And Now You Can Go

26. And Now You Can Go. Vendela Vida, 2004. First edition, hardcover. Php80, Booksale.



I think I bought this book because I flipped to the publishing details page and it said "First Edition; fiction: nurses, fiction: Philippines," although not necessarily in that order.

Premise is neat enough: girl is held at gunpoint in a New York City park, in broad daylight. The guy in Armani glasses doesn't really harm her, but the entire book takes off from that one single encounter. There are no chapters, only bits and pieces which seem to me like writing exercises. Like, write about all the boys who like you. Or, write about the time your father disappeared for several months without saying anything and returned without saying anything. My favorite is this, write about the sad sad men, fathers and husbands all, who live in your street.

The opening scene about the mugger in the park called to mind the opening chapter of Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City. I love the punch of the Brazilian marching band. But this book sort of goes pffft for me after the mugging. Also calls to mind a bit I read about McInerney saying that his book was actually about the death of the man's mother. This one is really about the girl and her family being abandoned by the father. If there's the lazy way of summing up what this is all about, I'll say it's about the need for closure.

That's as far as it goes. Actually, I still have 2 books to post to complete the 2006 lineup. They're my best book and my 2nd best book of 2006. I'll do them next time. But for the record, I read 28 books in 2006, give or take a book or two or a few that I completely forgot about.