Monday, January 29, 2007 Heartwarming Heartbreak Stories By Rochelle Marie P. Bianes
I LOVE books, much to the dismay of my sisters when I spend some nights of my vacation reading instead of going to karaoke bars with them. And I love the kind of book that have me curling up in bed after a hectic day at work, simply immersing myself in the lives of fictional characters and soon forgetting my own troubled world.
One new book proved to be an interesting read for me. “Heartbreak” is an eclectic compilation of stories of, well, about having your heart crushed and stomped on by the very person you’ve entrusted it to. The book’s contributors are an interesting mix too, with Filipino writers ranging from award-winning authors (including a Palanca awardee) and newly published ones. I was surprised, too, to find out that one of the contributing writers is a Cebuano, and another one coming from Dumaguete.
The stories themselves are riveting, and made me remember those times that I had my heart broken. Some are conventional heartbreak stories, some too catastrophic for words and others just plain hilarious.
Met and fell in love with a perfect stranger in a fantasy convention yet never knew his name, never saw his real face and have to contend with “What-ifs” after meeting him? Check, this book has it. Pining for an ex-boyfriend two years after the relationship has actually ended? Some of us probably still do and yes, this book has that story too. But my favorite has to be the hilarious story of a girl salivating over her hunky, almost perfect officemate who turns out to have a boyfriend himself. Certainly the kind of stories that make your eyes roll and sigh about the unfairness of life.
The stories are far from boring and vary from tragic breakups to hilarious discoveries of the heart. And while the stories vary from each other, the central theme remains the same: that the human heart, capable of getting high on unchecked emotional attachment and unadulterated adulation becomes all the more susceptible to heartache when the relationship falls apart. And that while sorrow is inevitable with heartbreak, there is also the joy of self-redemption and of finally growing up.
