Student Blogs

While reading Agostino, I kept having this strong feeling that the novel is full of GAZES. It never explicitly talks about “looking” or “being seen,” yet almost every uncomfortable moment in the story seems to come back to it. Even the setting already hints at this. The story took place on a beach, which may […] read full post >>

Honestly, reading this book makes me really uncomfortable. Especially with the relationship dynamic that Agostino has with his mother and how that relationship is convoluted and morphed into an eroticized figure. At some points in the book, I couldn't ... read full post >>

Honestly, reading this book makes me really uncomfortable. Especially with the relationship dynamic that Agostino has with his mother and how that relationship is convoluted and morphed into an eroticized figure. At some points in the book, I couldn't ... read full post >>

After finishing this book, all I can say is that it made me so uncomfortable. The weird incestual undertones were so strange. The Oedipus complex truly was strong with this one, and also why would the mom do all that with her son there...I had a big is... read full post >>

After finishing this book, all I can say is that it made me so uncomfortable. The weird incestual undertones were so strange. The Oedipus complex truly was strong with this one, and also why would the mom do all that with her son there...I had a big is... read full post >>

This book is a lot shorter than the ones we read before. I really enjoy reading it, and I like the ending a lot. The theme I want to discuss in this blog is social class division and exposure to sexuality. The protagonist, Agostino, is from a middle-class family. His father has passed away, leaving […] read full post >>

Freud be blushing and kicking his feet reading this sh*t read full post >>

I won’t lie, this book was a little strange. Starting it, I thought (naively) that this would be a book about a boy who loved his mother dearly and wanted to tell the world all about her. Ending it, I’m seeing that this is a boy who loved his mother, yes, but loved her in […] read full post >>

Carmen Laforet wrote this at 23. What. How. Time’s a-ticking for me I suppose. The main character, Andrea, had my heart from the start, her desire for independence, her dreams of Barcelona which are swiftly crushed by her dysfunctional family. At first, it’s her Aunt Angustias that seems the most overbearing, telling her that “in […] read full post >>

Honestly, I don’t know how I feel. From the first few pages alone, I wasn’t exactly… thrilled. Discomfort while reading this was inevitable to me. That said, I flew through it pretty quickly. Moravia’s imagery was nice, even when it was unsettling. I was just unsure of how to feel about everything.  At the start, […] read full post >>

As much as I tried to dive into this book, I couldn’t quite get into it. read full post >>

After reading Agostino by Alberto Moravia, I feel really sad for the kid. I feel like most of kids nowadays, our sexual awakening is through parenting or school education about sexuality and health. But for Agostino, I would say it is through a fo... read full post >>

After reading Agostino by Alberto Moravia, I feel really sad for the kid. I feel like most of kids nowadays, our sexual awakening is through parenting or school education about sexuality and health. But for Agostino, I would say it is through a fo... read full post >>

To start, I think there is so much to unpack in Agostino. I enjoyed how Moravia framed the story as it was easy for me to follow the protagonist’s experience. It was so good that I finished it all in one sitting and actually think it is potentially my favourite out of all that we […] read full post >>

With the first chapter of the book we are at once conscious of the unspeakable absurdities of life, of a thumping rhythm of isolation carrying its beat across desolate roads, into unsolved conflicts, and through crowds of unknown faces, leading us towa... read full post >>