All Nighter

14| Lana's List by fallenbabybubu

Reviewed on February 3, 2015

--

Available • 42 parts, 125 pages • 2.9M reads • 58.1K votes • 16.8K comments

Language: Filipino

Description:

There are two kinds of guys, one is unreachable (out of your league) and the other is reachable (kaya pang pantayan kahit papaano). Alamin mo kung nasaang category yung gusto mong guy. Kapag nasa unreachable siya, stop fussing over him. Kalimutan mo na. Hanggang pangarap na lang yan, girl. Pero kapag nasa reachable siya, malaki pa ang pag-asa mo.

Lalo na, if you follow the list to make him fall for you.

Lana's List, that is.

Review:

Alam mo kung ano 'yung pinakanagustuhan ko sa kwentong ito? Si Tadhana. I've always deeply appreciated things, like fate, that humans cannot simply fathom. Like there are possible much greater forces or elements out there that are manipulating and fixing our lifetime into a sequence of events that match up with others' that somehow relate with our lives. Nakakatuwa lang isipin na may ganoon. (Ganito ang long-lasting effect sa akin ng panunuod ng Adjustment Bureau - you have to watch this movie by the way!) Hindi naman masyadong naka-focus sa Tadhana ang kwentong ito. Nabanggit lang siya nang ilang beses, pero tulad ng sabi ko, tagahanga ako ni Tadhana, which is why the thought kept lurking in the back of my mind while I was reading the book, lol.

So anyway, there was just one thing that bothered me about Lana's List, which is the characters' conyo way of speaking. Hindi ko alam kung totoong trend na ba 'yun sa Pilipinas ngayon o loko-lokohan lang. Hindi ko din alam kung paano na mag-usap nang normal ang mga teenagers ngayon sa Pilipinas, kaya wala akong basis. Reading Lana's List reminded me of when I was reading Voiceless, which was filled with emoticons and informal expressions, instead of conyo lingo. The author's writing bothered me, but what kept me going was the story's plot, and it was worth it.

Lana's List is probably the most lighthearted story I've ever read on Wattpad so far. It was a mix of romance, drama, and comedy, pero light lang silang lahat, kahit pa more on romance ang kwento. Basically, the story was a feel-good one, a nice break from the intense others on Wattpad. Three people are thrown together for a university's psychological experiment, and it's either they clash or build a tight friendship, and the story goes from there. (And I think that that's such a clever and unique way to make three characters cross paths in a story - na para bang si author ang Tadhana.)

May twist nga lang sa dulo ng kwento, which shattered my heart into tiny little pieces, but it doesn't really affect the plot in any way. Nakakaapekto nga lang ang twist na 'yun kasi mapapaisip ka talaga ng matitinding what if's and what could've been's. Mapapalipad ang utak mo sa isang alternate universe kung saan maaaring ibang-iba talaga ang magiging daloy ng kwento. (But thank God the author offered us two specific back-to-back chapters, which I'd like to think as a peek of that alternate universe.)

Pero ang nakapukaw talaga ng atensyon ko ay ang realistic character na si Lana Lopez. Realistic kasi sobra akong nakaka-relate sa kanya. I didn't know I also had a list in the back of my mind until I read hers. She's the most reachable female protagonist I've ever read about on Wattpad because of how her character made me totally feel as if I was the Lana on the story. The way she handled the situations reminded me of how I would handle them on my own. The fact that Lana and I share some similarities made me want to keep reading the story - to figure out how else she's going to handle the next problems. Minsan nga, mapapaisip ako na siguro ganoon din ang author. Napaka-realistic kasi ng character na parang the author's actually writing about herself! At nakakatuwa lang isipin na may kapareho lang ako ng pag-iisip hindi lang sa mundong ito, pati na rin sa fictional world.

At dahil realistic at relatable si Lana, somehow, naging ganoon din ang kwento at ang ibang characters. Naging reachable sila. Wala kasing masyadong tragic sa kwento, at parang based in true-to-life ang characters. Zeo and Oliver are rivals indeed, pero hindi masyadong fictional ang characters nila. Naisip ko na may rivals din naman sa ibang stories sa Wattpad, pero sila Zeo and Oliver ang pinakatotoo. Hindi kasi sila tulad ng ibang characters ng ibang stories na mapapakunot-noo ka at mapapaisip na 'Ang corny. Para namang walang ganoon sa mga schools in real life.' I don't know how the author does it, pero nagawa niyang gawing makatotohanan ang karamihan sa mga characters. Kung ang ibang stories ay parang nakatira sa ibang mundo ang mga characters, sa Lana's List naman, parang nakatira sa mundo ko ang characters nila Lana, Zeo, at Ollie.

Favorite Lines:

Lana: We might go back to our own different lives after this. We might not keep in touch. Pero there was no doubt na after this, we wouldn't forget this experience - this particular moment.

--

Lana: Ano nga ba 'ito'?
Zeo: Something worth it.
Lana: Worth it pero you can't take a risk?

--

Lana: Grabe. Bakit parang nakikipag-break ako sayo?
Zeo: Aren't you?
Lana: How could I? I never had you in the first place.

--

Lana: Minsan, it takes more than one heartbreak to finally find the right man for you. There's no such thing as perfect or ideal. There's only that right one made exactly for you.