Student Blogs

You know what I really enjoyed this novel! This is such a creative perspective as a chameleon and honestly very cute imagining it too. Also I couldn’t stop thinking about the song ‘Karma Chameleon’, hence the title of this blog – it just fits so well. Anyways, let’s jump into it! Starting with the narrator, […] read full post >>

  Hi there, I’m back! For this week’s read “The book of Chameleons”, José Eduardo Agualusa creates an interesting take on identity, memory, and the nature of truth (which honestly should be pretty self explanatory with the name I guess). blending a built upon sense of identity with historical and political insight, Agualusa takes us […] read full post >>

I really liked this read! read full post >>

Going into The Book of Chameleons, I wasn’t expecting a story about someone who literally sells new identities. Félix Ventura’s job immediately caught my attention and not just because it’s unusual, but because it feels like an exaggerated version of something people already do. We constantly reshape how we present ourselves, just not with forged […] read full post >>

Oi blog!! Hope this past week was good :)) This week, I had the pleasure of reading The Book of Chameleons. When I first picked this book from the syllabus, a small part of my mind started the debate of “should I read this book in English or in Portuguese??” While you may think my answer […] read full post >>

Chameleons, the great disguising animal which can quite literally blend in with whatever is nearby… This is quite important to recognize before even getting started on the book since it made me ready to jump into a book I’d assume was full deception and cunning, and of course chameleons. While there was plenty of deception … read full post >>

  I was actually really intrigued by this book. From the talking gecko, who’s not actually a gecko, to a silently marinating plot twist, what’s there not to be shocked by? It was incredibly pleasing when the title manifested in the story when the gecko’s true identity as an Argentine author was revealed: Borges was […] read full post >>

I wanted to start off by saying this book pleasantly surprised me in quite a few ways, especially by the emotional ending. I was seeing a lot of parallels drawn with repect to Money to burn so i might be referencing that a lot (it could also be recency bias since this was the book […] read full post >>

Mar 22, 2026 Wow… this book really was a lot. Because of the pacing and it being a fairly short book with so much to unpack, it escalated from mystery to revenge in a split second, and it all went by real fast just like a dream. I felt like this was peak reader experience, […] read full post >>

 The Book of Chameleons was definitely an interesting read, even though it had nothing to do with actual chameleons. However that is somewhat expected, since the title is perhaps meant to be more symbolic rather than literal. If the book were about chameleons it would be far less engaging and meaningful. Usually, I find it […] read full post >>

” ‘I have no name,” I replied quite frankly. “I am the gecko.” “That’s silly. No one is a gecko!” “You’re right. No one’s a gecko. And you – are you really called Felix Ventura?” My question seemed to offend him. He lay back on the bench and his eyes disappeared into the incredible depths […] read full post >>

I was not expecting to like Soldiers of Salamis as much as I did but I was pleasantly surprised. In all honesty, I don’t know much about the Spanish Civil War so I enjoyed that this book explained the political/social context of Spain in the 1930s, making it a little easier to understand. At times, I […] read full post >>

I overall enjoyed the message of this book and what it taught me, and I appreciated that it was a very quick read. As I often do, I loved the descriptions in this novel, particularly on p. 87, the little red fruits that “when they hit their target they’d disintegrate…staining the victim’s clothes with what […] read full post >>

I think this is the first book that I’ve read where I genuinely I have no idea what happened. It’s like when you’re reading and you zone out and then you’re like ‘what did I just read?’ and you go back to read it again. That was me but with the entire book. Halfway through the book I was like... read full post >>

I know you’re all wondering — if I could reinvent my life from the start, would I? Well, I think I quite like my life the way that it is. But would I also like to try my luck at living the nepo baby dream? Yeah, I think I would. The Book of Chameleons by […] read full post >>