“Nauumay” an exceedingly expressive Tagalog word that we struggle to depict in the English language, the closest to which I could think of is the word ‘cloying’.  Nauumay is my general feeling every time I try to continue reading the bestseller novel entitled The Time Traveler’s Wife written by Audrey Niffenegger.  No matter how I struggle in trying to finish reading the book, it seems that every page seem obnoxiously nauseating.

I apologize to those people who overwhelmingly enjoyed and appreciated the book.  Maybe it is just my insane nature due to the numerous uranium-filled dinners I have lately been consuming.  But just to ventilate my points…

The book is thicker than a usual and average novel.  The events that transpired in the story seem so tedious to the point of being too repetitive.  The time traveler – whose depicted character is not to be adored and esteemed about – just keeps on moving from one circumstance to the next then back and forth throughout his life’s history that left me wondering on what specific highlights and turn of events the story would lead me.  The main character’s time travelling was too much it wears me dull to the point of boredom.

Moreover, the author failed to explicitly make clear how such time travelling capabilities originated.  Was it a heavenly spell, a wicked curse or based on a scientific backbone?  I kept on reading until I reached the middle of the book.  The author tried but failed to enlighten me as a reader.  To simply put it, I was jaded.

As a result, I simply dropped the book, go on with my delicious life and let the book gather dusts in my humble abode.  Nevertheless, I still hope I would get over with the cloying feeling and someday gather enough amounts of drive and impetus to finish it.

Ayun, naumay ako.

Two hours is what it takes to completely prepare me to go to my office.  Two hours is what it takes for me to finish my weekly grocery and window shopping weekly.  Two hours is what it takes for me to finish my usual internet surfing.  Two hours is what it takes for me to accomplish my exercise regimen whenever I feel like going to the gym.  There’s a lot of things that can be done in two hours.

It took me two hours to finish reading the book entitled “The Little Prince” a French novel written by Antoine De Saint-Exupery translated in English by Katherine Woods.  In this precious two hours, I was able to grasp a lot of interesting wisdom out from the story told about the Little Prince.

The book may seem to look like it is intended for kids but after digesting every deep meanings presented by the author, for me, it is simply too complicated for younger kids to fully understand its true messages.  The book should not be taken into its superficial account for a reader to fully appreciate it.  It challenges the reader to make his or her own personal understanding of the different characters and what they represent in a reader’s life.  The book is so great because it can actually stimulate a reader’s deeper perspective about life.  It is so impressive because it gives the reader to free-willingly identify and subjectively correlate the events, symbolisms and characters in the story towards that of the reader’s own life encounters.

I definitely feel that this remarkable book will only get better and more interesting as I grow older.  Hence, I hope to read this manuscript again at least five years from now and wonder what correlations would pop-out from my mind when I encounter again those simple yet meaningful events and characters in the story.  I also hope that I could finish the book again in just two precious hours…

Ang sabi sa libro, “wat is esensyal is inbisibol to da ay”.  Ang taray!