I actually enjoyed reading this weeks book, as it was a novel. Since master and margarita was the only other novel we have read so far, it was nice to take a break from all the philosophy and dry history readings. I mean don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed all of the readings, i just enjoyed this one.. more :).

Now I kind of feel a little weird enjoying this novel. The fact that it had to do with slavery, and poison, and death and rape all negative things, it was was weird that i kept on being like “you know this book isn’t half bad”. However, I think that maybe I found this book most interesting because it reminded me of all the historical events that happened that I have forgotten about. I mean, of course I was aware of slavery and what not, but reading about it kind of just puts it back into my mind. And it kind of makes me feel bad. I felt the same way when I read The Book Of Negroes.

On another note, the magic realism in the book was interesting. I don’t think that I really understand fully why magic is put into novels and what not (unless it’s like harry potter, then I TOTALLY get it). But I enjoyed the concept of it all, and it added to the book. When I started to read it, I just felt bad within the first couple pages. It was all depressing, and it still is, but it is a part of history and I think the book was definitely a good choice.

First off, I would like to say that I actually really enjoyed this weeks reading. It was far more interesting than Hobbes, but I will respect both of them equally. There was one thing tho that really confused me:

The fact that Rousseau always talked in paradoxes. I found it real hard to understand the concepts he was saying because they would always contradict themselves. I really don’t know what to make of certain things because they would end up not making sense. Although I did enjoy reading the book, i found myself unclear to what he was getting at sometimes. Maybe it is just how he is, but I wonder if anybody else was kind of having troubles with the clarity?