Student Blogs

Maybe I’m learning to enjoy reading these types of book more, but I feel I’m enjoying each new book more than the last. I wasn’t considering this to be a particularly emotional book so I was kinda shocked when I burst into tears reading that Eulalio had passed. I think in many of the books […] read full post >>

I’ll begin by saying that I really enjoyed this novel, mainly because I see a lot of parallels between The Book of Chameleons and the hit Netflix series Better Call Saul, and I honestly think that Agualusa inspired some of the core ideas behind Vince Gillighan’s work (the producer of Better Call Saul). I’m a […] read full post >>

I read this week’s book before watching the lecture video and I had the strongest feeling that the drinks pairing was going to be coffee. If I had actually paired the drink it may have helped me enjoy it more and stay awake while reading it lol. Although pretty readable I found this book to […] read full post >>

I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever read a book that made me feel this disoriented but also weirdly impressed at the same time. Like I started this thinking it would be a normal story and then suddenly I’m being narrated to by a gecko and no one is acting like that’s unusual. I had to […] read full post >>

The fact that the title of this very book is “Book of Chameleons”, should send red flags all over, after all this is, in fact, not a book about chameleons. Chameleons are the symbol of masking, of a facade, I mean that’s how they survive in nature. It’s quite on brand that there are no […] read full post >>

One thing that stood out to me most when reading The Book of Chameleons was the idea of identity and how it is seen as something malleable. In the book, identities can be changed, created, or invented from nothing. Félix Ventura’s job is literally creating new identities for his clients. In this way, the book […] read full post >>

I quickly realized why José Agualusa’s “The Book of Chameleons” was titled as such: many character’s take on different colours, changing based on their environments. Even the first-person narrator isn’t a chameleon, but a gecko. As stated in the lecture, the Portuguese original title means “The Seller of Pasts,” referencing the albino, Felix Ventura. The […] read full post >>

“The only thing about me that doesn’t change is my past: the memory of my human past. The past is usually stable, it’s always there, lovely or terrible, and it will be there forever” (55). This whole book left me thinking a lot about an essay I did in first-year philosophy class, where I wrote […] read full post >>

I think the style of this novel was quite refreshing because it was different from what we’ve previously read. The short sections (can I even call them chapters?) honestly made it easier to read, I felt like I was going through the novel faster than before because it was like little short anecdotes rather than […] read full post >>

… I think this is one of those books where I was interested the whole time, but also never fully trusted what I was reading. Which I think was on purpose? The novel felt less like reading a normal novel and more like following someone’s obsession in real time. The narration kept pulling me in … Continue reading salami read full post >>

There were no chameleons in this book, but there was a talking gecko. The original title in Portuguese is Seller of Pasts, which honestly aligns more directly with what the story is actually about. But “chameleons” works in a deeper, more theoretical way that I think fits the themes of the novel better  it’s just […] read full post >>

I liked this one! I felt like I read it in mere minutes, it went by so quick. I really felt this book, felt it sweating and sweet as I read it, as our gecko narrator scurries along the wall “like a tick on its host’s skin” and describes how the sun “silenced the birds, […] read full post >>

 The first thing that came to mind when reading this book was a reading I did for a SOCI class by Baudrillard  “Simulacra & Simulations: Disneyland”In which Baudrillard argues that in a modern society, we no longer live in reality but we ... read full post >>

 The first thing that came to mind when reading this book was a reading I did for a SOCI class by Baudrillard  “Simulacra & Simulations: Disneyland”In which Baudrillard argues that in a modern society, we no longer live in reality but we ... read full post >>

#JavierCercas #SoldiersofSalamis read full post >>