"Relationships, and how ordinary humans deal with them, are at the core of most of Maayo’s stories."
"Relationships, and how ordinary humans deal with them, are at the core of most of Maayo’s stories."
Retired University of the Philippines industrial relations professor Geraldine C. Maayo launched her fourth book, ‘The Sorrows of Rowena and Other Stories’ at Popular Bookstore’s Sikat events studio last Nov. 24.
Dr. Maayo has authored three other collections of short stories: ‘The Photographs and Other Stories,’ ‘A Quality of Sadness: Ten Stories,’ and ‘The Boys in the Boarding House and Other Stories,’ as well as a professional book, ‘Organizational Behavior: A Book of Cases.’
Relationships, and how ordinary humans deal with them, are at the core of most of her stories, and in that her writing reminds me of the short stories of Alice Munro and Penelope Lively.
Maayo had her first story published in 1972, and five years later won first prize in the National Focus Literary Awards for ‘The Photographs.’ Her fiction writing career spans more than four decades, and the quality of her work brought her to the attention of iconic women writers Estrella Alfon and Gilda Cordero Fernando, among other writers, critics, and academics.
Encouragement along the way is given her by Dr. Elmer A. Ordoñez, her Modern British Literature professor way back and later writing mentor along with the late great Franz Arcellana.
In ‘Sorrows,’ Ordoñez says in his introduction to the book, “the stories are expectedly sad and poignant as they deal largely with failed or truncated relationships between adults, their inability to really connect, whether it is between the narrator and character or between the characters themselves.” Still, despite the sorrows experienced by the characters, “the reader cannot but help empathize” with them.
The stories contain life lessons, told from the perspective of “a mature person,” says Ordoñez, “who apparently has seen it all—as an academic, an observant neighbor, a part of the corporate world, an ardent listener to gossipy friends, and a person who has loved and lost but realizes it is just as well with no regrets as in Edith Piaf’s song ‘Je ne regrette rien.’”
The launch of Maayo’s book was well-attended. Dr. Jenny Llaguno was the program emcee, Alice Banzon read Philippines Graphic literary editor Alma Anonas-Carpio’s foreword to the book, and Palanca winner and media executive Terra Daffon read an excerpt from the eponymous story.
I was honored to be one of the readers as well, performing an excerpt from “Collagen Shot,” the story Ordoñez says “makes the reader smile…as the otherwise detached narrator/character still seems vulnerable to the abiding attention of a young admirer,” who is twenty years younger than her.
Here’s a sample from that story: “We danced and danced one musical number after another coming from the band in front. We danced non-stop till I got dizzy both because of the spirits which could’ve lodged in my brain, and the dance, and the feel of his body circling with mine, endlessly, moving to the beat non-stop, doing the Swing, Tango Boogie —but it could have been an African erotic ritual dance we were dancing, the beat of the drums under the moonlight I was hearing…” Strong juju and the stuff of romantic dreams.
For those looking for a good read, ‘The Sorrows of Rowena’ is an interesting pick. Anonas-Carpio says, “[Maayo’s] stories read like they are being told to you by a good friend, in a mix of comfortable language and an almost exhibitionist candor, the good kind…
“This is the kind of book that is perfect for curling up with on the couch while the rains thrum a steady tattoo on your windowpanes… Do dive in, the stories here are fine, warm, and gently told.”
The Sorrows of Rowena and Other Stories by Geraldine C. Maayo is available at Popular Bookstore, Tomas Morato Ave., Quezon City.
Dr. Ortuoste wonders if anyone reads the notes at the bottom of columns. Let her know at FB and Twitter: @DrJennyO