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This week I chose to read the novel Agostino by Alberto Moravia. My decision to read this book came from some reviews I read on Goodreads that left me wondering what this novel was about. The story of Agostino was … Continue reading → read full post >>

  Nada by Carmen Laforet really captured my attention as the book was filled with drama, relationships and betrayal surrounding a young university student. Laforet did an excellent job in portraying the characters as somewhat delusional as I often found myself questioning many of their actions. Although this book has a lot to unpack, this …

Continue reading "Laforet “Nada”"

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 This week I chose to read Nada by Carmen Laforet.

The main protagonist, Andrea, was excited about the trip by herself to the place she had adored. She is moving to Barcelona to attend university and study literature. The descriptions Andrea had made when she arrived in Barcelona all seem to be dark and gloomy. After she got to her relatives house, it “all seemed like nightmare” (p5) to her. She was first greeted by her grandma who seems to have forgotten about her, then it was her uncle Juan whom she described as“ a skull in the light of the single bulb in the lamp” (p6) and seeing “several ghostly women” (p6) when she looked up.

The house seems to be in disorder and suffocating. It is filled with cobwebs, dust and a bathroom that seemed like a witches’ house (P8).

She described the room she is staying as “like the attic of an abandoned palace” and“like a grave mound surrounded by mourners” (p9). When the candle got put out, Andrea thought she “was trembling with undefinable terror” (p9). Not only the house, there also seems to be tension between the family members. There are a lot of arguments and fights going on, even Andrea’s uncle Roman told her not to be frightened as it happens everyday (p18).They also have a complicated relationship going on in the house.

The reason why Andrea is making friends and connecting with people around her age may be because of the wish to escape from her family. “Only these beings of my own generation and my own tastes could support me and protect me from the somewhat ghostly world of older people” (p44). I believe being with her friends allows her to briefly escape from the pain/conflicts her estranged family brings. She especially cherished her friendship with Ena.“She made me feel that I was everything I wasn't: rich and contented” (p53), being with Ena helped her feel a sense of belonging because no one she loved has ever shown her so much affection as Ena had (p52). Ena is able to make her feel loved in a way that her family never provided. The thought of leaving her family never left her even when she was with Pons, “Illustrations of… Pons leading me by the hand, out of my house and towards happiness” (p181).

A question I have for the class is: When Andrea just got to Barcelona, aunt Angustias told her not to become friends with Gloria or she would be disappointed. If it was you, would you avoid Gloria just to be on aunt Angustias good side?

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 This week I chose to read Nada by Carmen Laforet.

The main protagonist, Andrea, was excited about the trip by herself to the place she had adored. She is moving to Barcelona to attend university and study literature. The descriptions Andrea had made when she arrived in Barcelona all seem to be dark and gloomy. After she got to her relatives house, it “all seemed like nightmare” (p5) to her. She was first greeted by her grandma who seems to have forgotten about her, then it was her uncle Juan whom she described as“ a skull in the light of the single bulb in the lamp” (p6) and seeing “several ghostly women” (p6) when she looked up.

The house seems to be in disorder and suffocating. It is filled with cobwebs, dust and a bathroom that seemed like a witches’ house (P8).

She described the room she is staying as “like the attic of an abandoned palace” and“like a grave mound surrounded by mourners” (p9). When the candle got put out, Andrea thought she “was trembling with undefinable terror” (p9). Not only the house, there also seems to be tension between the family members. There are a lot of arguments and fights going on, even Andrea’s uncle Roman told her not to be frightened as it happens everyday (p18).They also have a complicated relationship going on in the house.

The reason why Andrea is making friends and connecting with people around her age may be because of the wish to escape from her family. “Only these beings of my own generation and my own tastes could support me and protect me from the somewhat ghostly world of older people” (p44). I believe being with her friends allows her to briefly escape from the pain/conflicts her estranged family brings. She especially cherished her friendship with Ena.“She made me feel that I was everything I wasn't: rich and contented” (p53), being with Ena helped her feel a sense of belonging because no one she loved has ever shown her so much affection as Ena had (p52). Ena is able to make her feel loved in a way that her family never provided. The thought of leaving her family never left her even when she was with Pons, “Illustrations of… Pons leading me by the hand, out of my house and towards happiness” (p181).

A question I have for the class is: When Andrea just got to Barcelona, aunt Angustias told her not to become friends with Gloria or she would be disappointed. If it was you, would you avoid Gloria just to be on aunt Angustias good side?

read full post >>

I am made to believe that it might be better to be in one’s own company than in the wrong one after reading Alberto Moravia’s “Agostino”. However, I think not having fun would definitely leave the narrator in an existential mindset. By avoiding this, he is trying to find some meaning through attaining experience that […] read full post >>

When I first began this book, I could not stop thinking about a theory I learned in psychology. While it may not be directly correlated, I was instantly considering how it could be applied to Agostino. It is called the Oedipus complex. That is, where children can develop a desire or protectiveness of the opposite […] read full post >>

“Nada” is currently my favorite novel so far. The novel takes place after the Spanish Civil War and the narrator is an orphan named Andrea, who was ecstatic to be able to study literature in Barcelona to the point she carried her luggage by herself as she had enough strength due to “[her] youth and […] read full post >>

This week, I chose to read Agostino over the other option based on a brief summary of this short book. I thought that Agostino sounded more interesting. This story explores the idea of virginity (both sexually and in terms of being young and inexperienced in life), awakening, love, identity, sensuality, adolescence and adulthood. I think I would have had a very different experience reading this text if I was younger or even the same age as the narrator, but reading it now as an 18 year old, I feel like an adult observing the moment of awakening of a new teenager and I honestly secretly felt relieved that I've already passed that phase of my growth. What I mainly got from him was confusion - and the teenage years are definitely some of the most confusing times of our childhoods. Emotions and hormones run high and new doors are opening, and it's when kids start to realize how much deeper life goes than the simple pleasures of children's play. 

18 isn't even that old, and I'm not saying that the hardest part of life has already passed, but when I am presented with someone like Agostino, who is just beginning this chapter of his development and whose most intimate thoughts I can hear, I feel as if I have lived much longer than he has and I feel as though I have decades more experience than he does. I remember when I was 13 years old and I was just passing into the beginnings of the adult stages of my life. Just like Agostino, I was awkward, weird, and unsure where I fit in. I wanted to please other groups of people my age, but I also wanted to stand out and be something more than I was. 

There was one quote that I liked a lot. "So he found that he had lost his original identity without acquiring through his loss another." This quote goes with the theme of identity and Agostino's sense of confusion with who he is and how his relationship with his mother has suddenly transformed. This quote makes me imagine him as something floating, unanchored and submissive to the push of the waves. It's a sense of being lost and not knowing how to realign his person according to his new perspective. I wish there was a way for someone to really help him through his struggle, especially with his odd attraction and attachment to his mom, but he's really just grappling with this on his own.

Here is the question I am presenting this week: If Agostino came to you for advice on how to navigate his confusion on his loss of identity, based on your experience as a teenager, what would you say?

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This week, I chose to read Agostino over the other option based on a brief summary of this short book. I thought that Agostino sounded more interesting. This story explores the idea of virginity (both sexually and in terms of being young and inexperienced in life), awakening, love, identity, sensuality, adolescence and adulthood. I think I would have had a very different experience reading this text if I was younger or even the same age as the narrator, but reading it now as an 18 year old, I feel like an adult observing the moment of awakening of a new teenager and I honestly secretly felt relieved that I've already passed that phase of my growth. What I mainly got from him was confusion - and the teenage years are definitely some of the most confusing times of our childhoods. Emotions and hormones run high and new doors are opening, and it's when kids start to realize how much deeper life goes than the simple pleasures of children's play. 

18 isn't even that old, and I'm not saying that the hardest part of life has already passed, but when I am presented with someone like Agostino, who is just beginning this chapter of his development and whose most intimate thoughts I can hear, I feel as if I have lived much longer than he has and I feel as though I have decades more experience than he does. I remember when I was 13 years old and I was just passing into the beginnings of the adult stages of my life. Just like Agostino, I was awkward, weird, and unsure where I fit in. I wanted to please other groups of people my age, but I also wanted to stand out and be something more than I was. 

There was one quote that I liked a lot. "So he found that he had lost his original identity without acquiring through his loss another." This quote goes with the theme of identity and Agostino's sense of confusion with who he is and how his relationship with his mother has suddenly transformed. This quote makes me imagine him as something floating, unanchored and submissive to the push of the waves. It's a sense of being lost and not knowing how to realign his person according to his new perspective. I wish there was a way for someone to really help him through his struggle, especially with his odd attraction and attachment to his mom, but he's really just grappling with this on his own.

Here is the question I am presenting this week: If Agostino came to you for advice on how to navigate his confusion on his loss of identity, based on your experience as a teenager, what would you say?

read full post >>

Alberto Moravia’s Agostino depicts the confusion, family, and other interpersonal relationships, as well as the aim to reach the state of adulthood of a thirteen-year-old boy fascinatingly. In this book, it can be seen that the protagonist, Agostino, has a complex, intersective, and relatively interdependent relationship with two images that contribute to the development of […] read full post >>