Five Days in Palawan

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Author:	Zara A. Irigo

Under the traditional or conventional mode, "Five Days in Palawan" is categorized under Literature & Fiction. But in today's hip world dominated by themes of strong women personalities, as typified in the long-running and award-winning TV series Ally MacBeal, book classifications have somehow given way to other classifications, if only to truly reflect contemporary realities. Thus, the book is categorized as "Chick Lit." And as a new, non-conventional genre, "Chick Lit" description can only be found in such avant garde source as Wikipedia which defines it as a genre of fiction written for and marketed to young women, especially single, working women in their twenties and thirties, which features an airy, sometimes irreverent tone, and themes of frank sexuality*.

This "in-your-face-type" of aggressive female behavior is immediately apparent in the very first five or six pages of the book and sustained throughout the story as related by Chris, the main male character.

Set in a somewhat isolated beach resort along the fabulous coastline of Palawan Island, one of the many such paradise-like islands in the south pacific nation of the Philippines, "Five Days in Palawan" is the story of Chris and his fleeting but memorable romantic encounter with Mia, who is introduced in the cover-blurb as an "unstable, mildly neurotic" city-dweller, who has come to the resort to detox and wash herself off of city dust and grime, literally and figuratively. Chris himself thinks that Mia is a borderline schizophrenic.

Chris, who manages his father's resort where Mia decided to spend five days, is pretty much caught-up with her bold, sometimes domineering, and unfamiliar personality, but is somehow drawn closer, albeit cautiously, to her. So when Mia somewhat bluntly suggested that he be her boyfriend for the next the five days, Chris guardedly agrees.

For Chris, it's five days that starts off awkwardly. But as the week wore on, he finds himself getting more and more comfortable and at ease with the deal. The deal eventually turns into something of a relationship, and before Chris realizes it, he has already fallen in love with Mia.

But the "deal" has to end. The five days will soon be over. And Mia will soon leave for the city. Chris is torn between keeping his part of the deal, or giving way to his feelings; between staying in the laid-back life on the beach, or going with Mia to the fast-paced city life.

It's a romantic story. But it's a sad romantic story. One that makes you want to write an email to the author and beg to reconsider it's ending. Or, makes you hope that the next time the two characters meet, the ending would be a heart-warming and final reunion.

NOTES:
1. The story is written in English but utilizes the Pilipino dialect in most of its dialogues.

2. The book's author is my daughter. But the four-star rating has nothing to do with that.

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* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_lit