Student Blogs

Alright so after this read I feel as though a common trend in the books we are reading is that men are being consistently displayed as awful. We have encountered horrible husbands like Quimet in The Time of the Doves and Antonio in The S... read full post >>

The Trenchcoat was a pretty unsettling read in a quiet kind of way. The story feels simple on the surface, but there’s this constant tension lingering in the background that slowly creeps up on you. What I found really interesting is that everything is told through a child’s perspective. The narrator doesn’t fully understand the […] read full post >>

Why is this book called the lover??? I mean I get ‘why’ but I definitely don’t like why. Every instance this man had with protagonist was just uncomfortable to the highest degree. Even if I tried to situate myself with context or go with the flow of the story, I wasn’t at ease reading any […] read full post >>

Duras’ The Lover follows a fifteen-year-old French girl in colonial Indochina and the wealthy, much older Chinese man who becomes her lover. Some may try to frame this as sensual, tragic, even romantic… but I can assure you that it lands somewhere closer to the unnerving territory occupied by Lolita. I think what I found […] read full post >>

I’m not sure how to feel about this book, or is it even a book? Maybe this work is better classified as a short story. Regardless, the fast, fleeting nature of this piece helped capture the sentiments of the members of the working class, the “proletariats,” during the unfortunate times of war.   The start […] read full post >>

Review of Marguerite Duras's The Lover read full post >>

“The Trenchcoat” by Norman Manea was another piece of literature that left me confused. From the very beginning, I felt overwhelmed by the number of characters appearing one after another, whilst also trying to understand what was going on. On top of the fact that there were multiple characters, there were also characters that appeared […] read full post >>

Ah… Professor, is there one book in here that will begin and end with the same healthy romantic relationship? I’m so horrified by this romantic dynamic and even though I’ve visited this book during my highschool days, it still disgusts me to read some of these pages here (like pages 37-39). There were some questions in my head as I... read full post >>

This book by Duras marked a visit to another completely different part of the world than those that I have already visited through the books that I have chosen, as it takes place in the colony of French Indochina, a part of current day Vietnam. I truly did not expect this course’s texts to take […] read full post >>

    This book, although a bit confusing, was right up my alley, given that I'm a political science student. Reflecting on this reinforced preconceived notions about authoritarianism and totalitarian rule. The Trenchcoat was a particularl... read full post >>

    This book, although a bit confusing, was right up my alley, given that I'm a political science student. Reflecting on this reinforced preconceived notions about authoritarianism and totalitarian rule. The Trenchcoat was a particularl... read full post >>

“Everything chimed with his desire and made him possess me. I had become his child. It was with his own child he made love every evening. And sometimes he takes fright, suddenly he’s worried about her health, as if he suddenly realized she was mortal and it suddenly struck him he might lose her. ” […] read full post >>

It is also a story that begins with a memory, as the narrator recalls her past from her old age. It reminds me of the narrative in The Shrouded Woman, and both of them are like recollections of the past, where the story unfolds through memories rather than through a linear plot (Also, at the […] read full post >>

 I did not know how I felt about this book. I am drawing blanks. It was a good read. I enjoyed it, but there were many time jumps, which I feel are messing with my perception of when things happened in chronological order.As I turn the pages, I ke... read full post >>

 I did not know how I felt about this book. I am drawing blanks. It was a good read. I enjoyed it, but there were many time jumps, which I feel are messing with my perception of when things happened in chronological order.As I turn the pages, I ke... read full post >>