not in the mood for love

by Jade Mark Capiñanes

this collection contains three stories:

“not in the mood for love”
“no drivers license”
“all too unwell”

the project? to answer this question: “what if wong kar-wai and fyodor dostoevsky, or olivia rodrigo and jacques lacan, or taylor swift and e. e. cummings, existed in the same story?”

46 pages, ebook

Published December 23, 2023

About the author

Jade Mark Capiñanes is a Filipino writer and two-time Palanca Award winner. He has been a fellow at the UP, Iyas, Ateneo, UST, and Davao writers workshops. Born and raised in Davao City, he is currently taking his MFA in Creative Writing at DLSU.

Reviews

[marga · Rating 4 out of 5]

“remember the four years we shared together. sayo yata ako nag-enroll for college e.” ended shakespeare

[iamfictitious · Rating 5 out of 5]

kabet-posting but make it aesthetic/literary

[Miguel · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you haven’t encountered Jade’s writing, whether his short fiction or “kalat” on FB, then you might be put off by this book, the topic its trying to broach, and the general tone of it. Across thirteen chapters of varying lengths and levels of unhingedness, Jade essentially tells the reader that cheating is bad—but people still do it anyway. In one messy and page-traversing footnote, the unnamed narrator bemoans being the “victim” and the “villain” in a past relationship killed by infidelity. Is it self-indulgent? Yes and it’s not just this particular chapter. But I think Jade (mostly) gets away with these provocative exercises because there is still that basic human empathy extended to all parties involved. It doesn’t hurt that I really vibe with his wry humor too. STILL cheating is a no no in my book.

The Taylor Swift references are interesting because throughout the read I kept thinking, Is this autobiographical? It’s the same line of questioning used to pick apart TS lyrics (love ^this song btw). But an even better question to ask is, Does it matter? I don’t know. So we’re left in a sort of ambiguous position. Wait that sounds like…

[Rielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Naalala ko pa to e. Sa sobrang stalk ko yata kay Sir Jade matapos ang crossover between humor and dead frogs which is by the way my favorite piece written by him, nakita ko yata sa kung saang comment section ang link ng PDF na ito.

Hindi ko siya tipo, honest ako e. But I do remember really contemplating about that one moment, when the character confessed “Si Lacan pa talaga gusto mong i-bring up when here I am remembering my four years in college with you, soaked up in the realization na baka ikaw pa nga ang dahilan bakit nag-enroll ako sa college?!” subconsciously. I give my three stars to that line of thought alone.

Ewan, I feel like although filled of pretentiousness ang librong ito, I find comfort in knowing it retains something genuine. Na baka si Sir Jade talaga ito at kung sino mang ex niya under the empty grandeur of pop culture. I would like to see Sir Jade publish more of dead frogs in the future. I would like to fall in love, be broken up, and then release some incoherent recollection of my own heartache kahit kasalanan ko naman.

[Mx. Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What the actually f. Ganda. Si Jade siguro yung absurdist na ‘di th. Dami kong tawa rito. Paborito ko yung chapters na:
1. no drivers license;
2. the best of wong kor-why not’s posts on “pinoy kabetposting” fb group #6; at
3. not in the mood for love.final

Book of quotables din ito. Mapapa-annotate ka sa commentary at meta-commentary ng anti-hero.

“…there the first thing my friend's priest friend did was offer me a bottle of san mig light, straight from the ref in their pantry. and like some stupid dostoevsky, i rationalized: if there was booze inside the church, then everything was permitted, including cheating.”

[Mark Alpheus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parang chismis lang hehe, recommended

[aly ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

"identity is tied to space, who we are depends on where we are."

[Maki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books that is centered around filipino pop culture talaga. Yung tipong may filipino humor lang ang makakagets. Kuhang-kuha talaga ako luv the references

[H. D. Alarcon · Rating 2 out of 5]

for a book about cheating, it's funny how i felt "cheated" after finishing it. or maybe because i was expecting something else? i'm more of wanting a "plot-driven" work, and this one wasn't really it. most likely my fault din for picking up a book nang basta-basta based sa vibes.

but this is not to say that it's a poorly written work. it's not. it's actually great! smooth to read. unconventional. parang tropa-tropa lang. a friendly conversation with a pa-cool kid ang feels. i searched online to know about the style and discovered about "confessional fiction" which closely fits this.

this book just wasn't for me. its greatest flaw, at least for me, was that i felt nothing afterwards. there are some parts of it i liked naman. the best ung footnotes part near the end, as well as ung letters to marites. pero un lang un.

i didn't really feel connected or invested in the characters, not because they're boring, but because i never really got the chance to know them. even the scenes feel flat. tuloy-tuloy na dialogue with little sense of place, and not much emotional processing. some lines also feel like they're trying too hard to sound "cool".

this book is more about ramblings, musings, and ruminations—some of which i agree with, but most of which i don't. and although there's really nothing wrong with a book trying to process or make sense of what happened, ang akin lang, it should have a solid foundation: the characters involved.

[Redg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devoured in one sitting. Reading this feels like talking to your friend who just wants to talk through their thoughts on a situation and doesn’t want any advice. I laughed out loud many times while reading this, I relate to the feeling of crashing out over a relationship while feeling guilty for making it seem like The Worst Thing In The World when there’s literally people dying in our country.

Infidelity, like the author, is one of my favorite literary tropes. There’s a quote that I read somewhere (aka Tiktok lol) about how we gravitate to the same types of stories and tropes in hopes of healing a personal wound. I have read A LOT of books that has cheating/affairs as a major plot point and so far, I haven’t had any feelings of miraculous zen yet.

Don’t worry, this isn’t like one of those trauma dump reviews you’ve seen on Letterboxd, but I guess what I’m trying to say is after all these years I still haven’t formed a definitive, one-size-fits-all opinion on this topic and that’s why there were a lot of times this book hit home for me. I enjoyed this a lot and I think I’ll be listening to illicit affairs a whole lot in the next few days.

[ellie ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sabi nga ni Martin "this is cinema" Scorsese, "The most personal is the most creative," and this book is exactly that – both personal *and* creative. I getchu, wong kar-why not + other personas. I get the need to retell versions of a truth you cannot fully talk about just yet.

I'm glad this overthought novel (or more like novella/short story collection) about affairs – consummated and unconsummated – and the internal struggle that comes with it exists. I also suggest reading "how to become a filipino writer" by the same author for more context i.e., to get most of the character/settings/event/object references in the book.

Winner din ang pop and pinoy culture references sa jokes. Ang benta. 😭😭

4.5/5 (I read the extended, 2026 version)

[Charity Anoos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book is like gathering chismis from an old friend you haven’t seen for ages. I have been a fan of Sir Jade, and reading this novel felt like having a glimpse of life someone has lived. I like how it appears so conversational and somewhat interactive. Para kang nakikipag-usap with some na dinadaan sa humor ang lahat ng kamalasan sa buhay.

[ca daygon · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this last year. so good! (i adore sir jade's writing voice)

[the restless bookflea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giggled a lot to finish this one. Great read!

[graffritil]

'di ko matandaan anong month ko 'to nabasa. pero alam kong nasa boarding house ako nun at patagong tumatawa

[Eron Bituin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I feel like this collection was written for two things:

1. to show off
2. maybe yung author talaga yung persona sa stories

We'll never know.

[T · Rating 3 out of 5]

gusto kong sampal ng sense sa kanila pero baby bahala ka sa buhay mo ! parang chika chika sa twitter. like hay nakooo… basta charot lang sana, but we all know better

[Tris Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

"sa sobrang inis natapon ko ang baso from mang inasal. in all fairness di nabasag, wow tibay, may little cracks lang." SISSSS😭 HSAHAHA

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

pa-add po sa playlist ng Do I Wanna Know? cover by Hozier. pa-invite din po sa pinoy kabetposting fb group.

at kung sino ka man marites, go mima! gaslight girlboss gatekeep ka lang dyan. dasurv

[max · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Josue Mapagdalita · Rating 5 out of 5]

hahahahaha qaq0! 😭😂 5 stars ka saken 🤩

[Maejane Añasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

nung panahon namin, 18 lang kaming may kabet 😅

[jej · Rating 3 out of 5]

dami namang em dashes. ai generated siguro ‘to. kimmy

[mau · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a chismosa, I enjoyed this very much wahaha