‘The Shrouded Woman’ by María Luisa Bombal was a very unique and interesting read for me since it is done in a style that I’ve never seen in a book, where the main character starts off dead and tells the story of her past experiences and memories of different things and people. One interesting thing […]
★ Trigger Warning: Mentions of suicide, assault, and death. “Why must a woman’s nature be such that a man has always to be the pivot of her life?” Bomal, pg. 226 María Luisa Bombal’s The Shrouded Woman absolutely broke my heart. When I had finished the book, I sat down for a second to just […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with death, Feminism, life, love, memory, tragedy, women
Dr. Jon Beasley starts the video lecture about how this book is neither an autobiography nor a novel. So going into Nadja, I wasn’t expecting much because I thought it’d be a boring book. However, the twists and turns of this story between Nadja and Breton had so much ‘madness,’ to say the least. There […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with love, mental, Relationship, Surrealism, toxic men, women
“This is going to be a horror story. A story of murder, detection and horror. But it won’t appear to be, for the simple reason that I am the teller.”
Bolaño’s Amulet is a powerful read, to say the least. The introduction (as quoted above) is poignant enough to captivate a reader and make them ponder about perspective. Personally, those lines developed a stream of consciousness in my mind that began to wonder about how war and revolution always have multiple sides to them, whether it may be the perspective of a civilian, an activist, a politician, or a child.
Auxilio Lacouture played more than one role in her life – she was a poet and a mother to many. Moreover, she symbolically resisted the army’s invasion of her university by hiding in the bathroom for around two weeks. As she began to recount her story, the introduction of the book became clearer than ever. I forgot about her situation and the horrors that she would have experienced. This was kind of unsettling to realize but also interesting because the narrator’s intended purpose was achieved.
I suppose that this was somewhat unsettling for me to read, especially because I could not get a proper idea of Auxilio at the moment. She came across as a very powerful personality who knew what she needed to do in any situation. This was exemplified by the distraction that she provided herself with for the two weeks she spent in hiding.
Additionally, I believe that the lecture helped provide a new understanding of the setting of the book. The intersection of identities (cultural and otherwise) expresses how the consequences of revolutions extend beyond just the locals of a country. Moreover, one of the points mentioned in the lecture really stood out to me – how this novel by the author is a clear break from the magical realism that Latin America is usually associated with.
Overall, I found Amulet to be an introspective read. I enjoyed the unique setting that it was placed in. Lastly, my question for the class would be: did you think that the narrations of Auxilio’s past served as a powerful distraction from the events in the book? How do you think this experience would have impacted her (physically and emotionally)?
“This is going to be a horror story. A story of murder, detection and horror. But it won’t appear to be, for the simple reason that I am the teller.”
Bolaño’s Amulet is a powerful read, to say the least. The introduction (as quoted above) is poignant enough to captivate a reader and make them ponder about perspective. Personally, those lines developed a stream of consciousness in my mind that began to wonder about how war and revolution always have multiple sides to them, whether it may be the perspective of a civilian, an activist, a politician, or a child.
Auxilio Lacouture played more than one role in her life – she was a poet and a mother to many. Moreover, she symbolically resisted the army’s invasion of her university by hiding in the bathroom for around two weeks. As she began to recount her story, the introduction of the book became clearer than ever. I forgot about her situation and the horrors that she would have experienced. This was kind of unsettling to realize but also interesting because the narrator’s intended purpose was achieved.
I suppose that this was somewhat unsettling for me to read, especially because I could not get a proper idea of Auxilio at the moment. She came across as a very powerful personality who knew what she needed to do in any situation. This was exemplified by the distraction that she provided herself with for the two weeks she spent in hiding.
Additionally, I believe that the lecture helped provide a new understanding of the setting of the book. The intersection of identities (cultural and otherwise) expresses how the consequences of revolutions extend beyond just the locals of a country. Moreover, one of the points mentioned in the lecture really stood out to me – how this novel by the author is a clear break from the magical realism that Latin America is usually associated with.
Overall, I found Amulet to be an introspective read. I enjoyed the unique setting that it was placed in. Lastly, my question for the class would be: did you think that the narrations of Auxilio’s past served as a powerful distraction from the events in the book? How do you think this experience would have impacted her (physically and emotionally)?
The Old Gringo was an interesting read indeed. This book touches on memory, life, death, religion, revolution, and history. It recounts the journey of a man who travels to Mexico during a civil war, to die a fulfilling death. The Old Gringo, later revealed as the author Ambrose Bierce, leaves behind little, other than a …
Continue reading “The Old Gringo and Reflections of Oneself”
Posted in Blogs, Fuentes | Tagged with fiction, mirrors, reality, reflection, women
The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda is a captivating story with a unique protagonist. Initially, I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about Natalia, the narrator. My emotions swung from sympathy to shock to frustration while reading about her. However, as the book progressed, her character developed as she learned to adapt to her circumstances. Oddly enough, this made me enjoy the book even more. It was interesting to see how she navigated life in a begrudging marriage and during a war.
I found the dynamic that Rodoreda created between Natalia and Quimet symbolic of the traditional ‘submissive woman/dominating man’ dynamic. Quimet was a controlling man who more or less declared that Natalia would be his wife after one encounter in the town square. Additionally, he finds ways to measure up the pain that she has felt with himself to prove that she cannot outdo him in any way. This was evident when he compared having a tapeworm to childbirth, claiming that they had been through a similar level of pain now.
What is noteworthy during their interaction is his nickname for her, Colometa, which means dove. Throughout the book, we see Quimet’s obsession with doves through collecting and breeding them in their house. I find this to be symbolic of how he views his relationship with Natalia as well, his so-called dove. He views her as his property, something he can collect and control.
Thus, Natalia’s hatred for the doves is a powerful indication of her rebellion against him and his behavior. When she receives news of Quimet’s death, the last dove also dies, marking the end of their relationship too.
Additionally, it is also important to note how the author has described the effects of war on an average civilian. Natalia never goes too in-depth about the war and who is fighting; this could indicate how she does not care for the politics of the war. All she focused on was her children and keeping them alive. It was devastating to read about her consideration of killing her and her children so that they would die of their own will and not because of the effects of the war.
Overall, I found this book to be a fascinating read, despite the certain level of predictability it possessed. My question for everyone else would be: what do you think of Natalia’s relationship with her children? Do you think she was a good parent?
Posted in Blogs, Rodoreda | Tagged with family, narration, relationships, women
The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda is a captivating story with a unique protagonist. Initially, I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about Natalia, the narrator. My emotions swung from sympathy to shock to frustration while reading about her. However, as the book progressed, her character developed as she learned to adapt to her circumstances. Oddly enough, this made me enjoy the book even more. It was interesting to see how she navigated life in a begrudging marriage and during a war.
I found the dynamic that Rodoreda created between Natalia and Quimet symbolic of the traditional ‘submissive woman/dominating man’ dynamic. Quimet was a controlling man who more or less declared that Natalia would be his wife after one encounter in the town square. Additionally, he finds ways to measure up the pain that she has felt with himself to prove that she cannot outdo him in any way. This was evident when he compared having a tapeworm to childbirth, claiming that they had been through a similar level of pain now.
What is noteworthy during their interaction is his nickname for her, Colometa, which means dove. Throughout the book, we see Quimet’s obsession with doves through collecting and breeding them in their house. I find this to be symbolic of how he views his relationship with Natalia as well, his so-called dove. He views her as his property, something he can collect and control.
Thus, Natalia’s hatred for the doves is a powerful indication of her rebellion against him and his behavior. When she receives news of Quimet’s death, the last dove also dies, marking the end of their relationship too.
Additionally, it is also important to note how the author has described the effects of war on an average civilian. Natalia never goes too in-depth about the war and who is fighting; this could indicate how she does not care for the politics of the war. All she focused on was her children and keeping them alive. It was devastating to read about her consideration of killing her and her children so that they would die of their own will and not because of the effects of the war.
Overall, I found this book to be a fascinating read, despite the certain level of predictability it possessed. My question for everyone else would be: what do you think of Natalia’s relationship with her children? Do you think she was a good parent?
Posted in Blogs, Rodoreda | Tagged with family, narration, relationships, women
The Shrouded Woman was a very interesting comparison/contrast between the unknown world of death and the certainty of reality. I found reading about Anna-Maria’s life through the eyes of her corpse as a captivating way to bring me, the reader, … Continue reading →
Posted in Blogs, Bombal | Tagged with life and death, women
