Student Blogs

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 >>

Well… I guess we’re done! I don’t quite know where to start, so I guess I’ll go back to how I felt at the beginning. I think I just dreaded picking up any literature. And then I started reading that Proust story and was… still dreading having to read the rest of it, as well […] read full post >>

Love Me Tender by Constance Debré was probably the saddest book in this course. Debré is an extremely strong person, and her story showcased the struggles queer women face in patriarchal societies. Her main challenge was handling the “string of unfounded accusations [by her ex-husband] that separated her from her eight-year old son, Paul.”   […] read full post >>

I really enjoyed this course! I got to read a lot of books that I had never heard of before and got to make it part of my weekly routine, one book a week, and write a small post about it. It felt good to know that the English reading muscle of mine hadn’t atrophied […] read full post >>

Happy Easter everyone????????✨ and happy last week of classes woop woop! I enjoyed this book as a final read as it had a good pace and it wasn’t confusing. Also I think this is the fastest I’ve read all semester and while I’d like to say this is because I’ve developed some amazing reading skills […] read full post >>

Wow, we made it to the last book of the course, and what an amazing book this was. I really enjoyed how throughout the semester we’ve been able to read so many books written from the perspective of a female author including The impatient by Djaili Amadou Amal. I think this novel was very insightful, […] read full post >>

Tender… Chicken Tender… Mmmm… I am hungry…. Off to a hambre start, I think that Debré’s novel encompasses so much with its fierce challenging on what it means to be a mother. Constance’s experience with a non-traditional motherhood being stripped of her son from her vindictive and upset ex-husband speaks to societal norms as does … read full post >>

Okay this book is actually insane in the quietest, most emotionally devastating way possible, and I genuinely was not prepared for how heavy it would feel. “The Impatient” follows three women whose lives are shaped by forced marriage and polygamy, and what makes it hit so hard is how normal everything feels to the people […] read full post >>

We made it to the final blog post! A bitter sweet feeling indeed, although I don’t usually enjoy doing homework, the blog posts hold a special place in my heart as it actually allowed me to be transparent about what I read whilst reinforcing the concepts learned in the literature. Being able to open up […] read full post >>

After reading Love Me Tender by Constance Debre, it was a very raw and unsettling story of exploring identity, freedom and the cost of going against social expectations. What struck me the most was the protagonist’s rejection of traditional ideas of love, especially within family structures. Early in the novel, she questions why relationships such […] read full post >>

I think this is my favourite book of the entire term. The flow of the writing and the structure of the chapters and bigger sections made this a very easy read for me. I liked how descriptive Debre was, especially in talking about the characters. I think I said in one of my blogs that maybe I don’t like French... read full post >>

Here comes the final blog! I would say most of the books we read in this course are quite interesting, and reading them is a great deal. I learnt a lot about places I never been to, and wish if I am able to visit some of the places in the books, such as the […] read full post >>

I saw in a couple other blog posts about Love Me Tender that people say not much really happens in the book. At first I kind of agreed. It doesn’t have the usual kind of plot. There’s no big dramatic sequence of events. The narrator swims, writes, meets women, walks around Paris. The chapters are […] read full post >>

A lot of the things in life are done so precisely owing to ephemerality. The pace of time seems only to quicken, and so the need for creating something grand, for something eloquent, draws people towards working to leave behind the mark of a meaningful... read full post >>