Student Blogs

I really hate endings. They always feel bittersweet and usually end in tears for me (though book endings are usually a different story), but alas, everything must come to an end or something. When I get immersed in books, it’s like I experience the characters’ emotions for myself, so this course’s books gave me a […] read full post >>

Looking back on this course as a whole, I feel like one of the biggest things that stuck with me is how much these texts resist being pinned down. At the beginning, I thought we were just going to read a bunch of novels and analyze them in a pretty straightforward way, but instead it […] read full post >>

One of the biggest things I learned in this course is that literature is not just about what happens in a story, but how and why it is told. For example, when the class first started I was so lost and was not able to read or understand the books. I felt like it was […] read full post >>

The book was very uncomfortable to read and honestly left me feeling unsettled in a way I was not expecting. The book follows the story of three women who are trapped in terrible marriages, and each one of their stories is different yet it connects in a painful way, which shows the reality of a […] read full post >>

The Impatient follows three women, Ramla, Hindou, and Safira, as they navigate life inside a polygamous marriage in northern Cameroon, Africa. In this novel, every time a woman tries to stand up for herself or say that something is wrong, the fault is always put on her behaviour rather than what’s actually being done to […] read full post >>

Love Me Tender’s themes of motherhood and identity, and the ways they intersect, made me reflect on some of the less “obvious” ways these aspects of living in a patriarchy impact life. I didn’t love the writing style of this book; for me, it was a bit challenging to stay focused and could be confusing […] read full post >>

I really enjoyed this novel and am happy to end off the course with a good read! Despite the book being often quite sad and oppressive, it kept me intrigued the whole time and was very readable. I was especially interested in how it gave insight into the inner-workings of a Cameroonian Muslim society with […] read full post >>

After going through this course, what stood out to me the most was how consistently challenged I was in the way I think about identity and social structures. With all the different books I have read and going to class to discuss about them, I realized it allowed me to evolve how I question certain […] read full post >>

I read *Love Me Tender*, and to be honest, it’s not like a regular book. It feels a little messy, but also very real, like you’re in someone’s head instead of reading a story that has a beginning, middle, and end. Reminds me a lot of some of the other books we have read. The […] read full post >>

I feel like The Impatient hit me in a way I didn’t expect, it’s not just sad or it’s exhausting. And I think that’s kind of the point. The idea of munyal which is this constant pressure to be patient, starts to feel less like a virtue and more like a trap. The lecture really emphasized how patience […] read full post >>

In The Impatient by Djaïli Amadou Amal, one of the main ideas throughout the novel is that women are constantly told to be patient, but patience does not actually improve their lives. Instead, patience becomes a way to control women and force them to accept forced marriage, violence, and polygamy. Through the stories of Ramla, […] read full post >>

“If you were able to tame a lion, then your husband, a mere man, does not exceed your powers” (pg. 115) This was the story told to newly wed brides, to reassure that one does not need love potions to “tame” their husband if they can “tame a lion”. First of all, the fact that […] read full post >>

I kind of like this book, since it looks interesting. And each chapter is relatively short so it is easier to read. But on the other hand, I feel like this book is a little bit confusing when I am reading it, since it seems to me a little bit fragmented and does not follow […] read full post >>

WOW! I can’t believe that we are at the end already. At the beginning of this course, I felt a little overwhelmed: I did not believe that I would read so many books, while also juggling my 4 other classes. I am so glad that I took this course. If anything, it has taught me […] read full post >>

Reading The Impatient made me very sad. In the first half of the book, I was extremely angry, but then somewhere around the middle, I, like Hindou, succumbed to immense sadness. I’m sad their society caters to men. I’m sad Ramla’s choice was ripped away from her. I’m sad Hindou couldn’t escape in peace. I’m sad […] read full post >>