Tuesday, August 2, 2011

MacArthur by Bob Ong

        
MacArthur
by Bob Ong


Summary from Goodreads:

"Merong matigas 
Merong malambot 
Merong tuwid 
Merong kulot 
Merong buo 
Merong durog 
At merong mga taong 
Hindi basta-basta lumulubog. 

Batung-bato ka na ba? 
ROCK-ROCKAN NA!"


Rating:

This is my ultimate favorite among Bob Ong’s books. Why you may ask? Because it’s deeply sad and yet heartwarming. 

At first, I was questioning, “Why is the title ‘MacArthur’?” What does he have to do with the book? But I knew I had to be patient when it comes to Ong’s book, because surely, there’ll be a surprise in the end.

And I was right to have thought so. MacArthur rubs in the issue of poverty, graft and corruption, theft and drug addiction. This is the first of Bob Ong’s books that, despite the funny capers, I grew sad over reading it. I couldn’t help but empathize with how the lives of the characters turned out. And in the end, I knew why the title was as it is. The last part of the book may’ve not sufficed to eliminate the tears in my eyes while reading this and the fact that I wished to change what happened, but it was uplifting to know that even with all the life-shattering experiences, there’s always hope for us and it’s never too late to change for the better.