After Eden

Seeing that this is a relatively popular site and all, sometimes I feel like it is my public duty to warn everyone about bad books, movies, music, etc. You know how sometimes you go to a store and you see something that might look like a good buy, but there’s no one who can tell you for sure if it’s worth spending your money on? I hate it when I learn that I’ve spent money on crap; it makes me feel like a stupid person. So as of now, this website will be about reviews and such–of things that are not worth a single cent of your allowance or hard-earned money–and I will try to update it as often as I can. Not because I want to prevent you from wasting money on crap; it’s not like I can actually stop you from doing so. I’m simply writing this for my own amusement (and because I’m very uncomfortable with the thought of strangers reading about my private life).

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking at the graphic novels in Power Books when I saw a copy of After Eden by Arnold Arre. I was tempted to buy it because it won the Manila Critics Circle National Book Awards, and the review of an acquaintance and fellow VS player, Paolo, was even quoted at the back of the book. But for some reason, I didn’t. And boy, am I glad I didn’t, because when I got around to reading it a few weeks later (my sister borrowed my cousin’s copy) I found that I couldn’t get past the second chapter because I hated it so much.

After Eden is a love story that involves a male geek falling in love with a female slave to the corporate world. The friends of the male geek hate the friends of the female yuppie, and vice versa, and are a tad upset about the fact that their friends hooked up with each other. The yuppie’s friends are so unhappy with the relationship that they plotted to destroy it, instead of talking to their friend about it like any intelligent adult would do. At that point I threw the book down in disgust and never picked it up again. Okay, so maybe it’s unfair for me to write a critique on something I haven’t finished reading. Maybe the story will redeem itself in the end. But I guess I don’t really want to waste my time finding out because chances are, After Eden’s denouement will probably disappoint me. It’s a story about a bunch of twenty-somethings squabbling like teenagers in high school. How promising is that?

Aside from the badly-written characters, biggest turn-off for me was the premise of After Eden. The geek and the yuppie were whining about how monotonous and boring their lives were. Then they met each other, fell in love, and suddenly life was so damn good. I really hate it when people think that love is a remedy to depression or boredom, because it isn’t. Perhaps the reason why so many people out there have fucked-up relationships is because books like After Eden encourage that kind of stupidity. But that’s just a theory.

My cousin actually liked After Eden though, so if you find that you don’t think the way I do, chances are you’ll probably will too. My sister, on the other hand, never finished it either. It was way too cheesy for her to stomach.