Welp, just like that it’s almost all over. The blogs, this course, and my bachelors degree! Taking this course in my penultimate semester of my undergraduate degree was both a pleasure and an eye-opener. Being able to choose how much I would like apply myself to this course without all the ambiguity around grading, was […]
Damn. Just as I thought I was getting a hang of this reading and understanding thing. What a way to ring in the end of this course with one of the most mind bending and confusing narratives I have ever read. I thoroughly despised every moment of reading this. I in no way feels I grasped […]
Here are some post final midterm deranged thoughts: “The Book of Chameleons”. What an interesting and creative read, but one that was also kinda confusing to follow. I think that that’s a product of the dreamy double world created by José Eduardo Agualusa. It took me a while to figure out why this book was […]
I. Love. Crime. Stories. “Money to Burn,” is a crime novel (I love it). It delves deep into the intricacies of a daring bank heist, while also touching on the socio-political tensions in Argentina (This part I don’t care so much about. More crime please). Having just finished this book, I can say with full […]
To be honest, chose this one because of the title. I mean come on, “The Trenchcoat”… what a cool and ominous title. And to follow up on that, the trenchcoat itself emerges is a sort of central figure in the narrative. Although a coat is a pretty mundane object (or not depending on how cool […]
So, let’s talk about “The Hour of the Star,”. It centres around Macabéa. She’s from the northeast of Brazil and moves to Rio de Janeiro. Macabéa’s life is… tough, for a lack of better words. She’’s a bit of a wallflower. She barely makes ends meet with her job as a typist, and is often […]
One thing that is apparently clear throughout “The Time of the Doves,” is the theme of loss in Natàlia’s life. Her story is a representation of grief, resilience, and the will to persevere. Moreover, Natàtalia navigates loss in the context of the Spanish Civil War adding another layer of complexity to her story. Something that […]
Surprise surprise… today I will be discussing yet another coming of age story. José María Arguedas’s “Deep Rivers” is a journey through the heart of Peru and through finding a sense of belonging. For this blog post I’m focusing on the dynamics of the setting, because I’m getting a little bored of talking only about […]
Despite being relatively short, I think “Agostino” does a great job of encapsulating the confusing transition from childhood innocence to adolescence. I found this book to be much easier reading not only length wise, but content (words) wise as well. Agostino spends his summer days closely attached to his widowed mother. However, his identity and […]
For me, “The Shrouded Woman” by María Luisa Bombal was an unexpected and intriguing journey. The speaker’s position of this book makes it very fascinating– it’s narrated by a woman on her deathbed. A Unique Narrative Style Bombal’s choice of narrator is striking. The protagonist, Ana María, is caught in a sort of limbo – […]
