I started this book slowly, a few pages a day. Then I read the entire second half in one sitting. At first Natalia’s problems are domestic, thanks to her tyrant of a husband, Quimet. But as the war takes over, Natalia and her children are brought to the brink of starvation and all she can […]
Posted in Blogs, Rodoreda | Tagged with family, gender, power, war
To be honest, I am not quite sure what to think of The Time of the Doves. On one hand, I found it to be quite a long read and it was hard to pinpoint what was happening in some parts because I would lose focus. Yet, I still think it was an interesting read. […]
Posted in Blogs, Rodoreda | Tagged with Belonging, family, love, power, relationships
A lively swing of events rolls into place at the beginning of the novel, full of musical brilliance, unknown voices, and objects scattered across empty spaces. This is a book of wavering stars. And in this midst of it all there is a shadow of contempla…
Posted in Blogs, Rodoreda | Tagged with childhood, death, family, Home, life, literature, love, memories, poverty, reality, reflection, relationships, The Time of The Doves, war
This book left me feeling quite despairing. I knew we were going to lose M’man Tine as soon as things started looking up for José but it still devastated me. She fought so hard for that boy, and he in turn was kept going with the hope of making her life better when he finished […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with black shack alley, family, oppression, poverty, sacrifice
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 […]
Agostino……… I guess I should be thinking with an open mind and critically or whatever… But I cannot stand these nasty boys! From literally the first few pages I was already uncomfortable. Why are these boys always so obsessed with their moms.? Like okay. From the first page I already knew what I was getting … Continue reading YUCK
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with childhood, class, family, lust, Uncategorized
While reading Agostino, I kept having this strong feeling that the novel is full of GAZES. It never explicitly talks about “looking” or “being seen,” yet almost every uncomfortable moment in the story seems to come back to it. Even the setting already hints at this. The story took place on a beach, which may […]
Posted in Blogs, Moravia | Tagged with Agostino, family, Gaze, relationships, Uncategorized
Carmen Laforet wrote this at 23. What. How. Time’s a-ticking for me I suppose. The main character, Andrea, had my heart from the start, her desire for independence, her dreams of Barcelona which are swiftly crushed by her dysfunctional family. At first, it’s her Aunt Angustias that seems the most overbearing, telling her that “in […]
Posted in Blogs, Laforet | Tagged with coming of age, family, poverty
With the first chapter of the book we are at once conscious of the unspeakable absurdities of life, of a thumping rhythm of isolation carrying its beat across desolate roads, into unsolved conflicts, and through crowds of unknown faces, leading us towa…
Posted in Blogs, Laforet | Tagged with family, fiction, Home, life, literature, nada, poverty, reality, reflection, relationships
