This week we were tasked to read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by José Eduardo Agualusa. Published pretty recently in March of 2020, this story mainly follows the tale of Daniel, a journalist, Hossi, an ex-military man turned resort owner, Karinguiri, a revolutionary and Moira, a dream artist. It is set in modern Angola. The story explores the themes of dreams, memory (again), freedom, independence and strength. It explores the importance of dreams in predicting future events, telling the stories of individuals, uniting a people and fueling the strength of the Angolan dreamers. The word “dream” has two widely recognized definitions – the first one is the movie that we imagine in our heads when we’re fast asleep. The second definition is “a cherished aspiration.” In this book, Hossi’s appearance in everyone else’s dreams served to connect these two ideas together. His appearance in other people’s dreams acted as a spiritual inspiration and an almost magical symbol that pushed the people to unite over their common objective – freedom.
I appreciated the use of different characters to show the variety in perspectives that existed on the government and the dictator. For instance, Lucrécia was someone who believed in the President and benefitted from his position as leader. Family wise, her and her father had a lot of political influence and were able to lead a decent life maneuvering the loopholes that only rich have the privilege of maneuvering. On the contrary, there’s her daughter Karinguiri, who is an adamant fighter for the fall of the dictatorship and the freedom of her people, the very opposite ideals and values of her mother. Then, there’s Daniel, who is kind of just in the middle. He doesn’t agree with Lucrécia’s beliefs, but he also won’t step up to the mic without a push from someone or something else. This demonstrates the patchwork that is modern Angolan society in its diversity in thought, values and ideals.
Overall, I quite enjoyed this book. It wasn’t boring and it kept me engaged enough that I managed to finish reading it in a relatively short amount of time. As the last book of our semester in Romance Studies, I believe I made the right choice.
Here are my questions for this week. Was there any one character in particular that you related to? Was there anything about their personality, passion, desire for justice, passiveness that was relatable? Also, as a more general question, what do you think are the purpose of dreams? Are you the type of person to forget them as soon as you wake up or the type of person to write dreams down every morning in a dream journal – and why?
This week we were tasked to read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by José Eduardo Agualusa. Published pretty recently in March of 2020, this story mainly follows the tale of Daniel, a journalist, Hossi, an ex-military man turned resort owner, Karinguiri, a revolutionary and Moira, a dream artist. It is set in modern Angola. The story explores the themes of dreams, memory (again), freedom, independence and strength. It explores the importance of dreams in predicting future events, telling the stories of individuals, uniting a people and fueling the strength of the Angolan dreamers. The word “dream” has two widely recognized definitions – the first one is the movie that we imagine in our heads when we’re fast asleep. The second definition is “a cherished aspiration.” In this book, Hossi’s appearance in everyone else’s dreams served to connect these two ideas together. His appearance in other people’s dreams acted as a spiritual inspiration and an almost magical symbol that pushed the people to unite over their common objective – freedom.
I appreciated the use of different characters to show the variety in perspectives that existed on the government and the dictator. For instance, Lucrécia was someone who believed in the President and benefitted from his position as leader. Family wise, her and her father had a lot of political influence and were able to lead a decent life maneuvering the loopholes that only rich have the privilege of maneuvering. On the contrary, there’s her daughter Karinguiri, who is an adamant fighter for the fall of the dictatorship and the freedom of her people, the very opposite ideals and values of her mother. Then, there’s Daniel, who is kind of just in the middle. He doesn’t agree with Lucrécia’s beliefs, but he also won’t step up to the mic without a push from someone or something else. This demonstrates the patchwork that is modern Angolan society in its diversity in thought, values and ideals.
Overall, I quite enjoyed this book. It wasn’t boring and it kept me engaged enough that I managed to finish reading it in a relatively short amount of time. As the last book of our semester in Romance Studies, I believe I made the right choice.
Here are my questions for this week. Was there any one character in particular that you related to? Was there anything about their personality, passion, desire for justice, passiveness that was relatable? Also, as a more general question, what do you think are the purpose of dreams? Are you the type of person to forget them as soon as you wake up or the type of person to write dreams down every morning in a dream journal – and why?
In “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers” by José Agualasa, he creates a world within which dreams are clues to the future, a place where all the potential tomorrows of humanity are housed. Written in the backdrop of civil war, political … Continue reading
The stories of these girls growing up are both familiar and unfamiliar. Maybe I haven’t experienced what happened to them, but the little thoughts of their girls seem to be the ones we’ve had. Girls feel anxious about their body changes during puberty and share secrets with their friends. Elana has a fatal attraction to … Continue reading Review of My Brilliant Friend
I can’t believe it’s almost the end of this semester already. Time sure went by fast!
At the beginning of the semester, I was worried about not being able to understand the ‘deeper’ meanings behind the texts as English is not my first language. As time progressed, I realized that I don’t need to worry about it. I am able to see the texts from different perspectives and learn many things from my classmates’ blogs and the discussions in class. It was super nice to be able to see other people’s ideas and thoughts on their posts. I also love reading the feedback comments on my blogs!
Talking about blogs, I was also worried about creating blogs at the beginning of the semester. I struggled when creating the blog posts because I am not a technology person. Luckily, I started to get used to the format after a few weeks in (new skill learned). After using it several times, I realized it is not that challenging to use.
One of the things I was not expecting in the course was the texts we read in class. I thought the texts we will be reading will be mainly about ‘love kind of romance’ or a lot of relationships involved in the texts. I wasn’t expecting that most of the readings were about or related to war and memories.
I still remember when I started reading Proust’s “Combray”. The beginning of the novel confused me. I even asked my friend if it is normal that I don’t understand a single thing. I need to re-read them a few times to fully get them into my head. I was worried and panicked back then because it was just the start of the course and I’m already struggling. Luckily it got better as the book progressed.
I have to say “Bonjour Tristesse” by Sagan Francoise was my favourite text from the readings I have read this term. I like it because it’s more relationship based. It focuses on the relationship dynamics between the characters instead of violence. Even though the characters in there are pretty selfish to the point I became frustrated, but it made me want to continue reading it and find out what happened next.
Overall, I really liked and enjoyed this course! I love how we are able to choose the amount of readings we read and go to the discussion on either Tuesday or Thursday. I am able to expand my horizon by the readings, lectures, discussions and the blogs from my classmates.
Thank you all for this wonderful semester.
I can’t believe it’s almost the end of this semester already. Time sure went by fast!
At the beginning of the semester, I was worried about not being able to understand the ‘deeper’ meanings behind the texts as English is not my first language. As time progressed, I realized that I don’t need to worry about it. I am able to see the texts from different perspectives and learn many things from my classmates’ blogs and the discussions in class. It was super nice to be able to see other people’s ideas and thoughts on their posts. I also love reading the feedback comments on my blogs!
Talking about blogs, I was also worried about creating blogs at the beginning of the semester. I struggled when creating the blog posts because I am not a technology person. Luckily, I started to get used to the format after a few weeks in (new skill learned). After using it several times, I realized it is not that challenging to use.
One of the things I was not expecting in the course was the texts we read in class. I thought the texts we will be reading will be mainly about ‘love kind of romance’ or a lot of relationships involved in the texts. I wasn’t expecting that most of the readings were about or related to war and memories.
I still remember when I started reading Proust’s “Combray”. The beginning of the novel confused me. I even asked my friend if it is normal that I don’t understand a single thing. I need to re-read them a few times to fully get them into my head. I was worried and panicked back then because it was just the start of the course and I’m already struggling. Luckily it got better as the book progressed.
I have to say “Bonjour Tristesse” by Sagan Francoise was my favourite text from the readings I have read this term. I like it because it’s more relationship based. It focuses on the relationship dynamics between the characters instead of violence. Even though the characters in there are pretty selfish to the point I became frustrated, but it made me want to continue reading it and find out what happened next.
Overall, I really liked and enjoyed this course! I love how we are able to choose the amount of readings we read and go to the discussion on either Tuesday or Thursday. I am able to expand my horizon by the readings, lectures, discussions and the blogs from my classmates.
Thank you all for this wonderful semester.
This week, I read “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers” by José Eduardo Agualusa.
I pity the narrator, Daniel. After he started covering topics about society and politics when “Portuguese newspapers” took him on as a correspondent, his father in law does not like what he wrote and has a different perspective/opinion on the narrator’s writings. Due to that Daniel got fired from his company and his relationship with his wife worsened which eventually led to divorce.
After living at Armando’s apartment for several years, Daniel went to the Rainbow Hotel. Hossi Apolonio Kaley is the owner of the Rainbow Hotel and it turns out that they went to the same school together before. During Daniel’s stay there, he discovered a mango-yellow waterproof camera when he was swimming. He took the camera with him and plugged the memory card into his computer then downloaded the pictures later that night. He became obsessed with the woman and often dreamt about her. It made me begin to wonder why the figure of this woman is so important in the novel. Does she symbolizes anything? Or are her photos an object to help deal with the hard times for Daniel?
One of the vivid conversations in the story for me was a conversation between Daniel and Hossi about being vegetarian. Hossi rejected when Daniel invited him to join on his chicken and chips. Daniel was surprised that Hossi is a vegetarian as there aren’t many of them in Angola. Hossi then pointed out that Hitler and Gandhi were both vegetarian as well. It is harder for people to accept the fact that Hitler liked animals because of all the harming he has done to the people. On the other hand, it is easier for the people to accept the fact that Gandhi liked animals and was a vegetarian. This reminded me of how important a person’s image/reputation to others is and how extreme it can be. If a person who is loved by everyone does something ‘bad’, most of the people will let it pass thinking it was an accident or maybe that person was going through a bad day. In different circumstances, if a person who has a bad reputation does something ‘good’, most of the people would find it hard to believe and will still have negative thoughts about the person.
A question I have for the class is: How does dreams affect one’s life?
This course to me so far is the most unique course I’ve ever taken at UBC, not only because of the unique way we are evaluated, but more about what I’ve learned from the readings. I myself am an international student, and I didn’t know much about the history, culture and social atmosphere in the […]
It’s crazy that we are wrapping up the course already! Thank you so much to Jon, Jennifer, and Patricio, for all the hard work and effort put into this course every week. This course was one of a kind and I’m so happy to have had the freedom to explore literature from the romance world. … Continue reading “A Conclusion to Romance Studies”
When I first enrolled in this course, I’ll admit it was simply for the literature credits, and I had absolutely no idea what to expect. On top of that, I wasn’t sure how the whole contract grading thing would play out, as it is a new concept for me. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I […]
