RMST 202

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this text by Bolano. It was a bit difficult for me to follow, but what I got out of it was that it centers around a young woman named Auxilio Lacouture who recalls her life and a few memorable women named Elena, Remedios, and Lilian. The story revolves around Latin American literature, I think Mexican poetry to be more specific. Auxilio is in a bathroom at her university, hiding from an army invasion while she reminisces about her life and poetry. This reminded me of two books we have previously read in this course.
First, The Shrouded Woman by Bombal, in which Ana Maria also recalls her eventful and somewhat tragic life, similar to Auxilio. However, unlike Auxilio, Ana Maria was already dead at this point when recalling her life, whereas Auxilio is almost facing death. Auxilio can still see her future ahead of her, and the potential she has. Ana Maria had no choice but to accept her past and come to terms with her death to pass in peace. Reading both narratives of Auxilio and Ana Maria was enlightening and puts things into perspective.
Second, was a book we read just last week and had the pleasure of meeting the author, The Trenchcoat by Norman Manea. The similar theme I saw between this text and Amulet was the backdrop of war/violence and the uncertainty of it all. The way Auxilio has to hide from the right-wing army reminded me a bit of how Manea had to hide his writing a bit to avoid censorship, using code names. In last week’s zoom call, Manea also mentioned how one in four people were spies amongst them, once again demonstrating the paranoia, fear, and lack of trust in the texts.
While Amulet is a bit confusing, it is also difficult to put down. I admired the poetic style of the text. However, most of all, I enjoyed the stream of consciousness narrative implemented in this text. This technique allows the reader to witness the character’s, in this case, Auxilio’s, thoughts and emotions. We get some insight into her state of mind as she is recalling her life and I think it provides a lot more depth not only to her character but to the text as a whole.
My question is, given the glimpse we’ve had into her life, do you find Auxilio relatable? Or would you have acted differently under the same circumstances?