Hi everyone! This week I read “The Book of Chameleons” by José Eduardo Agualusa. I am going to be very honest and say that I did not enjoy this book, mainly because I found it difficult to follow and mildly uninteresting. However, this book discusses important themes of identity, truth and historical impact. It also […]
“very early in my life it was too late”. I feel like that quote in itself really encapsulates the tone of the book very well- the moodiness of the book, to the writing style being a sort of recollections of instances in her life past but sort of looking at it sometimes as if from […]
Hey everyone! This week, I decided to read The Lover by Marguerite Duras. There’s only three more books left to read this semester it’s going by so fast! So we have another uncomfortable read this week, yay. As a few of my classmates mentioned, this book is definitely disturbing and unsettling. I feel like this […]
Marguerite Duras, The Lover
Surprise surprise… today I will be discussing yet another coming of age story. José María Arguedas’s “Deep Rivers” is a journey through the heart of Peru and through finding a sense of belonging. For this blog post I’m focusing on the dynamics of the setting, because I’m getting a little bored of talking only about […]
Impression This week’s reading on Black Shack Alley covers underlying themes including slavery, poverty, violence, trauma, and colonialism. Readings of some of the descriptive writings illustrating the violence and infliction of pain such as the bruising instilled disheartening images to me as I read. The themes in this book are much more serious than […]
As I was reading through Joseph Zobel’s “Black Shack Alley”, I found myself immersed in a world that was both familiar and foreign. The novel, set in early 20th century Martinique, follows the life of José, a young boy grappling with the realities of post-colonial life which is greatly different from my life. However, his […]
Hey everyone! I’m super excited to talk about this week’s reading “Deep Rivers” by Jose Maria Arguedas. The novel dives into the Peruvian Andean culture and surrounds the story of Ernesto, who is a young boy torn between two worlds. Ernesto’s upbringing is a blend of his indigenous Quechua traditions and Western education as he […]
Black Shack Alley by Joseph Zobel was a touching read that had so many unique perspectives on growing up. At the core of this novel, we are taken through Jose’s journey of growing up, which is what we have seen in quite a few of the books we have read so far. However, Jose’s experiences […]
This book was long. Yet so immersive and so interesting, with its integrated Quechuan words with their translations at the footnote. I found the usage of these untranslated words helped me understand and visualize the culture the author has tried to portray. In addition to the descriptions of towns, the churches, the bell ringing, lighting […]
