“The only thing about me that doesn’t change is my past: the memory of my human past. The past is usually stable, it’s always there, lovely or terrible, and it will be there forever” (55). This whole book left me thinking a lot about an essay I did in first-year philosophy class, where I wrote […]
“After all, what is robbing a bank compared to founding one?” VERY Robin Hood-y. That line stayed with me the whole time I was reading. The quote already suggests that the novel is less interested in judging the robbery itself and more interested in the strange contradictions behind crime. While reading the book, I kept […]
I think my first thought after finishing this story was how strange the situation felt, but also how familiar it seemed in a different way. Nowadays, people gather, have dinner, talk about random things, and often avoid discussing politics, even when the political situation around the world feels chaotic or upside down. The difference is […]
To be honest, I did not like If on a winter’s night a traveler. I get why it’s considered creative, but my experience was mostly confusion and distance. In the beginning, when the narrator tells you where to sit, adjust the light, relax, and prepare to read. I remember thinking: why is he telling me […]
Reading The Time of the Doves I kept noticing how Natalia’s life is shaped more by what she’s missing than by what she has. No one ever showed her what a healthy relationship looks like, so when Quimet appears she doesn’t really choose him; she just drifts into him. And Quimet? Major red flag. Immediately. […]
Being Peruvian definitely shaped how I read this book. I probably would have enjoyed it even more if it had not been midterm season, but I still ended up liking it a lot. Through Ernesto’s inner conflict you can understand a lot about the society around him. He is mestizo, and because he grew up […]
Reading Agostino felt worse than Proust for me. Besides the fact that it is uncomfortable in a way that seems very intentional, it lost my attention at many parts of the book. The way it is written felt repetitive or bland, yet there are some interesting parts in this story. “She wasn’t naked, as he […]
“But now, now that I am dead, it occurs to me that possibly all men once in their lifetime long to make some great renunciation… in order to feel themselves masters of their own destiny.” wow…. I really liked this novel. The narration through a “ghost’s” POV made it interesting in a way […]
I really liked this book and managed to read it in one sitting, unlike Proust. I read it in the original language, Spanish, and I was a tiny bit lost at first. Honestly, I think it might have been easier for me to read it in English. I don’t know if my Spanish vocabulary has […]
For me, this whole novel lost me at many parts, but the moments where I did pay attention, it gave me one specific feeling: nostalgia. Proust shows nostalgia exactly as it feels, like being immediately pulled away into the past without choosing to. First of all, I want to answer the lecture’s questions. What do […]
