A horizontal novel, told vertically. A novel that has to be told from the outside in order to be read from within. I thought a lot about what this could have meant. Although I may not have fully deciphered it, I thought this sentence summarised the structure of this novel beautifully. The book made me question a lot of things;…
Posted in Blogs, Luiselli | Tagged with confused, liked, memories, motherhood, Multiplicity, Unhappiness, youth
After reading Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli, I learned that identity is not something fixed, but something constantly shaped by memory, imagination, and the stories we tell ourselves. The author shows how the boundaries between past and present or reality and fiction can be confusing to people so easily they can overlap. The narrator shifting […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with identity, memories, Valeria Luiselli
I’m gonna be so real. I finished the book enjoying it, yes, however I thought hard about what the connection this gecko had to Felix, what his death might symbolize, and why this is considered a “murder mystery” (even though the actual murder doesn’t begin until the end of the book) but I could not come up with any solid…
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with Chance, history, lies, meh, memories, past
Oi blog!! Hope this past week was good :)) This week, I had the pleasure of reading The Book of Chameleons. When I first picked this book from the syllabus, a small part of my mind started the debate of “should I read this book in English or in Portuguese??” While you may think my answer […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with Dreams, geckos, identity, memories, perspective, reality, relationships, The Book of Chameleons
It is scarily interesting how much Natalia’s nickname Colometa foreshadowed the way her life would turn out to be and how her first husband, Quimet would later treat her. Pigeons, being wild animals that became domesticated for human usage align much with what the protagonist experiences after marrying Quimet. She is formed into the ideal wife and forced to care…
Posted in Blogs, Rodoreda | Tagged with meh, memories, struggle, trauma, war
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
From the books we’ve read so far, I can definitely say this stood out to me, and I think it is due to the unique narrative voice Bombal has used alongside the depth. The narrative style and structure, especially its beginning after her death, are very unique. The way her awareness lies in her corpse […]
Posted in Blogs, Bombal | Tagged with life, memories, memory, narration
I knew throughout the book that Ana Maria was dead. Yet, I was left wanting more when I finished reading. I wanted to continue to learn about her life, even though she felt that it was small and did not amount to much. Knowing that she was dead did not lighten the emotional response I […]
Posted in Blogs, Bombal | Tagged with death, memories, The Shrouded Woman
jan 16, 2026 When I was reading Combray I felt quite confused, I couldn’t seem to grasp any sort of main idea or plot that the writer was going on and on about. My first reaction after reading the first twenty pages or so was that the sentences were very long and many times by […]
Posted in Blogs, Proust | Tagged with memories, reading, routine
For this course’s first reading, Combray by Marcel Proust, I was met with the challenge of breaking down an individual’s thoughts as he recounted his life in an extremely detail oriented manner. As Proust recounted his story, he situated himself within…
Posted in Blogs, Proust | Tagged with combray, lost, memories
