Twisted Travels

by Jessica Zafra

Jessica Zafra is the author of the bestselling Twisted series. Her essays appear in The Philippine Star, Metro, Hong Kong Standard, and Newsweek. She is also the editor of Manila Envelope.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Essays

165 pages, Bookpaper

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Jessica Zafra (born 1965) is a fiction writer, columnist, editor, publisher and former television and radio show host. She is known for her sharp and witty writing style. Her most popular books are the Twisted series, a collection of her essays as a columnist for newspaper Today (now Manila Standard Today), as well as from her time as editor and publisher of the magazine Flip. She currently writes a weekly column for The Philippine Star which is called, Emotional Weather Report. She resides in Metro Manila, Philippines, where she is working on her first novel. She also managed the Eraserheads during the 90's.

Her work often are about current events (both Philippine and international), tennis, movies, music, cats, books, technology and her personal life. Her work has been the subject of academic study. The main ingredient to her work is often fun cynicism and irony.

Find out more about her here.

Reviews

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of Jessica Zafra but I still bought this book because it's marked down. I've read some of her columns and she's a no non-sense girl. Her writing style is her own: funny, a little bit satirical, direct to the point and for the intellectuals. Emphasis on the last item. I love her side comments and rants in this book. Just like her other articles, I didn't get some of her references maybe because I'm not as rich and exposed as her. I think that's just part of her writing style where she would not explain some of the things she said, i.e., movies she have seen in film festivals, unknown "famous" actors, TV shows and other cultural and artsy stuff. Well, nonetheless, I think Jessica is an interesting character given her wide knowledge about wide stuff: from music to movies, traffic, cats and killing people. Emphasis on murder.

I need to blurt this joke out. Cookie's sense of direction is better than her sister Jessica. I suggest Jessica call Cookie her GPS. Global Positioning Sister. There. Kill me now, folks.

[Don Jaucian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read this after watching the pilot episode of "Trippies," a new travel show co-hosted by Jessica Zafra. I interviewed her a few days ago and found myself re-reading some of her works. Some didn't age well but "Twisted Travels" was still a fun read. Maybe because I've been itching to travel lately. I particularly liked her account of the US tour of the Eraserheads. Just shows why you should never work with people you admire: they're all a bunch if jackasses. Geniuses! But still they will disappoint you in some way.

Her account of her trip to Venice for the film festival reminded me to watch more movies. Her two long trips to New York made me think about continuing my dream of visiting NY this year before I turn 30. Yikes.

I re-read Twisted 9 before this. And I'm thinking about picking up her two recent books, "The Stories So Far" (I don't like the cover though) and "Geeks vs Jocks" which is mostly about sports.

She's also finished her novel (she had to take a break from writing columns to do so) and is in the process of finalizing a publisher. Looking forward to reading that.

[Nhadz Mohammad · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most prolific and humorous writers I've ever known...

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jessica Zafra always says that her life is not as much eventful as how it appears in her stories. It's hard to agree to that, her stories are always interesting in the dullest, mostly hilarious and boisterous, and educating and stimulating at best. I always find her books short which agrees to what Madame Austen said:

"If a book is well written, I always find it too short."

This is far from the over-hyped usual travel books written for the sake of travel. This will not tell you where to go and what to do. This is rather a memorabilia of events, feelings and experiences in particular places. Reading this book is just like experiencing a portion of her life in various places.

The writing is excellent. A Filipino playing the English language like a clay in her hands. Now that makes me wonder if ever her books get translated to other languages. I will not attempt to praise her further because every admiration and approval has already been said about her. And believe it, it's all true.

Her blog: Jessica Rules the Universe

[Annabelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Snippets from the travel journals of Jessica Zafra. This was an enjoyable ride. Two and a half stars.

* I just realized--anyone reading Zafra's travelogues for the first time will probably take it for granted she's from the west.

[Meeko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take me to Poland. Now!

[desi · Rating 4 out of 5]

made me want to go to prague!!

[Crisel Blenda Fernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

If there's one local writer that I love to hate, that would be Jessica Zafra. She's a very good writer, very eloquent. She knows her shit and she perfectly knows how to weave it into words.

Her good writing is not what I hate about her – it’s that she is very intimidating and she tries to rule over us and the entire universe.

I like Jessica… And I like to hate her.

I have read some of her books, and this one, is not my favorite. Sorry. But I did enjoy it. It shows her creativity in using unlimited adjectives and adverbs to describe the places she's been to.

Reading it gives you a detailed view of what it is like to be in that place, no matter how bad or filthy it is.

This book is not your typical travel book where she narrates about how delicious local cuisines are, how majestic the horizon is and how friendly the locals are. There is nothing like this in this book. The book title is very appropriate. Her travel logs here are really twisted.

While reading this, you’ll find yourself getting annoyed with what annoys her – the noisy and nosy locals and foreigners, the slow fast food chains, the bullying and racisms and other travel shenanigans.

Again, you don’t need to read the summary, the title perfectly sums up what this book is all about.

But despite all the negativity and twistedness that I got from reading this book, I still like it. Why? Because it is real. It is very authentic. It is pure (evil… kidding).

Zafra did not use any cliché adjectives and adverbs to sugar coat how beautiful it is to travel to different places. What she did was, she made us feel the inconvenience that she, herself, experienced during her travel. And as travellers, we have to admit, travelling is not all the time fun and wonderful. There are also setbacks that sometimes (or most of the times) ruin the mood.

Also, reading the book made me want to drink coffee. There are a lot of coffee references in it. Well, a good coffee is a very fitting partner when you want to take over the universe.

You will enjoy reading it. You will also get bored. But it will also make you think, wonder and get lost in her thought and in your own thought.

For more book review visit: www.the12monthbookchallenge.wordpress...

[Alyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

excerpts of worldwide travels of author/columnist/talk-show host Jessica Zafra. She is the author of the twisted series (which my younger brother loves) and is the editor of the Manila Envelope.

You will either love her or hate her. She is a no-nonsense, brutally frank gal who is witty and smart. Her tales are descriptive, her thoughts uncensored and laid out for all to read. I remember her a few years back when we would tune-in to her Sunday radio talk show (Twisted on a Sunday?) she would laugh in this maniacal laugh of hers...at a time when young ladies were schooled-in on demure smiles and giggly laughs.

There are times when her writing style might be a little OA (over-acting) but she does not window-dress. Her writing is 100% true, majority of which (90%), shows the bad side of things.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vintage Zafra-the wit, the irony, the homicidal tendencies are present.This time, Zafra unleashed her awesomeness in several trips abroad and her experiences are funnily and brilliantly recorded in this book. I'm an ardent fan so I read this on a bus ride from Davao to Digos. I have to suppress my giggles and urges to laugh so as not to alienate the other passengers.

[Nickky Faustine de Guzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories are funny while some are trying hard.

[Judie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Zafra sarcasm, wit, and humor. I particularly liked the trips with the Eraserheads and her international filmfest junkets.

[Ivan Labayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

maririnig pa ba natin si jessica pag nasa malalim na balon na sya?

[Ayanami Faerudo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic humor. I love it!