“The Society of Reluctant Dreamers” by José Eduardo Agualusa is a novel that follows the characters’ lives and dreams with a background of war and protesting. I found it to be a little confusing as it jumped from different perspectives, but I enjoyed the concept and style of the storytelling. To respond to the lecture’s … Continue reading Week 12: Agualusa’s “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers” →
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with Dreams, politics, Romance Studies, story, Weekly Posts
In this final week of class, I have chosen to read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers, which I found was an interesting story that ties in dreams, memories, and politics: the rich that benefit, the poor that suffer, and the quiet ones. The novel starts out with Daniel Benchimol who was getting a divorce from […]
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with blog, Dreams, love, memory, politics, protest
This week, I read “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers” by José Eduardo Agualusa.
I pity the narrator, Daniel. After he started covering topics about society and politics when “Portuguese newspapers” took him on as a correspondent, his father in law does not like what he wrote and has a different perspective/opinion on the narrator’s writings. Due to that Daniel got fired from his company and his relationship with his wife worsened which eventually led to divorce.
After living at Armando’s apartment for several years, Daniel went to the Rainbow Hotel. Hossi Apolonio Kaley is the owner of the Rainbow Hotel and it turns out that they went to the same school together before. During Daniel’s stay there, he discovered a mango-yellow waterproof camera when he was swimming. He took the camera with him and plugged the memory card into his computer then downloaded the pictures later that night. He became obsessed with the Cotton- Candy-Hair-Woman, Moira Fernandes and often dreamt about her. It made me wonder if there is any meanings behind his action/behaviour of his obsession.
One of the vivid conversations in the story for me was a conversation between Daniel and Hossi about being vegetarian. Hossi rejected when Daniel invited him to join on his chicken and chips. Daniel was surprised that Hossi is a vegetarian as there aren’t many of them in Angola. Hossi then pointed out that Hitler and Gandhi were both vegetarian as well. It is harder for people to accept the fact that Hitler liked animals because of all the harmings he has done to the people. On the other hand, it is easier for the people to accept the fact that Gandhi liked animals and was a vegetarian. This reminded me of how important a person’s image/reputation to others is and how extreme it can be. If a person who is loved by everyone does something ‘bad’, most of the people will let it pass thinking it was an accident or maybe that person was going through a bad day. In different circumstances, if a person who has a bad reputation does something ‘good’, most of the people would find it hard to believe and will still have negative thoughts about the person.
I personally believe people dream because of their unconscious desire that they are not able to satisfy in reality. In the story, Helios mentioned that dreaming is rehearsing reality. I found the divorcing examples he used interesting. However, I felt like instead of ‘rehearsing’ it’s more like helping ‘making up their mind’. As I have mentioned, one of the reasons why people dream may be due to one’s unconscious desires. Therefore, the dreams are just there to help them be more certain of what they want in reality. So instead of ‘rehearsing’, it gives people the motivation to perform the action.
A question I have for the class is: How does dreams affect one’s life?
This week, I read “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers” by José Eduardo Agualusa.
I pity the narrator, Daniel. After he started covering topics about society and politics when “Portuguese newspapers” took him on as a correspondent, his father in law does not like what he wrote and has a different perspective/opinion on the narrator’s writings. Due to that Daniel got fired from his company and his relationship with his wife worsened which eventually led to divorce.
After living at Armando’s apartment for several years, Daniel went to the Rainbow Hotel. Hossi Apolonio Kaley is the owner of the Rainbow Hotel and it turns out that they went to the same school together before. During Daniel’s stay there, he discovered a mango-yellow waterproof camera when he was swimming. He took the camera with him and plugged the memory card into his computer then downloaded the pictures later that night. He became obsessed with the Cotton- Candy-Hair-Woman, Moira Fernandes and often dreamt about her. It made me wonder if there is any meanings behind his action/behaviour of his obsession.
One of the vivid conversations in the story for me was a conversation between Daniel and Hossi about being vegetarian. Hossi rejected when Daniel invited him to join on his chicken and chips. Daniel was surprised that Hossi is a vegetarian as there aren’t many of them in Angola. Hossi then pointed out that Hitler and Gandhi were both vegetarian as well. It is harder for people to accept the fact that Hitler liked animals because of all the harmings he has done to the people. On the other hand, it is easier for the people to accept the fact that Gandhi liked animals and was a vegetarian. This reminded me of how important a person’s image/reputation to others is and how extreme it can be. If a person who is loved by everyone does something ‘bad’, most of the people will let it pass thinking it was an accident or maybe that person was going through a bad day. In different circumstances, if a person who has a bad reputation does something ‘good’, most of the people would find it hard to believe and will still have negative thoughts about the person.
I personally believe people dream because of their unconscious desire that they are not able to satisfy in reality. In the story, Helios mentioned that dreaming is rehearsing reality. I found the divorcing examples he used interesting. However, I felt like instead of ‘rehearsing’ it’s more like helping ‘making up their mind’. As I have mentioned, one of the reasons why people dream may be due to one’s unconscious desires. Therefore, the dreams are just there to help them be more certain of what they want in reality. So instead of ‘rehearsing’, it gives people the motivation to perform the action.
A question I have for the class is: How does dreams affect one’s life?
Jose Eduardo Agualusa’s The Society of Reluctant Dreamers was a very interesting read. It felt surreal in one hand, but also had a lot of relatable, applicable lessons to take away as a reader. The first thing that stood out to me was protagonist Daniel Benchimol’s unstable state. Although in the early pages Benchimol stated […]
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with Democracy, dictatorship, Dreams, family, literature, politics, Relationship, Surrealism, temporality, war
This week, I read “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers” by José Eduardo Agualusa.
I pity the narrator, Daniel. After he started covering topics about society and politics when “Portuguese newspapers” took him on as a correspondent, his father in law does not like what he wrote and has a different perspective/opinion on the narrator’s writings. Due to that Daniel got fired from his company and his relationship with his wife worsened which eventually led to divorce.
After living at Armando’s apartment for several years, Daniel went to the Rainbow Hotel. Hossi Apolonio Kaley is the owner of the Rainbow Hotel and it turns out that they went to the same school together before. During Daniel’s stay there, he discovered a mango-yellow waterproof camera when he was swimming. He took the camera with him and plugged the memory card into his computer then downloaded the pictures later that night. He became obsessed with the woman and often dreamt about her. It made me begin to wonder why the figure of this woman is so important in the novel. Does she symbolizes anything? Or are her photos an object to help deal with the hard times for Daniel?
One of the vivid conversations in the story for me was a conversation between Daniel and Hossi about being vegetarian. Hossi rejected when Daniel invited him to join on his chicken and chips. Daniel was surprised that Hossi is a vegetarian as there aren’t many of them in Angola. Hossi then pointed out that Hitler and Gandhi were both vegetarian as well. It is harder for people to accept the fact that Hitler liked animals because of all the harming he has done to the people. On the other hand, it is easier for the people to accept the fact that Gandhi liked animals and was a vegetarian. This reminded me of how important a person’s image/reputation to others is and how extreme it can be. If a person who is loved by everyone does something ‘bad’, most of the people will let it pass thinking it was an accident or maybe that person was going through a bad day. In different circumstances, if a person who has a bad reputation does something ‘good’, most of the people would find it hard to believe and will still have negative thoughts about the person.
A question I have for the class is: How does dreams affect one’s life?
This was one of those novels where you finish reading, and have to sit in complete silence for a few minutes as you process the brilliance of the book; by far my favourite novel of the semester, and the perfect one to close it off with. First, I loved how the various storylines were integrated […]
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with dreamers, dreaming, Dreams, love, portuguese
Wow the final book! I’m glad Agualusas The Society of Reluctant Dreamers was my final read because it made my top 3 for sure. I was very interested to read a book set in Angola because unfortunately i’ve only ever learned about its colonial history and the Portuguese expansion so I can now say I … Continue reading “Thoughts on Agualusas The Society of Reluctant Dreamers”
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with Angola, Dreams, emotions, journal
For the final week, I chose to read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by José Eduardo Agualusa. I can’t believe this is my final blog post. It was a good novel to end off the term with. It was an enjoyable read, but at times I caught myself questioning what was real, imagined and what was being dreamed. It was interesting to see how dreams were illustrated in the sense of dreaming while asleep or daydreaming or having inspiring dreams about the future.
As the title suggests, this book is about dreams and dreamers. Set in Angola, with the hope that the younger generation can bring in a better future after the country’s brutal past. The protagonist, Daniel Benchimol, is an Angolan journalist who has just gone through a divorce and is struggling to make sense of his place in changing society while dealing with his daughter’s imprisonment as the result of protesting. I liked how Daniel was not always the centre of the novel, and we got to see each character grow and see what their dreams were about. There was a similarity with everyone’s dreams. They all dreamed about change or progression. For example, Daniel’s daughter acts out her dream for a better Angola. Their hope and strength came from their dreams. Their dreams were different from each other, but they were all a way of escaping reality and how they were forced to experience the changing times. Moira desires to dream her art to life. While Daniel’s desire is to make sense of Hossi’s dreamlessness.
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with dreaming, Dreams, politics
For the final week, I chose to read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by José Eduardo Agualusa. I can’t believe this is my final blog post. It was a good novel to end off the term with. It was an enjoyable read, but at times I caught myself questioning what was real, imagined and what was being dreamed. It was interesting to see how dreams were illustrated in the sense of dreaming while asleep or daydreaming or having inspiring dreams about the future.
As the title suggests, this book is about dreams and dreamers. Set in Angola, with the hope that the younger generation can bring in a better future after the country’s brutal past. The protagonist, Daniel Benchimol, is an Angolan journalist who has just gone through a divorce and is struggling to make sense of his place in changing society while dealing with his daughter’s imprisonment as the result of protesting. I liked how Daniel was not always the centre of the novel, and we got to see each character grow and see what their dreams were about. There was a similarity with everyone’s dreams. They all dreamed about change or progression. For example, Daniel’s daughter acts out her dream for a better Angola. Their hope and strength came from their dreams. Their dreams were different from each other, but they were all a way of escaping reality and how they were forced to experience the changing times. Moira desires to dream her art to life. While Daniel’s desire is to make sense of Hossi’s dreamlessness.
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with dreaming, Dreams, politics
