a whole new world

Having grown-up reading US teen and romance novels, it’s hard for me to find a local novel that speaks of the typical Pinoy culture/setting minus the jologs stuff that can be found in those thin Harlequin-ripoffs that are well-loved by the maids and household helps. So when Summit Media released its new line of fresh reading material in the form of Summit Books, I immediately pounced on every book I could get my hands on — The Breakup Diaries being one of them.

Here’s the gist as taken from summitmedia.com.ph:

When her perfect boyfriend - college hoop star, certified hottie and young hotshot legal eagle Itos Ongpauco - decided call it quits, 23-year-old Monica, barista by day and dreamer by night, found herself stepping out from behind the coffee counter and out of her comfort zone-into the mad world of magazine publishing. While starting out at the bottom of the food chain as the overworked, unpaid intern at M magazine can obliterate any trace of a self-esteem, anything - including bitchy bosses, temperamental photographers, rather dull but oh-so hot male models - is a welcome balm to Monica’s pains.

Never mind that her freebie-obsessed boss treats her like an on-call, 24-hour proxy service. Never mind that, sometimes, when she’s had too much alcohol, male models become irresistible. Never mind that, despite having just had her heart broken, the possibility of love presents itself again.

I loved the book! I loved how the typical girl can relate to Monica’s dilemmas and insecurities. I even see a bit of me in the way she blogs about her rants and raves for the day. And even if it did have a happy ending, which not every girl fresh from a breakup can relate to, it wasn’t the farfetched fantasy type, so it still kind of stayed in the realistic side.

Now, Channel 5 had a show called “Love Books” which airs every Tuesday night, four episodes in a month to complete one Summit Media book. So far, I think TBD is the third that they’ve done. I was really excited about seeing the characters, especially Monica, come to life.

The second episode aired yesterday and I was sorely disappointed — not too much at the casting, although I do think Nikki Gil was too much a glammed-up doll version of Monica. Then again, I didn’t get the chance to watch the pilot, so I could’ve missed out on a lot. I adore Jake Cuenca, I really do, but weeks ago, my sister and I were both anxious if they were going to air TBD at all and in the process, we were trying to guess which star would play which character. Beach, Monica’s love interest and happy ending, was portrayed as a cool hunk with a shaved head, so we were thinking more like they would be casting Derek Ramsey (or Jon Hall — yeah right, dream on! ) In all fairness, the womanizing Ilonggo model Jordache was given life by Andrew Wolff, and I have to admit, he nailed it.

What’s got me frustrated is that they changed a whole friggin’ lot. In the book, Monica is somewhat the geek and her best friend Giselle is the flirty boy magnet, but in the TV series, it seems that the characters and the names have been switched. And what got me really dismayed is this: Beach’s name has been changed to Trek and he is the friggin’ ex-boyfriend of Monica’s boss. What a twist. How typically Filipino.

They also literally gathered the scenes/events and twisted them up altogether. The sequencing is kind of bad. If you’ve read the book, you will really get confused at what’s happening, especially if you didn’t catch the premiere episode. I read the book, didn’t get to watch the pilot, so last night, I was really at a loss and it was a big effort to try to follow how it was working.

Oh well, based from past experiences, novels still really come out better as compared to the already-phenominal movie adaptations (Princess Diaries, A Walk To Remember, The Notebook) — so maybe I’ll still sit through the remaining episodes. Anyways, as I said, I do love Jake Cuenca, and his portrayal of Beach-slash-trek is kind of passable so there’s still something to look forward to.

Also, to those who haven’t read the book yet, go pick up your copy. It’s very heartwarming especially if you just broke up with someone recently. Simply put, it rocks!!!