Student Blogs

The Time of the Doves opens with a prelude quote by George Meredith: "My dear, these things are life". Looking back, this quote beautifully summarizes Natalia's extremely painful story. Throughout the novel, we follow Natalia as she encounters struggle... read full post >>

Reading The Time of the Doves didn’t feel like following a dramatic war story. Instead, it felt like being placed inside someone’s everyday struggle to keep going. The novel follows Natalia (often called Colometa), whose life is shaped not by political speeches or battlefield scenes, but by marriage, poverty, motherhood, and the slow exhausting life […] read full post >>

The pacing in the Time of the Doves was definitely different than other books I’ve been reading so far. At the beginning, nothing big seems to be happening. But as soon as you finish it, you realize, “wow, a whole life has really just passed”. I especially felt this at the beginning of the book. […] read full post >>

Hello…. Usually when writing my blogs I go back and look at my notes from while I was reading. This time… I see there is a LOT of anger. Which is actually pretty normal for me, but wow. So this blog is basically a running list of all the times Quimet pissed me off. plus … Continue reading DOVES read full post >>

feb 22, 2026 I loved reading Time of the Doves. This book might be my favorite one so far, it was just beautiful. I loved it on a personal level, I related a lot to Natalia’s feelings while reading especially with my experience of growing up under political unrest and fleeing political prosecution to come […] read full post >>

I loved this novel. It made me feel a lot of things. From the opening alone I was quite captivated by it. Natalia’s narration feels so raw and direct. Even when describing something small, it felt like it carried so much weight with it. I can’t really put it into words. Immediately Quimet pissed me […] read full post >>

The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda tells the story of Natàlia, a working-class woman living in Barcelona before, during, and after the Spanish Civil War. What stood out to me most was how quiet and emotional the story felt. Instead of focusing on big historical events, the novel shows how everyday life, relationships, […] read full post >>

Reading The Time of the Doves I kept noticing how Natalia’s life is shaped more by what she’s missing than by what she has. No one ever showed her what a healthy relationship looks like, so when Quimet appears she doesn’t really choose him; she just drifts into him. And Quimet? Major red flag. Immediately. […] read full post >>

At first, I was quite unsure about this book and felt that it moved very slowly. But after I got halfway through, the plot began to move much faster and I was captivated by the story. Initially, I was upset that Colometa would leave her fiance, Pere, for some guy who said he wanted to dance with her. And I... read full post >>

Why is it that older generations have stories of meeting their partners in the creepiest ways? When my grandmother met my grandfather, she said she hated him at first because he would follow her around her university campus and try to get on the same work schedule as her just to talk to her. Romance […] read full post >>

I guess I could start this blog off by mentioning how this was quite and enjoyable read, it seemed easier to digest than previous books, but there's definitely a lot to unpack. One thing that particularly stood out to me while reading was Natalia's per... read full post >>

I guess I could start this blog off by mentioning how this was quite and enjoyable read, it seemed easier to digest than previous books, but there's definitely a lot to unpack. One thing that particularly stood out to me while reading was Natalia's per... read full post >>

“I told him I was used to hard work.” This sentence on page 156 made me feel bad for Natalia. Throughout the book, Natalia is described as hardworking. Before her marriage, she worked at a pastry shop, but her salary was controlled by her father. The narrator describes how her father yelled at her when […] read full post >>

I’ll be honest, I don’t think I took the disclaimer about Mercè Rodoreda’s The Time of the Doves being dark as seriously as I should have.  Knowing it was set in the Spanish Civil War, I wasn’t surprised to see that there were bombs and hunger and death. But the fact that most of it […] read full post >>

This is my favorite novel so far! I really like how the story is told in a straightforward way, without constantly jumping back and forth between the past and the present. The narration feels simple, but also very comfortable to read, just like the protagonist Natalia herself. She is an ordinary woman, but she feels […] read full post >>