on prostitution

Juan Bonilla's "The Nubian Prince" and Paulo Coelho's "Eleven Minutes" were my companion over the weekend. i found it extremely coincidental that i picked out two books which dealt with the subject of prostitution.

the focal point in Juan Bonilla's book is the character who happened to be a scout for prospects in the club. he promises his prospects of a life far greater and grander than the poverty and muck that they are in. to convince himself of the nobility of his job, he would tell himself that he is actually saving their lives. but in the end, he was able to quit. probably because the guilt was eating him up.

an unforgettable quote from that book goes: "Experience, as we know, is deceptive: one judges the world through the prism of what has happened to oneself and considers this a just and legitimate approach, when in fact it is quite obviously the perfect tactic for never learning anything about anything."

in Paulo Coelho's book, i was intrigued the moment it was released to the public because it was something totally unexpected. after all, what could he know about the topic? he writes heartwarming and inspiring stories, not tales of banality. but i was surprised at the how the story unraveled but i was quite disappointed that there was the happy ending for the girl (mala fairy tale kasi). but in any case, it was immensely engrossing.

i happened to like what Maria (the main character) wrote in her diary, viz.: "The little experience of life I've had has taught me that no one owns anything, that everything is an illusion - and that applies to material as well as spiritual things. Anyone who has lost something they was theirs forever finally comes to realize that nothing really belongs to them."

the main difference between the authors' approach had been, in Juan Bonilla's, those who have been caught in the sex trade seemed to end up wretched while Paulo Coelho's Maria ended up intelligent, with a "light" which marks her as a strong and independent woman. nut in the two novels, both the main characters felt the same thing about how their lives have unfolded, i.e. loneliness.