There were many aspects of this book that made me extremely sad. The discussion regarding colonialism and segregation was important, it was used to paint a picture to show what growing up under a setting like that was rather than to make a point (?). I…
Posted in Blogs, Zobel | Tagged with black shack alley
There were many aspects of this book that made me extremely sad. The discussion regarding colonialism and segregation was important, it was used to paint a picture to show what growing up under a setting like that was rather than to make a point (?). I…
Posted in Blogs, Zobel | Tagged with black shack alley
Reading Black Shack Alley felt as though I was listening to a friend speak about their old memories, sitting over a drink. It was filled with little details, so many that I found it tough at times to keep track of what all was occurring. The life described in the book felt as though each …
In my opinion, Black Shack Alley was a great choice to read after Agostino. Both follow the story of a young boy, but the characters are opposites in many regards. Agostino came from a privileged upper-class community and never worked, whereas José was born into a marginalized, working class group. Agostino’s troubles were much more […]
Posted in Blogs, Zobel | Tagged with black shack alley, race
Black Shack Alley follows author José growing up in 1930s Martinique. The story is split into three parts, and each part follows José in a different stage of his childhood, in a different place. First of all, I really loved José’s grandma’s character in the book. I like how she’s portrayed as kind of […]
Posted in Blogs, Zobel | Tagged with Colonialism, education, poverty
Kinda ranted in this one…
Question: Is education truly freedom if you have to give up yourself to get it?
-LS
Posted in Blogs, Zobel | Tagged with classism, poverty, Priviledge, racism
Reading Black Shack Alley felt heavier than I expected. At first, it seems like a familiar story about a smart kid escaping poverty through education, but the more I read, the more uncomfortable that idea became. José’s success never feels fully like a victory. Instead, it feels complicated, almost like a trade-off where something important […]
After reading Joseph Zobel’s Black Shack Alley, I admit that I feel quite… devastated? Not in a dramatic, bawling-my-eyes-out kind of way, but in a slow, kind of lingering sadness that has stuck with me even now. Don’t get me wrong, the novel is easy to read on the surface. The prose is clear, and […]
Posted in Blogs, Zobel | Tagged with book-reviews, Uncategorized
While reading Black Shack Alley, I kept feeling that what moved me the most was the fact that the world is seen through a child’s eyes. This is not a world that has already been explained or analyzed, but one that is simply felt. Children do not always understand what is happening around them, yet […]
Posted in Blogs, Zobel | Tagged with childhood, family, memory, Rmst202
Honestly, even though José gets his education and succeeds in life, the whole story made me very sad. I felt sad for M’man Tine, who literally worked herself to death in the sugar cane fields. I felt sad for José’s mother, whom he rarely saw because she was always working somewhere else. I also felt […]
