Ang Sandali ng mga Mata

by Alvin B. Yapan

"Alvin B. Yapan looks through the characters in the folk stories of the past and the Bikol people of the present. He uncovers what so long has been concealed about their lives and deaths and changed them into more practical people. The use of folk stories to complete the action marks a striking technical innovation, blending past and present while keeping the narrative moving into the future...Like the old ways of storytelling, the reader has to infer from the description of events and situations as Yapan runs together the time of the epic with contemporary time. Thus, this too, is the story of contemporary Bikol." --Ma. Lilia F. Realubit

237 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[K.D. Absolutely · Rating 4 out of 5]

To my foreigner friends:

This is the best Filipino read that I had since Edgardo M. Reyes’ Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag and Amado V. Hernandez’s Mga Ibong Mandaragit. This won the National Book Award Juan C. Laya Prize for Best Novel in a Philippine Language in 2006. Since the award was given just 5 years ago, compared to the other two, this for me is one of the proofs that the local literature is still alive and far from being dead. Well, the other proofs are the works of Bob Ong and Prof. Eros Atalia. I mentioned Bob Ong to you in one of my recent reviews and I am proud to be a completist for their works. I have read all their published books. Well, you can say one proof also is the flooding of Tagalog romance novels in our bookstores and they are part of our literature too but I just cannot force myself to read them. This is not a complaint and I have nothing against guys who read romance. It’s just a matter of personal preference.

Ang Sandali ng Mga Mata (The Moment of the Eyes) is a well-written novel in Filipino. While reading, it reminded me mostly of Edward P. Jones’ Pulitzer winning book The Known World minus the slaves and the black slave owners. In lieu of those, what this story has are the touches of magical realism similar to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. I normally don’t compare other novels to this opus of Marquez because that would be almost a blasphemy. (That G. G. book is one of my favorite novels. So favorite that I hold it sacred. Close to my heart. So I only want to discuss it with people who really understand literature). I guess the comparison is not only because of the several generations of characters that Prof. Yapan adeptly included in his story but also because of the flawless, seamless and engaging narrative. His use of Filipino is pure but it does not have that tinge of antiquity. Reading his prose did not give me a feeling that I was either an old man and/or a provincial boy. His choice of words is exact, cultured and truly admirable. If Professor Jun Cruz Reyes incorporated the modern everyday Tagalog in vernacular in his swan song Ang Huling Dalagang Bukid, Professor Alvin B. Yapan, Ph.D. chose to stick to the straight pure un-bastardized Tagalog (Filipino) and he succeeded with fying colors. His narration is something that I have never encountered in the many books in our local language that I’ve read since three years ago.

The story is multi-level and there are many themes that can be deduced from the story. His characters are multi-dimensional and people who I could really relate with since I also grew up in a similar milieu. The use of emotion is gently tempered and so the melodrama is almost withhold even at those times that I thought it would have been interesting if Yapan tried to let go. This is my second book by him. I read and liked his Sambahin ang Katawan (5 stars) early this year. This subtlety is something that I know is not the popular style that most Filipinos (or even foreigners) readers would like. But for me, this makes him a cut above the rest; like a fresh breeze in the town square filled with malodorous stink of rotten fish and meat.

This is an exceptional book. A true gem in the current sad state of Filipino literature. Just like the two other books that I gave 5 stars to, those by Reyes and Hernandez, this book is just amazing. I hope that other local novelists, who write in Tagalog especially, take some points from Yapan’s writings: you don’t need to bastardize our language to write beautifully and reason out that you do that to sell your novels to the young people.

For those who do not have any idea who Professor Yapan is:

”Dr. Alvin Yapan, Ph.D. currently chairs the Filipino Department of the School of Humanities at the Ateneo de Manila University. An award winning fictionist, he has under his name some of the Philippines’ top prizes in literature: four Palanca Awards for Excellence in Literature, a National Commission for Culture and the Arts Writers Prize and the National Book Award to name a few. After mastering the art of storytelling on paper, he delved into the medium of film with his first short film, Rolyo, which won the best short film in the 2007 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival and the 2008 Gawad Urian Awards. The film eventually competed as the Philippine entry to the Paris Film Festival 2008. His first full length feature film Ang Panggagahasa kay Fe (The Rapture of Fe) took home the Golden Prize Award for Best Digital Feature Film at the 33rd Cairo International Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize at the 2009 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. It has also been awarded the Ani ng Dangal award by the President of the Philippines and was nominated for five Gawad Urian Awards among other nominations and awards from various organizations. Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa is his second Cinemalaya movie.”

To my Filipino friends

Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa (The Dance of Two Left Feet) ang isa sa mga dahilan kung bakit madalian kong binasa ang librong ito. Gusto ko itong mapanood. Nabasa ko ang “Sambahin” at nagustuhan ko. Hindi ko matandaan na binasa ko kung sino siya. Akala ko kung sino lang na mahilig magsulat kagaya ni Norman Wilwayco o sumubok lang magsulat dahil walang magawa kagaya ni Ellen Sicat. Minsan isang araw, nakita ko sa Philippine Star ang larawan ni Rocco Nacino at Paulo Avelino na nagbo-ballroom dancing. At ang pangalan ng direktor ay si Alvin B. Yapan. Kilala ko ito, a! Direktor rin pala siya! Ayon, Ph.D. at professor sa Ateneo-Filipino Department. Kaya pala, magaling at malinis ang Tagalog niya.

Kung ang “Sayaw” at ang “Sambahin” ay may temang kabaklaan, ang “Sandali” ay wala. At dito ko mas narespeto ang mga likha niya at dito mas nabuo ang paghangga ko sa kanya: hindi naman kailangan na laging may bahid ng personal na emosyon ng manunulat ang kanyang mga likha. Hindi ko alam at hindi ko panghihimasukan kung ano ang sexual preference ni Professor Yapan pero ang punto ko lang, hindi kailangang maging “Amapola” ang isulat kung ikaw ay isang bakla.

Mabuhay ka, Professor Yapan! Sir, sulat ka pa ng maraming maraming kuwento. At sana, mapunta sa video ang mga pelikula mo. Pangako, bibili ako!

[Chik Frias · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book annoyed me to death. Or maybe I didn't enjoy it that much because I was so tired from school and I had to read it fast for my class. The middle part of the book finally got my attention but the author knows all of my novel pet peeves that i started hating the story again later. The words are toooooooooooooooo colorful but didn't impress me. I would love to kill a lot of paragraphs because they're not very important. Too many descriptions. It takes an average of 3 paragraphs just to explain one idea. Too many connected stories. I do appreciate the writing style of jumping from past to present to past in story timelines but this didn't work for me this time. It annoys me how the narrator would tell a story from the past then suddenly say something about another event in another time then returns to the story he's talking about earlier and most of the time, he'll repeat everything he said so the reader must remember the story. The narrator also promises the answers to different questions in the first chapter, this is what kept me going. The curiosity. The narrator talked about how important these stories are in a lot of scenes. But the 'final twist' didn't satisfy me. The promised answers are not given properly. Gah. This is not a very objective review. I just want to rant it.

[River Rock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somebody produce this as an MMFF movie!

[Em Flaviano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Na-miss ko ang pag-uwi sa Catanduanes reading this. But mainly Ang Sandali ng mga Mata is about stories, that give life and also take it away. I marked out sections where Yapan delights in hyperbolic retelling of events (e.g. Bino and Selya's wedding, the devastation of the typhoon Sining) that he manages to make funny. This was worth the reread.

[Lyn Liza · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best Filipino novels I've ever read, although, I am honestly not an ideal judge with only a few local novels read under my belt. I still would like to give my thoughts about this book.

This book is definitely one of the most unpredictable stories I've ever read, both local and international. I'm quite glad that my Panitikan ng Pilipinas 12 had tasked us to read it. It was quite worth it. I've enjoyed diving into the incredible weave of the folklore and the family history of the Nuevas. The inclusion of many imagery made every single second of reading worth while for it urges the reader to think deeper, to analyse critically what the authors wanted to say.

It is definitely worth my time and money!

[upʞ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Ang responsibilidad ng isang tagapagsalaysay: kung kailan ibubunyag ang lihim ng bawat kuwento. Nang hindi nagagalit ang kanyang mga tagapakinig o mambabasa. Kung paano pahahabain ang panahon upang bigyan sila ng higit na mahabang oras para makaintindi, makapag-isip, hindi tulad ng de-numerong panahon ng mga orasan. Ang responsibilidad ng pagkilala ng kani-kaniyang kakayahan na umintindi, ng bawat tagapakinig o mambabasa. Ang responsibilidad na tanggapin ang lahat ng papuri at lahat ding panlalait na itatapon sa kaniya."

#AngSandaliNgMgaMata (lit. The Moment of the Eyes) attempts to encapsulate everything #Bikolano: history, folklore, culture, traditions, faith, and ways of life. The depictions of rurality amid the resistance during the Japanese occupation, and community development after the war, which are encountered therewith by generations of the Nueva family and their townsfolk in Sagrada, were greatly delivered with the usage of historical facts and local folklore as devices for laying the story. The manner of writing that is in classic suave Tagalog teams with the author's technique of explicit "pabitin" laying of scenes which entices the reader to read further.

It also tackled several types of love: faded, failed, unrequited, secret, filial; though in such aspects, the emotions failed to cross into me. (It's probably me, I don't know.)

This tackled everything Bikolano, except for one–food. I know it was set in not-so-good times (with the war, the disarray in the epic, and the contemporary problems) but I was kind of expecting from it the inclusion of the Bikolano cuisine (with peppers and coconuts and what) as mediums of laying the other scenes. Such element would've made the novel "everything" Bikolano. (Just my cents.)

[Jun · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Ang Sandali ng mga Mata" is a captivating exploration of perception, folklore, and Filipino identity within a rural setting. Yapan's poetic narrative intertwines myth and reality, challenging readers to question truth and storytelling. Its fragmented, nonlinear plot, while enriching the narrative by blurring past and present, can be disorienting. Characters, both archetypal and personal, embody the tension between tradition and modernity, though some secondary figures feel underdeveloped. Yapan's lyrical prose and vivid imagery elevate everyday scenes, exploring themes of perception, memory, and Filipino mythology. Napaka-visual ng kuwento, para akong nanonood ng pelikula. I was tempted to send Alvin a PM nga, just to ask if he has any plan to make a movie out of this. Despite its challenging structure and symbolic characters, this compelling work offers a fresh perspective on Filipino identity and storytelling, rewarding attentive readers with its lyrical prose and thought-provoking themes. But as one reviewer previously noted, a more concise presentation of certain narrative elements would have enhanced the work's overall impact. Some sections are just redundant, dragging, unreasonably excessive in details (had to skip some paragraphs near the end), which is why i'm giving this book 4 stars.

I am from Nueva Ecija, married to a Bicolana residing in Pili, Camarines Sur. If the book is referring to the same "Sagrada" that I am familiar with, then we are just a barangay away from the book's setting. A lot of the Bicol cultural references here resonated deeply. This is a must read for Bicolanos and all those interested in the region's folklore. Kapapasa ko lang kay jowa nang siya naman ang makabasa.

[Jessa Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

i wan to read all story

[Honey Caspe · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best Filipino books. Thumbs up to Alvin Yapan for creating this genre.

[hapit na madugta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buwan ng puso at kabaliwan.

[Mang Kimok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gusto ko ito. Gusto ko yung atmospera sa loob ng kuwento. Yung konseptong paranormal at ang daloy ng istorya na parang nagpapakilala sa mambabasang "Nandito ka sa isang mundong mabalintuna."
Kakaiba rin ang atake ng pagka-historikal nito + kuwentong bayan. Gusto ko yung cognitive-experience ko nung binasa ko ito.

Magical realism? Hmm. Puwede. Ala-Marquez? Yeah, pero iba pa rin eh. Puwede bang tawagin 'tong Pinoy-weird fiction na homage sa mga Liwayway komiks et al? Hehe. Hindi nga lang sya pang-mainstream na mambabasa. Rekomendado sa mga mahaba ang pasensya sa pagbabasa.

5 stars sana pero nakulangan lang ako sa paglapat ng huling bahagi at ending. Sa isipan ko, may mas epektibo pang paglalahad, paghahabi ng mga salita't pagpinta ng mga senaryo para maging pulido ito at mas tumatak sa imahinasyon ng mambabasa.

Gusto ko pa ng ganitong nobela, pero naka-set dominantly sa urban place at present time.

[Diana Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ang Sandali ng mga Mata should be required reading to a generation who has forgotten the power of slowness of pace of indigenous folk stories. While surprise may be an essential element in horror stories, it is in the slowness that allows a story to linger and to creep into our memories, long after the initial shock has waned.

The story is so "deceptively simple" (pardon the cliche) and yet it is powerful enough to make one want to sleep with the lights on.

[Gershom Chua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! Integrates Filipino indigenous folk supernatural elements, mythology, Japanese occupation history, and present day magical realism into a very well-written and very much absorbing book. I am now scouring for more of Yapan's work.

[Earl Lester]

first novel book i have read

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I need to read this again. Someday.

[Ashley Pinon · Rating 5 out of 5]

...





...



...






...

[Crest John]

This is the best filipino book for me, i am still reading this right now.

[Geralien]

great

[Mario Dela]

READ T

[Jaymark · Rating 4 out of 5]

How to I can read this story so many setting pop up..

[Vhia]

i just want to read and to know what is all about n this book