Student Blogs

The theme of memory has been consistent throughout all of our course readings. While reading Amulet, I started to find some similarities to the other readings. Specifically, W, or the Memory of Childhood because with regard to memory, the two are centred around a traumatic event and cause the narrators to struggle to remember an entire situation with certainty.  Also, the shrouded women and the Old Gringo because they each have a woman as the narrator looking back on their life events. 

For Amulet, the story is taken from Auxilio Lacouture, an Uruguayan woman who moved to Mexico and became the “mother of poetry.” I found the timeline of this novel a little confusing at first, but after reading more and watching the lecture video, I realized that Auxilio was recalling memories from the past and also the future while she was trapped in the fourth-floor bathroom of the National Autonomous University of Mexico for almost two weeks.  I found Auxilio very likable and easy to sympathize with. While trapped in the bathroom during the violent army occupation, she begins to immerse herself within these memories or dreams to cope with her situation. Her memories are based on her life in Mexico City and her interactions with the poets she befriends.

I thought it was interesting how Amulet, like the Old Gringo, provided a new perspective on historical events. Until I watched this week’s lecture I was unaware of the Tlatelolco Massacre and the Mexican student movement of 1968. Both Bolano and Fuentes gave us new perspectives on these historical events. However, where Amulet and the Old Gringo differ Amulet starts to compare to the Time of the Doves because while we are made aware of the political situation going on, it centers around one woman's experience. In both Amulet and the Time of the Doves, we see the impacts these movements have on a person, but the story does not revolve around the violence or the actual fight. Instead, we see Auxilio and Natalia’s life and what these events mean for their lives and how it changes them. I am interested in seeing how the next two readings will relate and compare to what we have already read.

My question for the class is: Since we are on week ten of our readings, how do you compare this text to the others? What similarities have you been noticing throughout the term? 

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Roberto Bolaño's Amulet was much more violent than I expected the story to be. It focuses on the War in Mexico as told through the perspective of Auxilio Lacouture. Lacouture is a Uruguayan woman who moved to Mexico in the 1960's. I think this has been my favourite book so far as I have found a better way to read the later books compared to some of the initial ones read. Bolaño writes such a tragic and horrifying story with so much tranquility and peacefulness. For such a sad story, it is described very beautifully. 

This novel taught me about the war and massacre of Tlatelolco in 1968. I had never even heard of the Tlatelolco massacre until this reading. Similar to Manea's novel, the story draws from real life instances to educate the readers about history. I think it is important to read novel's of this kind. We consume so much news and media content that we have become desensitized to violence in the world. 

Lacouture is forced to take shelter in a woman's bathroom during the War in Mexico in the 1960's. She hides from the military in the bathroom for many days on the University campus. While her peers are arrested and killed, she hides from the police for fourteen-days. She is then the only person who holdouts being on campus during that time. She spends her time thinking about both her past and her future as the story jumps between the two. I find the way that the story was written to be very interesting. It seemed as though there were tangents that held little information, followed by paragraphs full of information. 

Similarly to other stories, I think that the aim of this novel is to appreciate the story in it's entirety, rather than rip it apart looking for specifics. This course has taught me to read older literature with a different approach. Rather than hyper-fixate on details, it is important to read between the lines and learn from the entirety of the story. I appreciate getting to learn this new way of reading older literature as it makes it much more interesting. 

The ending of the story was the most impactful in my opinion. The "ghost-children" singing and walking together, it has a more ominous and apocalyptic tone than the rest of the story. My question to my classmates is: Was this also the most impactful part of the story for you? If not, what was? 

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Roberto Bolaño's Amulet was much more violent than I expected the story to be. It focuses on the War in Mexico as told through the perspective of Auxilio Lacouture. Lacouture is a Uruguayan woman who moved to Mexico in the 1960's. I think this has been my favourite book so far as I have found a better way to read the later books compared to some of the initial ones read. Bolaño writes such a tragic and horrifying story with so much tranquility and peacefulness. For such a sad story, it is described very beautifully. 

This novel taught me about the war and massacre of Tlatelolco in 1968. I had never even heard of the Tlatelolco massacre until this reading. Similar to Manea's novel, the story draws from real life instances to educate the readers about history. I think it is important to read novel's of this kind. We consume so much news and media content that we have become desensitized to violence in the world. 

Lacouture is forced to take shelter in a woman's bathroom during the War in Mexico in the 1960's. She hides from the military in the bathroom for many days on the University campus. While her peers are arrested and killed, she hides from the police for fourteen-days. She is then the only person who holdouts being on campus during that time. She spends her time thinking about both her past and her future as the story jumps between the two. I find the way that the story was written to be very interesting. It seemed as though there were tangents that held little information, followed by paragraphs full of information. 

Similarly to other stories, I think that the aim of this novel is to appreciate the story in it's entirety, rather than rip it apart looking for specifics. This course has taught me to read older literature with a different approach. Rather than hyper-fixate on details, it is important to read between the lines and learn from the entirety of the story. I appreciate getting to learn this new way of reading older literature as it makes it much more interesting. 

The ending of the story was the most impactful in my opinion. The "ghost-children" singing and walking together, it has a more ominous and apocalyptic tone than the rest of the story. My question to my classmates is: Was this also the most impactful part of the story for you? If not, what was? 

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Bolaño’s “Amulet” caught my interest with its gripping first line – “This is going to be a horror story”. The narrator, Auxillo is an unlikely choice and voice of a book. She is far from ordinary; impulsive, thoughtful and ambivalent. … Continue reading → read full post >>

Roberto Bolaño’s Amulet is the journey of a narrator who is originally from Uruguay but later shifted to Mexico with influences from other Latin American countries as well. The narrator and the author reflect on Latin America while living in another Spanish country. To start, I enjoyed reading this novel as, based on the migration […] read full post >>

This book is really interesting to me for a multitude of reasons. As a boy from the prairies of Alberta I couldn’t be farther from the turbulent and yet vibrant dives and campuses of Mexico city. Yet through the life … Continue reading → read full post >>

This novel was interesting. I especially liked the conviction and control the narrator uses at the beginning. Letting us know she is in charge of telling the story. The opening lines of the text are so thought-provoking, as they preface the story as being of horror but refusing to tell it as such a story. […] read full post >>

Roberto Bolano’s Amulet was an interesting read particularly because of the way its central motifs interact with one another in a way that feels very natural. On the one hand, the narrative is centrally concerned with time, however its dissection of time is not one of some objective or empirical account of time’s nature, rather […] read full post >>

amulet (noun): a charm (such as an ornament) often inscribed with a magic incantation or symbol to aid the wearer or protect against evil (such as disease or witchcraft) Amulet follows Auxilio Lacouture, a woman trapped in the women’s bathroom of a university while it is being taken over by the military in response to […] read full post >>

After reading “Amulet”, I really like how Bolano wrote the violent story in a peaceful and tranquil way, just like how he promised at the beginning of the book. From reflecting on the notorious Tlatelolco Incident in Mexico in 1968, Bolano intends to portray the struggle of entire Latin America as a whole, by blending […] read full post >>

First, I have to say that I was particularly excited for this reading for several reasons, some of them being:... read full post >>

 This week we read the novel "Amulet", written by Roberto Bolano. I found this book to be fairly easy to follow in terms of language and writing style, although unfortunately I did catch myself having a hard time staying focused at times, as the subject matter wasn't my favourite. I found some parts to be a bit bland, while other parts kept me engaged and wanting more information. This novel follows the story of Auxilio Lacouture, a poet living in Mexico. Despite being from Uruguay, she holds the title of "Mother of Mexican Poetry". Auxilio recounts memories and experiences from her life in Mexico while hiding in the bathroom from an invasion. She spends 12 days cooped up in the upper level bathroom of UNAM where she sits in a stall, starving. She shares stories mostly of her chaotic and unstable life meeting new poets and creating bonds with them. There was one younger fella she bonded with in particular, his name was Arturo Belano. 

I think the most striking part of the book for me, was when Auxilio first found herself stuck in the bathroom, hiding from soldiers. Specifically, the part when she heard footsteps enter room and had to lift her feet to make sure no one found her. Perhaps I found this to be the most engaging part because it got my adrenaline going a bit, wondering if she would be safe or if they found her what the consequences would be. 

Another thing I found interesting about this novel, was Auxilio's relationship with Arturo. The two of them seemed to have a pretty tight bond, despite having quite an age difference. Though I know this bond was entirely due to their shared passion for poetry, while reading I wondered why an older woman would care to hang around a boy in his late teens. I believe this may have been the result of Auxilio grasping for relationships because she put herself in unfamiliar territory when moving to Mexico without family or a place to live. I think she sees him as a son, or someone that she's proud of and wants to guide in the right direction (a mothers instinct). 

If you were in Auxilio's shoes, do you think you would have looked for friendships in the same places as she did?

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 This week we read the novel "Amulet", written by Roberto Bolano. I found this book to be fairly easy to follow in terms of language and writing style, although unfortunately I did catch myself having a hard time staying focused at times, as the subject matter wasn't my favourite. I found some parts to be a bit bland, while other parts kept me engaged and wanting more information. This novel follows the story of Auxilio Lacouture, a poet living in Mexico. Despite being from Uruguay, she holds the title of "Mother of Mexican Poetry". Auxilio recounts memories and experiences from her life in Mexico while hiding in the bathroom from an invasion. She spends 12 days cooped up in the upper level bathroom of UNAM where she sits in a stall, starving. She shares stories mostly of her chaotic and unstable life meeting new poets and creating bonds with them. There was one younger fella she bonded with in particular, his name was Arturo Belano. 

I think the most striking part of the book for me, was when Auxilio first found herself stuck in the bathroom, hiding from soldiers. Specifically, the part when she heard footsteps enter room and had to lift her feet to make sure no one found her. Perhaps I found this to be the most engaging part because it got my adrenaline going a bit, wondering if she would be safe or if they found her what the consequences would be. 

Another thing I found interesting about this novel, was Auxilio's relationship with Arturo. The two of them seemed to have a pretty tight bond, despite having quite an age difference. Though I know this bond was entirely due to their shared passion for poetry, while reading I wondered why an older woman would care to hang around a boy in his late teens. I believe this may have been the result of Auxilio grasping for relationships because she put herself in unfamiliar territory when moving to Mexico without family or a place to live. I think she sees him as a son, or someone that she's proud of and wants to guide in the right direction (a mothers instinct). 

If you were in Auxilio's shoes, do you think you would have looked for friendships in the same places as she did?

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Amulet, to me, was a simple read. It did not feel as though the story was as hard to follow as some others we have read this term. Just like many other novellas we’ve read, the story focused a lot on the past and reflection of important moments of the narrators life, primary being locked […] read full post >>

The novel, “Amulet” by Roberto Bolano was an enjoyable read. It features Auxilio Lacouture who is an uruguay immigrant living illegally in Mexico City. She is passionate about poetry and literature which leads her to having many different relationships with different famous Mexican writers, as well as working odd jobs at the National Autonomous University […] read full post >>