Isang Napakalaking Kaastigan

by Vladimeir B. Gonzales

"Peks...talagang astig sumulat si Vlad. Basahin mo ang librong ito. Sasakit ang tagiliran mo sa katatawa. Sisigla ang yong mga damdamin. Mag-iisip ka nang malalim. Tapos tatawa ka uli, kasi joke lang pala ang kanyang sinabi."

This book is a compilation of blog entries of the author.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays

115 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

It took me a very long time to finish this book. I just finished it for the sake of.... finishing it?! First, i think the author is trying hard to be like Bob Ong. I never enjoyed the book. I was expecting to laugh while reading, but no, I never did. I'm not trying to be mean, but, okay, There is nothing "astig" about this book.

[Joni · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not that good. Akala ko astig talaga but I'm wrong. FAIL!!

[Serg · Rating 1 out of 5]

kulang pa ang kaastigan. di masyadong nakakatawa. meron lang isang kwento na tawa ako nang tawa. di ko lang alam kung nabago na ba ang patakaran sa balarila. pero may mga mali sa pagkakasaad at baybay sa ilang mga parte. engaging ang ilang articles. pero sa pangkalahatan, di bagay ang pamagat ng aklat sa mga nilalaman nito.

[K.D. Absolutely · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many reviews of this book here on Goodreads gave this book a lone star which means they didn't like this. They say that Gonzales is trying to imitate the style of Bob Ong (born 1975), the mysterious bestselling author here in the Philippines. Ong is credited to be the reason why many young Filipinos rediscovered the joy of reading in Filipino. His first book, ABNKKBSNPLAKo?! (3 stars) was a phenomenal bestseller un-equalled in the history of Philippine publishing industry. It is a collection of personal essays that recall his childhood days until the first few years of working as a young college graduate.

What's wrong with an author, especially first-time authors like Gonzales, joining the bandwagon? Putting his energy, talent and skills (both natural and acquired) to dream of having a bestseller like Bob Ong? In the decade following the release of ABNKKBSNPLAKo?! in 2001, Bob Ong managed to write 8 other books and they were all bestsellers. Check any branches of National Book Store and you find an exclusive shelf layer all containing his 9 or so books. From 2001 to 2011, other bestselling local authors wrote books similar to Bob Ong's like Eros Atalia and Bebang Siy. This was enough reason why the genre where these books belong to, called creative non-fiction (CNF) is nowadays the most popular genre in the country. I guess people are shying away from fiction as they find immediate gratification on things that supposedly happened in real life. In this fast and chaotic world we live in, we need to know and learn the experiences of other people. We have this hope that those experiences will help us to know what to do if we or our friends get into those situations. We need more compasses or steering wheels to sift through the travails of this so called life.

This exactly is the reason why I liked this first book by Gonzales. Isang Napakalaking Kaastigan offers life lessons that he had when he was still a boy until he became a young man. Most of the stories are supposed to be funny, just like Gonzales's grandma who would stop scratching her body so that she would not treat the family to a meal. However, I must admit, me being me, that I still found and liked the stories that are profound and sadly, sad. I am a sucker when it comes to anything sad. Not that I am a sad person. My friends and family say that I am a happy and warm person. It's just that when it comes to art, I prefer sadness over trivial light stuff.

For those readers like my Goodreads friend Serg saying in his review that this book does not do justice "hindi bagay" to its title, he missed the message that Gonzales wrote on page 107:

Sa totoo lang ay di ko alam kung dapat pa ba akong magpakaastig, o isipin o sabihin na astig ako o astig 'yung kung ano o kung sino. Kasi madalas, 'yung mga nagsasabing astig sila'y 'yun talaga 'yung mga di astig, at maraming mga astig ang astig nang di nila nalalaman, at mukhang marami pang dapat pagkaabalahan bukod sa pag-iisip ng kung sino ang astig o hindi.

Maybe Serg did not finish reading the book because these lines are on its last few pages. Another hater of this book, my other Goodreads friend Ikang said that she did not find the stories funny so the book failed to meet her expectations and she forced herself to finish reading it. Well, I guess she had the wrong expectations because of the wrong blurb at the back cover of the book that says you read the book and it will hurt the side of your body from laughing: "Basahin mo ang librong ito. Sasakit ang tagiliran mo sa katatawa..." This is the reason why I rarely believe on blurbs especially if there is no credible person owning to the statement. It just came probably from the publisher who wants to earn money without really reading the book. Tsk tsk.

Bottom line, I liked this book for what it is. I believe that Gonzales has the right skills to come up with bestselling books especially if readers will raise their standards when it comes to reading quality local books.

[Mirvan. Ereon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reminded me so much of Eros Atalia's Peksman which I read before this. Relatively funny at some parts, but I really got bored at some parts which I think are very mundane and there is nothing much different to explore. Well, still this is an okay book, I guess. A little intellectual and the writing is funny. But I hope the next books by this author will be more interesting.

[Jordan Rey Francisco · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sinubukan kong intindihin yung writer pero hindi ko na itinuloy ang pagbabasa dahil animoy trying hard magpatawa o magpaliwanag si Vlad. I stopped reading it in the 10th page.