ABNKKBSNPLAko?: Mga Kwentong Chalk ni Bob Ong

I did not love reading books until I reach my senior years in high school. Frankly, I grow up did not have many books to read during childhood. I was more into comics than books, which I could not sit and read a long story in one go. It does not pique my interest well. I might pick a book and read it for a while, but I will not finish reading it. I fuck up at reading books. I felt it was boring and unentertaining, but everything changes when I picked a book whose title is gibberish.

Ms. Diano, my senior year adviser, has a lot of books that lie in our classroom's mini-library where she allows us to borrow her book. She was the first person who opened the doors for me to love reading books. My mates would grab some books and read from her library in between class breaks. I also picked some Pol Medina's Pugad Baboy comics; hence she has these comics too. One time, out of boredom, I grab a peculiar book with a gibberish name. I asked one of my friends if the books are good. He asked me to read the title, but I just hummed. He laughed at me and revealed that it engrosses him. He was not a fan of books too.

Bob Ong's "ABNKKBSNPLAko?" was the first book I completed reading. Since then, I have read a lot of books and bought some. Bob Ong's "ABNKKBSNPLAko?" is a biographic book that tells the author's experiences in a humorous portrayal. It gives you the nostalgic feeling of what was schooling in the 80s. Bob Ong's storytelling puts a comical twist to every dismissal event that happens in his life. He adds metaphors that excite the readers. At the end of the volume, the book became resolute and sentimental. It cited many things about life and school that ordinary people experience.

"ABNKKBSNPLAko?" means "So I can read?"

Bob Ong talked about the mishap in life that changes him and why he became the writer he is now. I think every Filipino middle-class can relate. I can relate to him, and it feels too good. He reveals how he stopped going to school and still wakes up every day pretending to go to school. He walked around the city and went home like his class just ended. The book also tells his first: love, heartbreak, failure, and success. But what hooked me to the book is his anecdotes and descriptions that amuses me even now. Back then, I can't keep reading the book because I needed to pause to laugh. When you read it, your face never loses a smile. Anyway, I never thought that a humorous book is inspiring.

ABNKKBSNPLAko?: Mga Kwentong Chalk ni Bob Ong

In the book, Bob Ong was criticizing our society in a satirical manner. He argues with the Filipino social norms. That you nod to what he says in the book and said: "Yes, it happens to me too." But at the back of our minds, we can say it was wrong. There are a lot of things we can learn from Bob Ong's "ABNKKBSNPLAko?". When I first read the few lines, I couldn't wait to finish the book. It leaves a sensation of wanting more and more. In the end, Bob Ong went to his alma mater to attend his high school reunion or homecoming. It is a metaphor that things that happened are already memories. That what we can do is to reminisce the years bygone. He said, "I revisited the place, but not the times."

When I read it back in high school, honestly, some things do not make sense. It dumped funny, but I can't relate to the struggles Bob went in college. I was in my second semester in college when I bought my copy of the book. When I reread the book, everything makes sense, especially the struggles I am having in college. I was in the middle of the second semester of my first year at college that everything is fuck up. I fucked up my math classes, and my scholarship was at risk. I was struggling with peer pressure and meeting expectation. I felt everything wasn't working for me. I was trying to find someone to blame. It may be the one time I was late for an exam or some responsibilities I need to do outside of class. Bob Ong's message strikes me to the heart. "Dream and reach it, but never blame others for your failure."

Bob Ong's "ABNKKBSNPLAko?" is short but meaty. You can laugh a lot out of it and be inspired to ponder life, school, and careers. It made sense when he said: "There is no other lesson after we taught how to tell time." It emphasizes that it is correct that there are no other lessons after learning how to tell time. We learned to tell time because it reminds us that the clock hands never stop so as time. The book gives us a renewed perspective to face life struggles humorously and resolutely.

I grow up not loving books. I find it tedious and a boring task, but I learned to love it since I read Bob Ong's "ABNKKBSNPLAko?". I have read a lot of books since then. Without Bob Ong's "ABNKKBSNPLAko?", I could not give a fuck reading the books like Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, Paulo Coehello's Alchemist, and Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad, to name a few. I may have lost my copy of the book, but I already changed my perspective about reading books. Over the last ten years, I always went to a bookstore and bought a new book to read. I even have a yearly mission to read at least one new book each December. My reading preferences may have changed over time, but without Ms. Diano and Bob Ong's "ABNKKBSNPLAko?" I would not have found my love of books.

Note: Bob Ong's "ABNKKBSNPLAko? was adapted into a movie by Viva Films in 2013.