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For this week, I read The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes. I was excited to read this book because when I was examining the notes for which texts to read it was stated this book was "the closest we have here to a romance if that's your thing." Romance is definitely my thing when it comes to the novels I choose to read. However, although The Old Gringo did have a love story it also had other themes that overshadowed the romance, like the concepts of power, war, revolution and so on. Overall, I did enjoy the story. It was an easy read by how few words were on each page, but that could just be the PDF I used to read the book. But even with that, I felt Fuentes had put a lot of repetition to add importance to the dialogue to get us readers thinking throughout the novel.

The book's narrative is framed as a collection of memories belonging to Harriet, who "sits alone and remembers." The Old Gringo and Arroyo are shown in a complicated love triangle with Harriet Winslow, an American who had come to Mexico as a teacher for the children. I did not like Arroyo's intentions with Harriet for all the wrong reasons instead of connection like she and the old gringo had. He was only trying to pursue Harriet to get back at the old gringo for betraying him and was the only way to hurt him instead of killing the man. After all that, the two men inevitably die as they cross the frontier of their differences, the old gringo killed by Arroyo, who was also shot by Villa for overstepping his boundaries of power.

The relationship between Harriet and the old gringo is confusing for me because for the old gringo Harriet was his love interest. Then with Harriet, I was unsure how she viewed the old gringo. Harriet agrees to the relationship with Arroyo so she could protect him. And she buries him under her father's name, so I was unclear on how Harriet viewed the old gringo if she saw him as someone, she could pursue a love relationship with or saw him as she cared about him as an older guardian relationship. 

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For this week, I read The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes. I was excited to read this book because when I was examining the notes for which texts to read it was stated this book was "the closest we have here to a romance if that's your thing." Romance is definitely my thing when it comes to the novels I choose to read. However, although The Old Gringo did have a love story it also had other themes that overshadowed the romance, like the concepts of power, war, revolution and so on. Overall, I did enjoy the story. It was an easy read by how few words were on each page, but that could just be the PDF I used to read the book. But even with that, I felt Fuentes had put a lot of repetition to add importance to the dialogue to get us readers thinking throughout the novel.

The book's narrative is framed as a collection of memories belonging to Harriet, who "sits alone and remembers." The Old Gringo and Arroyo are shown in a complicated love triangle with Harriet Winslow, an American who had come to Mexico as a teacher for the children. I did not like Arroyo's intentions with Harriet for all the wrong reasons instead of connection like she and the old gringo had. He was only trying to pursue Harriet to get back at the old gringo for betraying him and was the only way to hurt him instead of killing the man. After all that, the two men inevitably die as they cross the frontier of their differences, the old gringo killed by Arroyo, who was also shot by Villa for overstepping his boundaries of power.

The relationship between Harriet and the old gringo is confusing for me because for the old gringo Harriet was his love interest. Then with Harriet, I was unsure how she viewed the old gringo. Harriet agrees to the relationship with Arroyo so she could protect him. And she buries him under her father's name, so I was unclear on how Harriet viewed the old gringo if she saw him as someone, she could pursue a love relationship with or saw him as she cared about him as an older guardian relationship. 

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I think the historical background of this novel is a bit difficult to understand for readers who do not know the history of the United States and Mexico, so I also read the events of that period while reading the book. Carlos Fuentes’ depiction of the desert is almost treasured, as if I, too, am … Continue reading Review of Old Gringo from Carlos Fuentes → read full post >>

I was way too excited to read The Old Gringo because I love anything set during the Mexican Revolution. It’s such an interesting struggle of democracy, land, and freedom strongly rooted in colonialism and foreign intervention. (If any of you want more context and liked the book, I highly recommend taking SPAN280: Revolution! It’s mostly … Continue reading "Thoughts on Fuentes’ The Old Gringo" read full post >>

Hey Everyone,  I decided to download this book as a PDF from the internet, which caused some very strange spacing issues. Throughout the book, there were gaps that I don’t think were meant to be there as well as paragraphs separated mid-sentence. While this likely negatively impacted my overall reading experience, I really enjoyed this […] read full post >>

Throughout the readings in this course, we have been repeatedly exposed to storylines set during periods of conflict and civil war. This novel is no exception as it occurs during the Mexican civil war. On the theme of war, we often see the accompanying theme of hopelessness. We learn early in the novel that the […] read full post >>

Norman Manea’s The Trenchcoat presents the traumatic excruciation of living under the communist regime for several decades in 20th century Romania. In the opening section, the discussion about temporality is noteworthy. The future is described as a conjugation of uncertainty. It is associated with the past and present, on a scale that can be reduced […] read full post >>

The Old Gringo was a book that caught my eye at the beginning of choosing our texts because it was somewhat a romance. I did not expect this book to be all about love, but more themes of war and violence in the story. The Old Gringo was an engaging text about a man known as "Old Gringo" who came to Mexico to die. At the beginning of the novel, there was repetition with the words, the old gringo has come to Mexico to die. I believe that this repetition forces the reader to know what the gringo's intentions were at the start, to see later that at the end, he has somewhat found a purpose to live. The Old Gringo travels to Mexico, meets Arroyo, and asks him to join his army. After proving himself, Arroyo lets him join, and he meets a lady called Harriet. He quickly falls for her, despite not wanting to but lets himself anyways. Harriet feels like she must protect the old man, so she joins the army to assist onside. The Old Gringo gets into a fight with Arroyo, and Arroyo betrays him by forcing Harriet into a sexual relationship with him, or else he will kill the old man. This tricky love triangle arises in the novel because of conflict. Harriet agrees to this because she wants to protect the old man. Later the old man is found out to be the American author, and Arroyo and him get violent. The Old Gringo dies, and his American support allows a proper burial and charges against Arroyo. This wicked love story filled with violence, repetition, and memories brought me many feelings towards feeling sad for The Old Gringo because he was honouring his morals, and for Harriet because it is unclear whether she genuinely desired Arroyo. I feel hatred towards Arroyo; however, in the end, I feel somewhat bad for him because of the new life he will have to bear, and because he could have killed the old man for his misguided actions before but let him live, however in a painful way. One thing that still remains unclear for me is the repetition of "Now she sits alone and remembers." I am confused as to who this is referring to. Whether it's Harriet because the novel is in her point of view, or if it's an outside character? My question is, what do you guys think the meaning is of the repetition of "Now she sits alone and remembers" is, and who maybe is the one remembering? 

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The Old Gringo was a book that caught my eye at the beginning of choosing our texts because it was somewhat a romance. I did not expect this book to be all about love, but more themes of war and violence in the story. The Old Gringo was an engaging text about a man known as "Old Gringo" who came to Mexico to die. At the beginning of the novel, there was repetition with the words, the old gringo has come to Mexico to die. I believe that this repetition forces the reader to know what the gringo's intentions were at the start, to see later that at the end, he has somewhat found a purpose to live. The Old Gringo travels to Mexico, meets Arroyo, and asks him to join his army. After proving himself, Arroyo lets him join, and he meets a lady called Harriet. He quickly falls for her, despite not wanting to but lets himself anyways. Harriet feels like she must protect the old man, so she joins the army to assist onside. The Old Gringo gets into a fight with Arroyo, and Arroyo betrays him by forcing Harriet into a sexual relationship with him, or else he will kill the old man. This tricky love triangle arises in the novel because of conflict. Harriet agrees to this because she wants to protect the old man. Later the old man is found out to be the American author, and Arroyo and him get violent. The Old Gringo dies, and his American support allows a proper burial and charges against Arroyo. This wicked love story filled with violence, repetition, and memories brought me many feelings towards feeling sad for The Old Gringo because he was honouring his morals, and for Harriet because it is unclear whether she genuinely desired Arroyo. I feel hatred towards Arroyo; however, in the end, I feel somewhat bad for him because of the new life he will have to bear, and because he could have killed the old man for his misguided actions before but let him live, however in a painful way. One thing that still remains unclear for me is the repetition of "Now she sits alone and remembers." I am confused as to who this is referring to. Whether it's Harriet because the novel is in her point of view, or if it's an outside character? My question is, what do you guys think the meaning is of the repetition of "Now she sits alone and remembers" is, and who maybe is the one remembering? 

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Manea’s “The Trenchcoat” was an enjoyable novella to read, although it left me fairly confused. Most things seemed to have a hidden meaning that was often going over my head. Especially after learning about all the censorship talking place at this time, it confirmed that likely what was being read was meant to be perceived […] read full post >>