I know everyone else is saying this, but I can’t believe this term is actually ending. I enjoy reading a lot, I love it, but in recent years I’ve exclusively kept it to either fanfiction or Chinese/Korean novels, which are vastly different from the novels that we read for class. So, it was a bit […]
Reading The Impatient made me very sad. In the first half of the book, I was extremely angry, but then somewhere around the middle, I, like Hindou, succumbed to immense sadness. I’m sad their society caters to men. I’m sad Ramla’s choice was ripped away from her. I’m sad Hindou couldn’t escape in peace. I’m sad […]
For starters… there were once again a lot of characters in this novel! So I’m extremely grateful to Ferrante for including an index of characters at the very beginning. It was very much appreciated for someone like me, who struggles with remembering characters – especially side characters that are only mentioned a handful of times […]
I think the style of this novel was quite refreshing because it was different from what we’ve previously read. The short sections (can I even call them chapters?) honestly made it easier to read, I felt like I was going through the novel faster than before because it was like little short anecdotes rather than […]
Like many of the other students, I was also lost in the amount of characters in this novel. So many characters, so many crimes, and the fact that they were often introduced with their real name then were referred to by their alias from thereon out… there was just a lot going on. The queer […]
The non-linear storytelling was honestly confusing. I know it’s supposed to mimic the narrator’s train of thought but… since I’m not her, I didn’t really know where all this information was coming from! I felt like that “guy who needs context” meme for the beginning portion. There were details all over the place and one […]
Rodrigo puzzled me as a narrator because he felt a bit wishy-washy with his feelings about Macabea. To begin with, he doesn’t mention her name at all until the very first conversation where she has to introduce herself, instead referring to her as “the northeastern girl” or “she” and “her”. Then he goes on and on […]
Quimet couldn’t have died fast enough. What an absolutely despicable good for nothing worthless man! While this novel was an easy read on the brain and for my understanding, it was also difficult to read because it was akin to watching a trainwreck in slow motion. I could tell where their relationship was going, and […]
This reading overall made me feel sad and exhausted. Not in a dramatic way, but because Jose’s life was just… reality. It was precisely the coming of youth, and the cards were never in his favour. Knowing that this novel was in part autobiographical makes sense to me. I think the most saddening character to […]
The whole novel of Nada felt eery to me, like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I suppose this is because of the aftermath of the Spanish civil war, as the lecture video states that the family’s trauma haunts the narrative – so it’s more like the shoe has already dropped, and everything […]
