Student Blogs

I went into this book expecting a picturesque Italian summer novel ya super cute and fun … I was wrong. Reading this book as a psych major was actually an insane experience, cause all I could think about was Freud, and I had to stop myself from psychoanalyzing Agostino every page.  What I mainly want […] read full post >>

Agostino by Alberto Moravia is not the usual coming-of-age novel. The story revolves around the adolescence of a 13-year-old Agostino in the midst of puberty. The novel revolves around sexuality and emotions that the boy faces and how he tackles this uneasiness. Agostino is a mama’s boy and loves her however when a prospective suitor […] read full post >>

Impression   My first impression of this book was that it reminded me of Sigmund Freud. I thought to myself, what in the Freud (using Freud as if he was an adjective) was going on whether Agostino would unconventionally describe his mother in a sexual manner. This reminded me of the time when I was […] read full post >>

After reading the novel ‘Agostino’, I felt a mix of emotions as, to be honest, I found this novel a bit strange and weird. The protagonist of the book, Agostino is portrayed as a rich yet innocent boy who does not yet know about the truths and fascinations associated with the real world until he […] read full post >>

Welcome back everyone! This week’s book is Agostino, written by Alberto Moravia. This is one of my most liked books, mainly because the story line captures the essence of the boy’s feelings. Another thing that struck me was the connection between this book, and The Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust, because of the resemblance of […] read full post >>

Despite being relatively short, I think “Agostino” does a great job of encapsulating the confusing transition from childhood innocence to adolescence. I found this book to be much easier reading not only length wise, but content (words) wise as well. Agostino spends his summer days closely attached to his widowed mother. However, his identity and […] read full post >>

     As I read “The Shrouded Woman” I was haunted by its themes of death and effective use of a “stream of consciousness” style of narration. The author’s choice to set the novel primarily on the deathbed of Ana Maria is highly prov... read full post >>

     As I read “The Shrouded Woman” I was haunted by its themes of death and effective use of a “stream of consciousness” style of narration. The author’s choice to set the novel primarily on the deathbed of Ana Maria is highly prov... read full post >>

This Novella was an interesting ride. It follows an upper class kid who is on vacation with his mother. As the story progresses, we see the protagonist’s changing perception of his mother. I dare to question the author’s perception of women, lower social classes and Freudian theories by the way he shaped the main character’s […] read full post >>

The reading for this week was definitely not your average reading, for me, this book is practically screaming the Oedipus complex at me, although reluctant but I still tried to give the book a fair chance and it went similar to what I expected. Similar to the first book we read Proust’s Combray, it starts […] read full post >>

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of incestuous behaviours, toxic masculinity, and pedophilia. Cover Painting: Tavik F. Simon “Sunny Beach” 1934 “He felt as if he had bartered away his former innocence, not for the virile, serene condition he had aspired to, but rather, for a confused hybrid state in which, without any form of recompense, the old […] read full post >>

“This is why he must not betray the annoyance and disappointment that he was feeling. But try as he may to feign an air of composure and serenity, he still felt the everyone could read in his face how forced and petty his attitude was” (7) A story can be powerful despite the length. Where […] read full post >>

Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog. The book for this week is Agostino by Alberto Moravia. I had the pleasure of reading an old and weathered copy from the public library which felt more appropriate compared to the PDFs of previous weeks. I enjoyed this this book and found it rather nostalgic, as it […] read full post >>

Nada, a book of madness, trauma and grotesqueness that encase its pages. Nada was a book full of drama, conflict and messiness from all characters. Like Bombal’s novel I found it so hard to like anyone, when I started to like someone or feel sorry for them I would quickly realize that they sucked as … read full post >>

Agostino by Alberto Moravia was a complex coming-of-age story that left me with feelings of unease throughout reading and afterwards. The plot of the book was very easy to follow and focused more on the psychological aspects of growing up rather than the physical changes which makes sense as the content in the book was […] read full post >>