Blogs

Black Shack Alley is probably my favourite novel compared to the others we have read in this class. I noticed that in most of the books we’ve read so far, literature has a significant effect on the protagonist of the book. For Jose, books allowed him to deepen his knowledge of the world. He saw […] read full post >>

The novel, Deep Rivers, takes the reader through the lens of life in a municipality in the mountainous interior of Peru through a personal perspective of a middle school student. Most of the inhabitants are Quechua-speaking Indians and mestizos. The novel reflects that although they live in pain and poverty, they are noble in spirit and full […] read full post >>

In the process of reading Deep Rivers, I couldn’t help but take note of Ernesto’s sensitive character as he tries to make sense of the injustices he witness towards the Quechua people. Even though he was sent to a Catholic boarding school in the hopes that the education would help him integrate within white society, […] read full post >>

This week’s novel Black Shack Alley by Joseph Zobel talks about the life of the main narrator José who lives with M’man Tine. This novel uses a linear narrative to tell the story of his experiences in Black Shack Alley and pursuing education to address the problem of colonialism, racialization and class inequality. I wanted […] read full post >>

This week I read Deep Rivers. While I did enjoy this reading, all the vivid descriptions, and the bits of information about Peru, I had a lot of trouble paying attention and finishing it. This book felt very long to me and at times I was unsure of what was really going on. I think […] read full post >>

 This book was a great read and set in a very familiar environment, I studied abroad in Barcelona last semester! I really enjoyed the writing style and reading a book set in a place that I have been – it really helped me to better picture the char... read full post >>

 This book was a great read and set in a very familiar environment, I studied abroad in Barcelona last semester! I really enjoyed the writing style and reading a book set in a place that I have been – it really helped me to better picture the char... read full post >>

This book started off with a seemingly idyllic scene, as a young boy enjoys a carefree vacation with his mother on a sunny beach. Initially, their relationship appears wholesome and healthy. However, I noticed a few chapters later, this wasn’t really the case. Throughout the book, I didn’t how I felt towards the narrator, sometimes […] read full post >>

Moravia’s novel Agostino honestly did not go in the direction I thought it was leading towards. From reading the very first few pages I thought it would be about family dynamics and his relationship with his mother. While even as I read some hints of whats to come with his strange perceptions of his mother, […] read full post >>

This was an uncomfortable reading. Although I usually enjoy reading more poetic and literary devices at play such as in The Shrouded Woman, somehow this literary text drew me in from the beginning and dragged me along smoothly. At the beginning I was loving it, however, the topic it dealt with as I kept moving […] read full post >>