "so that's it?"

I expected a lot of good things from this book but was massively disappointed as I closed the back cover.

[alto angeles · Rating 4 out of 5]

i’m probably rating this way too high but i have a soft spot for this book. several well-written stories about coming into yourself stretching from traditional coming of age-like stories to two people at the end of the world, katigbak takes everyday experiences and imbues them with equal parts humor and depth. this book is also a mix of litfic and magical realism which i really liked!! many of these stories ended up playing around with reality in ways i didn’t expect going into it, and i was pleasantly surprised by that. so much to love about these stories and so much humanity to see yourself in especially for Filipino readers in their early 20s !!

my One Big Caveat™️ for this book unfortunately is how male gaze-y it tends to feel… beyond the stellar “postcards” i was BEGGING for the female characters in this book to pass the damn bechdel test or do anything without the presence of a man. the male gaze of it all shines especially in how these men comment on women, the language used to describe them both in dialogue and in how these men think of them, and it even bleeds through the voices of the women whose stories are told in first person. it’s at best a little disconcerting and at worst kind of icky. i fully recognize that this book is a product of its time, but at some point i felt like the female characters’ stories were all reactionary to the males around them who had real agency. “kara’s place” was especially a struggle for me (what the fuck was that ending? why was she okay with that??)

nonetheless, gripping and funny and ironically poignant. i wish i could write like this soooo bad guys

faves: the end, renegade eyeballs, what the world is waiting for, postcards

[Gio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big fan of the short story format. Really liked how it's set in the mundanity of living in Manila around the late 90s. It's interesting to see how society and culture haven't changed that much in the near 30 years it's been since Happy Endings was published. Loved the absurdities happening contrast the normal everyday lives of people - be it a co-worker or fellow student.

If I had to choose which short story I liked the most, it would the one with the postcard. It was reminding me of Ghibli films for some reason.

[elijah · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked the writing but as far as short story collections goes, most of the stories ended on a flat note. it also felt like they were all too similar from each other to make a story stand on it’s own, the MC was mostly 1)studying/studied in the Big 4; 2) working in Makati/QC/Pasay; 3) chasing a love interest—which i guess works for the general concept of the collection?
my fave is “The Rain, Rachel, and a Wednesday Afternoon”

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful book!

My favorite has to be The Rain, Rachel and a Wednesday Afternoon as it achieves for me the right amount of yearning and describing a past love.

Thanks Good Intentions Publishing for reprinting this book!

I wish I could also get Dear Distance some time.

[Shed]

Recommended by Nigel Santos

[Clary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wowowowowowwww. Just… wow

[Sha Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s always a delight to read Katigbak’s works. These stories, though, all scream of youth, hope, and other things bright and wonky. To say the least, I really, truly loved it.

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

the first few stories is kind of dragging and boring like anong point 😭 but it got better after !! I especially loved what the world is waiting for, document, kara’s place, and the end <33

[Aki Diaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

so good

[Diane Garduce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rachel, the Rain, and a Wednesday Afternoon is one of the most beautiful things I've read in quite a while. A beautiful embrace.

[SCE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happy Endings was a little more difficult to read compared with Dear Distance. The stories and/or the characters were too similar from one another.

[Meeko · Rating 3 out of 5]

when i read that last story, that j.cole know just played in my head

[kyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

a collection of short stories that are so easy to read they feel like you’re just conversing with a friend - but I guess the themes and setting of each storyline is a big factor in making it relatable

[Wax Singson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this as a gift. It was an enjoyable and light read, though I wouldn't say it was anything particularly exceptional. Part of me wonders if I might have enjoyed it more when I was younger and more like the characters in his stories here, who were mostly college kids and fresh grad yuppies navigating the exciting/treacherous paths of young love. I've been out of college for years now and those settings all seem so distant to me, which I guess is why I particularly enjoyed "The Rain, Rachel, and a Wednesday Afternoon", which is still a high school love story, though now from the perspective of an older man looking back on how he met his now estranged ex.

Still quite fun, and I had been meaning to get into Katigbak's work for a while now, so this was a good introduction.

[Ayeen Karunungan · Rating 3 out of 5]

"With really special people, something else happens underneath all the sharing of true-life anecdotes and stories. Of course, usually that's just flirting. But once in a while it's something else: a real connection, a rapport. It's hard to define without sounding like a sap. It's just that there are people who almost convince you that the concept of soulmate isn't as hokey or as ridiculously New Age as it sounds."

[Jay Salvosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've just realized that relying much on pop culture references could make a story feel trapped in its own time (laser discs! Nintendo!). The stories are okay and a little too safe.

I still like Katigbak's non-fiction pieces.

[Karyle Dc]

:)) good

[Thess Custodio]

likes to read