Eating With One Chopstick....Anyone?

A BOOK REVIEW

EATING WITH ONE CHOPSTICK 

(Growing Up In A Single Home)

My first attempt of writing a book review was about LEARNING THE HARD WAY  and i was blessed that it became the number one popular post here on my blogsite. As i mentioned there, writing a book review is not that easy ( the way i wanted it). For me, it took me hours to make it perfect (at least in my own standard).

Now, here's another "attempt" to write another book review. I think this is more of a reflection rather than a book review or a combination of both including how i encountered this book so this is a little bit long but i hope u'll have patience to read it from the beginning to the end.

 my mother, me, Lj and my sister

When i met LJ Salceda, the author of this book during her book launch last September 17, 2010 at SMX, i asked permission if i could make a book review of it and post it on my blog and she said "yes". So, here's what i have to say.

The Author

LJ Salceda has been a media practitioner for 10 years.She is the producer and host of  "Pinoy Espesyal," a cultural show in the morning and she also hosts  "Inspirations Unlimited", a musical show and  both aired on 702 DZAS am radio. She also loves to blog.

The Title

The title of the book is very intriguing. At first, if you would not read the text inside the parenthesis below its major title, you would think that the book is about how to use one chopstick when eating but it was entitled that way to catch people's attention easily and make it more intriguing. For me, when  i first saw it, i grabbed it immediately and paid for it and didnt want to miss it.

Why "Eating With One Chopstick"? I tried to read the back cover and i understood it more clearly.It's written there, "Try eating with only one chopstick.Hard to do? That's what single parenting is like.Where's the other chopsticks? That's what growing up in a single-parent home is like. Something always seems to be missing."

The Book Cover And Its Size

Not only the title is very catching but also the cover and i like its color...apple green. It looks very refreshing and as people say, green means hope and it would really give you hope as you read it through.

The size is very cute and handy. I finished reading it in almost 3 hours from cover to cover. But maybe if you're a fast reader, you could finish it in less than 2 hours.

This Book Is For You

You might think you're not a single parent nor a daughter/ son of a single parent and might have concluded that this book is not for you. That was what i thought while listening to DZAS as LJ talked about it and invited people to attend her book launch last September 17 at 31st Manila Book Fair. I thought, "that book is not for me. Maybe, i would just buy one to have LJ Salceda sign on it just for a souvenir but that book is not really for me."

But since i look up to LJ as a woman with a substance and style (my vote for you , LJ, for that title:)), i tried to catch up with her book launch after an appointment that day and intended to buy one and really read it to learn from the lessons from it and indeed, after reading it , I realized that this book is also for me and for everybody. I would say later why i recommend this book to everyone.

A WARNING THOUGH TO THE READERS

Warning? yes! i want to warn you that you need a handkerchief or a tissue when you read it, if you dont have, just use your fingers...hahaha (charge that to my experience!).

I myself had some tears flowed from my eyes while reading it and i didnt know what other people were thinking about me seeing me wiped away my tears by my fingers  while reading it (i read it in the hospital's waiting area after my follow up consultation with my doctor and while waiting for my mother's doctor to arrive for her own consultation).

MY REFLECTIONS ON THE BOOK

My tears began to flow when i started reading Haydee Sampang's ( singer and also a DZAS announcer) foreword who also came from a broken family and when i read " Where In The World Is Pa?", my tears continued to flow. It's really touching. It made me realized that i was more blessed by not losing my father before he died (We almost lost our father six years before I was born (or maybe if my father left my mother and my first 4  real siblings and he decided to live permanently with his mistress and their new born baby that time, i would not have been even "produced", not even a single cell of my body would have been seen on earth  but thank God, He still allowed me to be born and write this book review:). We are eight children in the real family and i am the youngest. When my 4th sibling was born, 6 months after, my father's mistress gave birth to our half sibling and my father's relationship with her lasted until i reached my pre-school years.My father has 3 children with her, the youngest among them is one year older than me. And later on, when i was already in high school, my father had another two children born to 2 different women but by God's mercy, my father chose to stay with our family (the real family) and he still remained responsible and loving to us).

With my family story, i could relate to LJ's feelings having a father who has other children in a different family but LJ's situation was really "worse" than mine (sorry for the word, i couldn't find one to describe it). She and her family were abandoned by her father.

In this book, you would also see what kind of life LJ had experienced since childhood. I really salute her for reaching her status now. She became victorious instead of becoming defeated by what she went through.

I'm sure many DZAS listeners have said (i wont exclude myself), "gusto kong maging katulad ni LJ" but when i read her book, i said to myself, " Wow! Lj's life was really hard!" If i were to be asked, "Would you still want to be like LJ Salceda?" I would pause for a while and honestly say, " Maybe, just her present life but not her past." Her childhood days were really hard. But you could not remove her past from being a part of her present. What i meant was, she became an LJ Salceda, now a book author and DZAS program producer and host, because of her past. Her past contributed to where she is right now. Just like Joseph the dreamer, i would say, what satan intended for destruction, God meant it for good and i could really say, "God's been good." Everything has a purpose. Without LJ's past, there would be no "EATING WITH ONE CHOPSTICK." Satan meant to harm their family but God protected them and made them victorious.

MY RECOMMENDATION

As i've mentioned earlier, I realized that this book is for everyone and that includes:

Solo Parents and their kids- if you are a solo parent or a kid of a solo parent, this book would help you forgive and forget and move on and be the best person God wants you to be. Also, it would make you realize that God has a plan for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).

Pastors/Ministers- If you're a Pastor/ Minister, this book would make you realize that the flocks you're handling have broken families, single-parent homes, young people who are victims of broken families or relationships and God wants you to be a vessel, to be an instrument, to give you the right biblical advice or sermons for these people, biblical truths that would heal the broken hearted and that they would look up to the SOURCE of their future- our Heavenly Father. And also, this book would make you realize that you need more sermons for couples on how to be more faithful to their spouse and how to build a good family foundation and really pray hard for each family to be intact.

For Grandma and Grandpa- this book would help you realize how to love your grandchildren who have the same situation and see through God's eyes how to become good grandparents to them.

For Faithful Spouses/Parents With The Intact Family- it would make you realize that you must be thankful to God more for what you have right now and it would encourage you more to be faithful to your spouse and love your kids more and give them a good future.

For Other Writers/ Bloggers- it would make you realize to write more  books/ blogs that would touch your readers to become closer to God and it would open your heart to allow God to work in you and through you to build God's people and to reach out to the lost.

For Everyone/For Us- this book is for everybody. For me, it made me  more realized that i could be a source of encouragement to solo parents and children who are experiencing the same thing that LJ had experienced. And it helped me forgive completely what my late father and his mistress/es have done.

GOOD JOB GUYS!

I commend LJ's brother for being a strong man inspite of what had happened to them and his contribution to this book was so strong  that it also touched my heart and i believe it could touch more lives as they read this book. I agree to LJ, his brother is also a good writer.

To LJ's mom, i could say that you really went through hard times but you are a testimony of God's grace. Continue to do what God has called you to do and continue to walk the talk and talk the walk.Focus on the call God has given you.

To LJ, thanks for writing this book. You are still so blessed in spite of what you went through. Continue to allow God to use you for His glory. And thank you for being an inspiration to many, including me. You're one of the people who made me realized to pursue my passion for writing. You are also blessed to have Mr Shroeder in your life. I pray that soon you'll be called, "Mrs LJ Salceda-Shroeder.":) Before i forget, i also liked what you said in your acknowldgement for him , which added a "kilig-to-the-bones" feelings to the readers and here, i would quote, "Thank you for the inspiration, encouragement, love and patience, Mr Shroeder. Next to my Ma, you're the best prayer partner in the world." That was so sweet ...and  the rest, readers need to find that out for themselves (which i think is the most "kilig-to-the-bones" statement:)). You deserve the best LJ! More blessings and more books to write!

To CSM, congrats for publishing another book that has blessed people and would bless more people! More good books to publish!

Thank God for his inspiration!

NOTE: To the readers, don't miss this book. Grab a copy now and be blessed!

Copyright © 2010 by Mari Ann Rose "Mariah" F. Gadapan . All rights reserved worldwide.