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Written: January 3, 2019.
This is the eighth (8th) installment of a book review series, based off of the books I was able to read within 2018.
Book discussed: Ordinary World by Jose Miguel Arguelles.
What made me want to buy this book? Well, as I could recall, it was Manila International Book Fair (MIBF). I had already bought like four books on Fully Booked, and I still had some money left to buy more books. The MIBF event is always a two-floored event. It's the only event I always anticipate every year.
Anyway, I still had some money left. But I didn't want to spend it all on Fully Booked, and I definitely wouldn't spend it on National Book Store, because they don't know how to handle their books, and their book selection is very much synonymous to horse manure *in my most honest opinion*.
So Fully Booked was out for the count, and there weren't really any other big-named brands in the event anymore, that I know of. But when I got to the second floor of the event, I saw the local brands: Anvil, Vibal, Adarna House, and Visprint. And then I saw this book (at Visprint) that had an amazing cover art.
It was called Ordinary World, and it was written by a local writer. It's written in English, so that's also one of the things that caught my attention. At the time, the book was brand new. It hadn't been released nationwide yet.
So I looked at the synopsis at the back, and when I read it, it sort of gave such a Twilight Zone-y aesthetic, but like if it was written in a local setting.
Now that really got me interested. I've been a fan of the Twilight Zone series, and have been looking for content that matches that style. But here in the Philippines, you don't really get to find anyone who comes close. But Ordinary World is an exception to that statement.
The book is comprised of thirteen interstitial short stories. They're not connected with one another. But just like the Twilight Zone, it feels like it's all connected. And I guess that's the point of those stories. Like the Twilight Zone, Ordinary World is written as if we were looking through a warped mirror of our reality. In the Philippines, there are a lot of folk tales and mythological entities lurking about the streets in the night. Jose Miguel Arguelles uses these cautionary tales as a framework for his short stories.
This book got me to write my own short stories that reflect the world around me, not just of it's fairy tales, but also of the effects of corrupt ridicule & crime happening everyday in our country.
If you're interested in reading my work, go ahead and click the link below:
-insert link here-
Ordinary World is such an amazing book by Jose Miguel Arguelles. If you're in the Philippines, check this book out at maybe Nation Book Store or Fully Booked. Or maybe order it on those online shops (Lazada, Shopee, whatever), they usually also sell books, but it's quite difficult to find stuff there. I personally prefer going to actual stores. Online Shops feel too artificial for me.
Rating System:
Stories = 9.5
Writing Style = 9
Physical Synesthesia = 7.5
Time it took to finish = three days & a half = 9
Price = P350.00 = 8.9
Overall = 8.8 / 10
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