BOOK REVIEW: Mga Kaibigan ni Mama Susan by Bob Ong

Bob Ong’s comical books has been already know for every Filipinos for years. After his debut work ABNKKBSNPL Ako, most of his works has gained an equal popularity for his comical style and witty lines. This time, his latest book Mga Kaibigan ni Mama Susan ventures a different breed of genre (I wonder what are the things he cannot do more than what he can). Gather your fires and pull up your blankets, because this kind of thriller makes your skin crawl and hairs rise in fear.

This is a series of diary entries of a college student named Gilberto—who has a recurring nightmare of a woman in black. Whenever he dreams of it, he wakes up in the morning panting and drenched in sweat. But alongside that, he has difficulties with his aunts and uncles. He is shouldering the chores all the time. He is the least favorite in the family, and most of his cousins are getting better privileges in the house than him. After finding out his grandmother has grown sickly, he decides to leave the city and look after her in a small province. He founds out that his lola (grandmother) has an almost-religious group “Kapatiran” which the whole province relies on, after banishing a Catholic priest. After a chain of horrendous events, like hearing their religious chanting, and somebody always taking his pen (so he cannot write in his diary), he realized that the Kapatiran was not just a group, nor anything that praises Jesus Christ.

With no electricity, mobile devices, or any help with the adjacent cities, will he able to escape his grandmom’s cult and the “Kapatiran” women?

Even though it is crafted effectively to scare the readers, its whole excitement is crammed at the end of the novel. The exposition is quite long, that isn’t attached to the conclusion. The narration of his school life didn’t rise up to strengthen the ending of his grandmother. I’m aware that it’s supposed to be a student’s diary, but having lots of incoherent angles in one book weakens its fluidity and oneness.

The Latin words gave rise to the climactic cliffhanger. Albeit the slow pace of the book, I like the way it ended.

Well, it works the same way in real life. Sometimes, we cannot control the people we love, and if they morphed to a monster we don’t know they are capable of, the best thing we should do is to simply run away and save ourselves. The guilt of leaving your family is unbearable, especially if you have a family like Gilberto who is guilt tripping you all the time, but there are moments when we have to think for ourselves and start saving our sanity.

After a long ride of eerie and disturbing experiences, this book from Bob Ong will let you have a taste of troubling rituals and terrifying nightmares. Coming from a life of a normal kid, it is enjoyable for it is seething with mystery.