A. Initial Thoughts “Black Shack Alley” ruined me. I felt very sentimental as this was the first novel where I felt a connection with the novel’s protagonist, José. Specifically, his relationship with his grandmother, M’man Tine—a figure of strength and hard work to provide opportunities to José—demonstrates the hardships parents or parental figures go through … Continue reading Black Shack Alley: Sacrifices Made for Us (Feb 13)
Posted in Blogs, Zobel | Tagged with 4 Stars, family, sacrifice
Hey everyone, I hope you are all doing well this week! I have just finished reading “Agostino” by Alberto Moravia, and it was different. Compared to some of the other lengthier novels we’ve read it was for sure easier to follow and had a pretty simple storyline. Regardless, there was an in-depth story with a […]
Posted in Blogs, Moravia | Tagged with book review, book-reviews, books, desire, family, fidelity, history, Italy, life, narrative, perspective, sexuality, story, Travel, youth
Tuesday, February 6th I was definitely not prepared for the journey that I embarked on while reading this book, considering this family takes the term dysfunctional to a whole new level. The story in itself was quite easy to follow, and I don’t find it to be a particularly tough read. The storyline was straightforward […]
Nada, or Nothing when translated from Spanish, is a heart-wrenching, dramatic novel by Carmen Laforet that details a family’s life in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. Laforet details the class divide, what it means to go hungry, and different kinds of love. We follow Andrea, a student, navigating her strange family and different […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with book review, book-reviews, books, Carmen laforet, family, fiction, Haunted-Houses?, Hunger, love, madness, nada, Spain
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend! This week I read “Agostino” by Alberto Moravia and I really enjoyed it. I found it a quick read; I was able to finish the entire book in one sitting. This is the first book in this class that, once I picked it up, I […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with adolescence, Alberto Moravia, family, innocence, teenage years, Week 5
Reading “Agostino” by Alberto Moravia was like watching a car crash I couldn’t look away from. This short book is about a young boy who enters adolescence on a summer vacation to the beach with his mother. Because of the disturbing subject matter,…
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with adolescence, class, family, sexuality
Reading “Agostino” by Alberto Moravia was like watching a car crash I couldn’t look away from. This short book is about a young boy who enters adolescence on a summer vacation to the beach with his mother. Because of the disturbing subject matter,…
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with adolescence, class, family, sexuality
Welcome back everyone! This week’s book is Agostino, written by Alberto Moravia. This is one of my most liked books, mainly because the story line captures the essence of the boy’s feelings. Another thing that struck me was the connection between this book, and The Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust, because of the resemblance of […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with family, love, Mommy Issues, RMST 202 Week 5
This Novella was an interesting ride. It follows an upper class kid who is on vacation with his mother. As the story progresses, we see the protagonist’s changing perception of his mother. I dare to question the author’s perception of women, lower social classes and Freudian theories by the way he shaped the main character’s […]
Posted in Blogs, Moravia | Tagged with COA, coming of age, family, Freud, Italy, life, love, Mommy Issues, motherhood, parenting, summer
Nada, a book of madness, trauma and grotesqueness that encase its pages. Nada was a book full of drama, conflict and messiness from all characters. Like Bombal’s novel I found it so hard to like anyone, when I started to like someone or feel sorry for them I would quickly realize that they sucked as …
Posted in Blogs, Laforet | Tagged with coming of age, Conflict, Drama, family, gender, Spain, Suffering, war
