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Out of all of the works that I’ve read so far during this term, I believe that Roberto Bolaño’s Amulet may be my favourite. Despite the novel’s “ordinariness” (as described in the lecture), I really felt that there was something magical about it – not exotic or romanticized, or even anything like the “magic realism” […] read full post >>

Hey everyone, The fact that this novel starts with “This is going to be a horror story,” made me expect to feel fear while reading this. Elements of the horror usually include suspense or surprise but the narrator was right in saying that the way this story is told was not nearly as scary to […] read full post >>

The novel “Amulet” by Roberto Bolaño is focused on Auxilio Lacouture and her experience and memories as she hides in a washroom on the fourth floor of a building. The novel is set in 1968 as the army takes over the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The novel begins with the narrator informing the audience … Continue reading Week 10: Bolaño’s “Amulet” → read full post >>

Roberto Bolaño, Amulet I thought I would give a little context before writing what I thought about this book. So, I am Mexican and I have lived my entire life in Mexico City where this novel takes place and I can say that a lot of the things that talked about Mexico City in the […] read full post >>

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this text by Bolano. It was a bit difficult for me to follow, but what I got out of it was that it centers around a young woman named Auxilio Lacouture who recalls her life and a few memorable women named Elena, Remedios, and Lilian. The story […] read full post >>

Amulet was a book that was hard to put down. I enjoyed the style of writing tremendously, throughout the book, even though the narrator told us that her memories were unreliable (a recurring theme in books we’re reading) I did not care. Every story she told was captivating and every character she introduced was dynamic and interesting. This was a horror story, like any story about a trauma. But like it was mentioned in the lecture, the unsettling aspects of the story happened ‘off screen’. We didn’t directly witness them. She was hiding in the bathroom and had very little idea what was going on outside - terrifying!

The characters I enjoyed reading about the most were the women. There was Elena, with whom Auxilio shared a lot of time and had a friendship she valued. Elena had a limp and she was in love with a man who was leaving soon. The last time Auxilio sees Elena, she contemplates running after her and giving her a hug. She decides against it and never sees Elena again, although she imagines seeing her in random places including on campus. Another interesting female character was Lilian who Auxilio seemed to be jealous of as she believed that she was the real mother of Mexican poetry. She was beautiful (and had all her teeth, she didn’t need to cover her mouth when she spoke!), she was living off of selling art and didn’t seem to struggle financially as much as Auxilio, she had many lovers which Auxilio hadn’t and she slept with Che Gevara (and thought he was ‘normal’, but what is normal!). What made her even more interesting is that we see her coming out of the painter’s house (I’m forgetting her name). The painter Auxilio was very excited to meet, wanted to stay at her house and was refused. Why was Lilian hiding in there? Why did the painter lie about having her there?

I’m generally not a big fan of realism, I read multiple books by Marquez and did not really enjoy them - not his popular ones anyway - the book that I enjoyed was Chronicles of a Death Foretold. However, I did not feel the same way about Bolano’s writing. I thought there was a lot of beauty in his choices of words even when describing the mundane. The details painted images in my memory and even though it was indeed a horror story, I found the writing to be calming and far from boring. 

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Amulet was a book that was hard to put down. I enjoyed the style of writing tremendously, throughout the book, even though the narrator told us that her memories were unreliable (a recurring theme in books we’re reading) I did not care. Every story she told was captivating and every character she introduced was dynamic and interesting. This was a horror story, like any story about a trauma. But like it was mentioned in the lecture, the unsettling aspects of the story happened ‘off screen’. We didn’t directly witness them. She was hiding in the bathroom and had very little idea what was going on outside - terrifying!

The characters I enjoyed reading about the most were the women. There was Elena, with whom Auxilio shared a lot of time and had a friendship she valued. Elena had a limp and she was in love with a man who was leaving soon. The last time Auxilio sees Elena, she contemplates running after her and giving her a hug. She decides against it and never sees Elena again, although she imagines seeing her in random places including on campus. Another interesting female character was Lilian who Auxilio seemed to be jealous of as she believed that she was the real mother of Mexican poetry. She was beautiful (and had all her teeth, she didn’t need to cover her mouth when she spoke!), she was living off of selling art and didn’t seem to struggle financially as much as Auxilio, she had many lovers which Auxilio hadn’t and she slept with Che Gevara (and thought he was ‘normal’, but what is normal!). What made her even more interesting is that we see her coming out of the painter’s house (I’m forgetting her name). The painter Auxilio was very excited to meet, wanted to stay at her house and was refused. Why was Lilian hiding in there? Why did the painter lie about having her there?

I’m generally not a big fan of realism, I read multiple books by Marquez and did not really enjoy them - not his popular ones anyway - the book that I enjoyed was Chronicles of a Death Foretold. However, I did not feel the same way about Bolano’s writing. I thought there was a lot of beauty in his choices of words even when describing the mundane. The details painted images in my memory and even though it was indeed a horror story, I found the writing to be calming and far from boring. 

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blog#10 – the traits of Womanhood — The first thing that really took my attention while reading Roberto Bolaño’s book Amulet, was the fact that Bolaño himself was writing from a female character’s perspective. I know its quite normal for a male author to write in female voice, but for some reason this is what stuck […] read full post >>

Amulet was a really interesting look into themes of modern Latin American history for me, and I really enjoyed reading about Auxilio’s stories about the past and her eventual literary “history of the future,” from the lecture. The first few lines stuck with me for the entire part of the book that I’ve read, about […] read full post >>

Hi Everyone! This week I’ll be reflecting on Roberto Bolano’s novella, Amulet. I really enjoyed this read. As many have... read full post >>

In Amulet, we find a Chilean author writing about a fictional Uruguayan protagonist based in Mexico. I felt that this... read full post >>

I really liked this novel, it was a very intriguing and even suspenseful read. The fact that this novel is set in Mexico at a time of great political unrest is what makes it both unnerving and interesting at the same time. The opening lines of the story immediately catches the reader’s interest and successfully […] read full post >>

I was initially very intrigued by this story. I was excited that it was under the category or ‘horror’ as this is not really a genre we've read yet in this class. The scene in the first section of the book where the soldiers are taking over the university reminded me a lot of memories from lockdown drills in school and more specifically what to do if you happen to be stuck in a stall at the time of entry of whoever (danger). I think the author did an excellent job of illustrating that scene and the position she held to avoid being seen. 

After that, the story began to head in the direction of explaining short stories and memories she had accumulated over her life. There were many! Some of the time I would get a little lost in the details of these stories, but for the most part they were very entertaining. It is safe to say that her life was interesting and deviated a fair bit from any sort of norm. She came off as a free spirit. Auxillio did not seem to have any sort of obligations, rather she just did what felt right in that moment. Whether that was surrounding herself around individuals much younger than her, or devoting her time and effort towards the University’s philosophy department solely out of love for the subject. It stood out to me that she would not accept any sort of financial reimbursement when that could've been extremely beneficial for her, as she did not have a place of her own. I think that speaks volumes to the type of character she has. Additionally, it spoke volumes to how much she valued spending time with the right type of feel good people - and an added benefit if they were interested in poetry. I must admit her nights out with friends seemed very cool. 

As for pretty much any text, you can never know for sure what biases the narrator has in their storytelling and whether what they're saying holds validity or not. For instance when she says “the story wasn't altogether credible, simply because of its source; that is me. (p.80) Of course, this reminded me of the fact that she is telling these stories of her memories all while trapped inside of the washroom in the university. Obviously she must be losing it a bit…. One thing that was brought up quite a few times throughout the novel was that she referred to herself as “the mother of poets”,? I never really understood what she meant by this, and the more serious significance? 

read full post >>

I was initially very intrigued by this story. I was excited that it was under the category or ‘horror’ as this is not really a genre we've read yet in this class. The scene in the first section of the book where the soldiers are taking over the university reminded me a lot of memories from lockdown drills in school and more specifically what to do if you happen to be stuck in a stall at the time of entry of whoever (danger). I think the author did an excellent job of illustrating that scene and the position she held to avoid being seen. 

After that, the story began to head in the direction of explaining short stories and memories she had accumulated over her life. There were many! Some of the time I would get a little lost in the details of these stories, but for the most part they were very entertaining. It is safe to say that her life was interesting and deviated a fair bit from any sort of norm. She came off as a free spirit. Auxillio did not seem to have any sort of obligations, rather she just did what felt right in that moment. Whether that was surrounding herself around individuals much younger than her, or devoting her time and effort towards the University’s philosophy department solely out of love for the subject. It stood out to me that she would not accept any sort of financial reimbursement when that could've been extremely beneficial for her, as she did not have a place of her own. I think that speaks volumes to the type of character she has. Additionally, it spoke volumes to how much she valued spending time with the right type of feel good people - and an added benefit if they were interested in poetry. I must admit her nights out with friends seemed very cool. 

As for pretty much any text, you can never know for sure what biases the narrator has in their storytelling and whether what they're saying holds validity or not. For instance when she says “the story wasn't altogether credible, simply because of its source; that is me. (p.80) Of course, this reminded me of the fact that she is telling these stories of her memories all while trapped inside of the washroom in the university. Obviously she must be losing it a bit…. One thing that was brought up quite a few times throughout the novel was that she referred to herself as “the mother of poets”,? I never really understood what she meant by this, and the more serious significance? 

read full post >>

Amulet by Robert Bolano gave such a unique delivery on Latin American history through an unusual narrative. The book’s narrator,... read full post >>