An effort--ful book review for one of my most favorite books of all time. One thing great also about this book is that it is written by a Filipino author, which makes me feel so proud of her hitting the international literary scene. Anyway, I wrote this book review just this year, last April 10, 2013. Well then, here it goes:
They
said don’t judge a book by its cover. But me, I just did and luckily I was not
disappointed. When I first saw the picture of the book Before Ever After in an
online bookshop, I was already drawn by its cliché look yet unique; a book
cover as a book cover. It got me more interested when I learned that the author
is a Filipina.
To start with, Before Ever After is about Max and Shelley and the life
and love story that rooted hundreds of years ago in Europe’s finest places and
faces. So there, first chapter, darn it! I have to stop reading, for my tears
flow level on alert mode already. Haha. It was as if I’m sharing the pain of
loss and despair that Shelley was feeling right there and then. Yes... Max died
right on the first chapter but the pain was so intense that it made me attached
to Max and get to know him more. Why was Shelley so devasted? Needless to say
that he was her husband, Max was her everything, the one who made her see life
into something more than running away from it, which Shelley was very good at.
Running away from problems and blocking bad memories. It broke my heart into
tiny pieces when at night she could almost hear Max whispering to her “Good
night, luv.” *sob* *sob*
From Spain, Italy, Switzerland Austria to Slovenia, I had my own
European tour to boast of, for this book brought me to these places with people
and stories that so enchantingly captivated my heart and soul. And of course,
Philippines had its own part to flaunt for the surprise of Shelley’s life would
happen in our very own country.
From Goodreads:
Three years after her husband Max's death, Shelley feels no more
adjusted to being a widow than she did that first terrible day. That is, until
the doorbell rings. Standing on her front step is a young man who looks so much
like Max; same smile, same eyes, same age, same adorable bump in his nose; he
could be Max's long-lost relation. He introduces himself as Paolo, an Italian
editor of American coffee table books, and shows Shelley some childhood photos.
Paolo tells her that the man in the photos, the bearded man who Paolo says is
his grandfather though he never seems to age, is Max. Her Max. And he is alive
and well.
As outrageous as Paolo's claims seem; how could her husband be alive?
And if he is, why hasn't he looked her up? Shelley desperately wants to know
the truth. She and Paolo jet across the globe to track Max down; if it is
really Max and along the way, Shelley recounts the European package tour where
they had met. As she relives Max's stories of bloody Parisian barricades,
medieval Austrian kitchens, and buried Roman boathouses, Shelley begins to
piece together the story of who her husband was and what these new revelations
mean for her "happily ever after." And as she and Paolo get closer to
the truth, Shelley discovers that not all stories end where they are supposed
to.
Here are some of my most favourite lines/phrases:
*Shelley had learned two things growing up pressed flat against her
mother’s grief: how to hold her breath and how to squirm away as soon as she
had the chance. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her mother—she just couldn’t
bear to listen to the echo inside her chest. Nothing was lonelier than the
limping beat of half a heart.
*You cannot make a child believe you love him if you don’t. My
grandfather loved me, Shelley. I know that. Whoever else he was or turns out to
be, he was and always will be Nonno to me. My childhood was not a lie. And I
don’t think your life with Max was, either.” Tears burned behind Shelley’s
eyelids. “You’re right, Paolo,” she said. “Children know when they’re loved.
It’s when you grow up that you’re more easily fooled.”
*“My dear,” Rose said, “you might be surprised at how much happiness you
can find in the pages of the shortest of love stories. Unlike penises, their
length truly does not count.”
*Shelley had taken back a piece of herself, a tile that would remind her
that once she had stayed on a train longer than she had intended and fallen in
love with a man she did not know. But if she was being honest—which she was not
at that moment—she would admit she had taken the tile in the selfish hope that
one day that man would find himself walking barefoot on a moonlit mosaic and
feel that something was missing... and then, perhaps, remember her, too.
----Oh... there were letters also of which, I can no longer include
(hahaba na masydo to) but all of it were so poignantly written that you could
almost feel a heart beating from them. To sum it up, Before Ever After was
magically written, entailing life lessons and love defying time, reason and
even death.
My Rating: 5/5
Hope you enjoyed my review.
Yours truly,
Mrs. Maximillan Gallus a.k.a Shelley *wink*
Thanks to a friend, I was also able to have my own hardcopy, felt so elated the time I got it.
