The Trenchcoat by Norman Manea was a book which had importance and meaning, hidden by the disguise of normalcy. At first read, the book depicts the drama and relationships of many characters, and displays their conversations over dinner parties, and in the privacy of their homes. It is only in the small details where one […]
Posted in Blogs, Manea | Tagged with censorship, class, communism, history, life, politics, revolution, Symbolism, war
Join us as we dive into the deep and seedy world of the tumultuous Bucharest. My question is, what was your experience of confusion and disorientation reading the book? how do you think it added or subtracted to the story
Posted in Blogs, Manea | Tagged with Commies, intelligence agents watching u, JFK, paranoia, Pizzagate, Qanon
This week’s reading was The Trench Coat. The book takes place in Romania under the communist regime and to be frank, I did not enjoy reading it. I was on the treadmill while reading the beginning section and what I captured was the copious amounts of drinking such as whisky and vodka, which coincidentally, is […]
Posted in Blogs, Manea | Tagged with communism, politics, war
Hello, I’m back at it yet again to talk a bit about this week’s book: The Trenchcoat by Norman Manea. On the whole, I found the book kind of confusing to read. The start feels like it throws us into the story very quickly, and we are left to try and figure it out on […]
Posted in Blogs, Manea | Tagged with communism, jackets, Romania, totalitarianism, uncertainty
I am just going to go ahead and preemptively apologize because I know you are probably tired of reading this when it comes to blogs about The Trenchcoat by Norman Manea, but I’m confused. I wish I wasn’t, but I am; along with a little dissatisfied. This book had me almost as scrambled as the […]
Posted in Blogs, Manea | Tagged with blog, life, paranoia, politics, war
Cover is Winged Victory of Samothrace. Why? Idk, it was the first thing that came to mind after writing this blog post. “Literature cannot save us form bad politics, whether left or right.” Norman Manea Hello, my loves! How are you all doing? If you’re asking me, I’m currently recovering from a cold 🙁. I’m […]
Posted in Blogs, Manea | Tagged with Cold War, political unrest, Sociopolitical, surveillance, trenchcoat
To be honest, chose this one because of the title. I mean come on, “The Trenchcoat”… what a cool and ominous title. And to follow up on that, the trenchcoat itself emerges is a sort of central figure in the narrative. Although a coat is a pretty mundane object (or not depending on how cool […]
Posted in Blogs, Manea | Tagged with a trip, I dont even know what's going on, John Wick, mushrooms, Mystery
I’ll be super honest I picked this book because it was short and I have a midterm this week. And I feel super neutral about it. I liked the plot of a dinner party, a spy mystery – it felt like Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf if Mrs. Dalloway was about totalitarian Romania! Something I […]
It’s safe to say that I wasn’t aware of much of the historical/political context surrounding this novella, so upon initially reading I had the feeling I was missing something. It was helpful to learn about the history of Communist Romania and its totalitarian rule under Nicolas Ceausescu. Understanding the ubiquitous presence of the Securitate during […]
The Trenchcoat by Norman Manea has me feeling uncertain, and confused. So, I can only say that Manea has achieved his goal. The writing itself was a big contributor to this as it often consisted of run-on sentences as well … Continue reading →
Posted in Blogs, Manea | Tagged with class, politics, Romania, socialism, trenchcoat, uncertainty
