A Waiting Room Companion

by Sarge Lacuesta

This book gathers essays, explorations, and profiles by celebrated fictionist and editor Angelo R. Lacuesta, written throughout his casual career in creative non-fiction.

Genres: Nonfiction

186 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Pia]

This book's sensibilities are textbook burgis as defined by Mariel N. Francisco and Fe Maria C. Arriola in "The History of the Burgis" (1987):

Not just money, but culture, too, separates the burgis from the masa. The principal ingredient of burgis culture is Westernization. The middle class, notably the intelligentsia composed of teachers, students, university professors, artists, writers, and lower-level technocrats, are considered part of the burgis even if they live barely above the poverty line because their education allows them to be in the mainstream of Westernized elite culture. The burgis lifestyle which takes for granted sports clubs, beach resorts, schools and universities, hospitals, restaurants, supermarkets, shopping malls, and cultural centers is more oriented towards the US and Europe than towards home and Asia. Burgis values, aspirations, concerns, ways and tastes are identical to those of a Washington, D.C., yuppie.

Who but the burgis would be preoccupied with relationships, mid-life crises, health food, and the latest Jane Fonda video workout in a country where 75 percent of the population never see a doctor in their lifetime?

[Aloysiusi Lionel · Rating 4 out of 5]

In inviting us to the re-examination of popular culture and the astonishing aspects of domestic life, Lacuesta also invited us into his household that is governed by painful reminiscences, gut-filled aspirations and significant career detours, using sophisticated style to indulge us into the bits and pieces of his adoration for rock music, his good grasp of car history, and his selfless love for his wife and son. This is the third book I've read from the handsome writer, the first two being collections of short fiction. After all the years of honing the craft "while living a life", he still has the knack of captivating me with the artful and impactful arrangement of words. And as I finished reading the essays while having my breakfast this morning, I realized that he does not write only for the cosmopolite. More than anything else, he scribbles the robustness of his mind and the longings of his heart for all readers who are interested in all things mainstream and unconventional, avant garde and hip, and in-between. Next on the reading list: Coral Cove and Other Stories.

[Meeko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t know what to expect when I picked up this book because I only know Sarge Lacuesta from the excerpts I read online mostly associated with Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta. I am blown away by how easy it is to read his works and how he wrote bits and pieces of his life in this book which makes me yearn to experience more in life like he did and write about it. I rarely read nonfictions but this one changed my mind, thanks to his myriad experiences and the way he writes about them.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing: clear and crisp. Subjects: a potpourri of personal experiences, reminiscences (my favourites being those about his father, the admirable screenwriter Amado Lacuesta). Effect: non-fiction that somewhat reads like fiction (aren't most good ones like that, anyway?). Sarge remains one of my favourite Filipino writers, and he continues writing about things I've long been meaning to write about.