Recommended Reading

LOVE WALKED IN, a book I read over 4 months ago, written by Marisa de los Santos, a half Filipino poet who decided to write a novel in addition to her poetry collections. I read somewhere that it will be made into a movie with Sarah Jessica Parker of Sex and the City playing the main character, 30 something Cornelia.

The book is not great but a good love story, not just between a girl and the Cary Grant of her dreams, it is also finding love in other way and other people, one of which is the 11 year old daughter of the aforementioned "Cary Grant". He walked in the coffee shop Cornelia was managing just when she was daydreaming of the perfect man who will come in the shop and sweep her off her feet. She realized later he is not "the perfect guy" after all, he is divorced and estranged from his child because he chose to, one of his flaws. The book also touches on her relationship with her parents and siblings, and her neighbors' mother who loved her enough to leave her her home when she died, instead of to her own children. The several story lines are touching, sometimes heartbreaking. Her true love, a half Pinoy doctor (of course, doctor, Pinoy eh), married to her sister also walked in the coffee shop on Christmas Eve(?) and later he cooked pancit for her and the daughter of "Cary".
Some readers blasted her writing style, complained about how ALL the characters are beautiful, begrudged the author for making Cornelia thin, beautiful and oh so saintly, that the ex wife is a blonde beauty living in a high end condo, that the daughter is very smart for her age, in other words, that the book is not credible because they do not know anybody like these people in real life. People can be so petty and stupid, really. This is a work of fiction, duh, dreaming about a Cary Grant to appear and fall in love with you IS fantasy! Maybe they prefer a "believable" story line that features an obese, ugly, pimply intelligence challenged alcoholic to be able to relate to the character properly. Geez. Anyway, those things they were complaining about did not bother me and I enjoyed reading this book regardless of a few cliched and contrived situations because there are many other good things about this book. Highly recommended.