A very late queue the outro music 2…

Posted on by under Uncategorized

Ok now listen.. I may have or may have not forget to make this post on time, I APOLIGIZE I WAS SURFING in tofino… which by the way was my first time surfing it was very intense, I almost got swallowed by a wave but very very fun. ANYWAYS, I will get back on focus…ALAS IT IS NOW OVER?? WHAT WHY??

ill start off by saying this class has been soo entertaining and fun for me, I’m so glad I took it. HUGE thank you to the TA’s for looking at all my chronically late blog posts, including this one. IM SORRY I FORGOT.

ANYHOW – I will begin hyping up this class now. Contract grading was such a clever way to ensure everyone gets their work in on time and boy did it calm my nerves. I wish more classes were graded like this I would be so much less stressed… (peak final season) and the vibes in each class, chefs kiss. I think a big part of this class was feeling comfortable enough to talk in groups and in front of everyone and Jon really made that happen. A special shoutout to the snacks you gave out during lectures, they were delicious and food is definitely the way to win over students hearts.

As for books, I can’t explain how studious I felt reading a book each week, my mom thought I was changed into a whole new person. I think my favourite would have to be the ‘Shrouded Women’, what can I say, I have to stick with my Chilean roots. And so, I hope that this habit continues in my everyday life, I know that summer will make me lazy but hopefully the desire to learn in stronger… honestly I want to read all the other books I didn’t choose, its like a free selection of bangers.

And now people! A big part of this class was discussing with others and brainstorming, I loved meeting so many different people but even more I loved hearing new ideas and interpretations that I hadn’t thought about, and a big part of learning is opening your eyes to different perspectives!

and to end this off – A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!! for reading my posts, and taking the time to comment. I loved reading everyones brilliant blogs, it was always a joy to see everyone’s writing styles, I really did get a laugh out of some of them.

Question: What was your favourite book and why?

and finally my last… BYEBYE

queue the outro music.

Posted on by under Djaïli Amadou Amal, The Impatient

The Impatient by Djaïli Amadou Amal, was such an insightful book to read. Im truly really happy with the choice of books I chose for this term, and this last book really was the cherry on top. I took a number of quotes, but I won’t do all of them to keep some simplicity.

I think what made this story so touching was the fact that arranged marriage is something very normal that happens in so many places. I feel like western countries are all aware of it and shed pity and concern on its victims, but I never really see any strong movements on it -we are all bystanders.  This story reminded me of my muslim friend, we were pretty close so she would tell me everything bothering her, mostly about her family life and it’s discrimination against her sisters versus her brother. But she also told me about a marriage offer, and the courting that would undergo- she wasn’t thrilled but also, wasn’t doomed. This novel made me think about her, and how she’s doing.

Quote section:

“Your wives and your children are mere pawns on the chessboard of your life, in the service of your personal ambitions. ” (pg.41)

This was beautifully but painfully written, this sentence speaks volumes on the oppression women have to go through and defiance against oppressive cultural traditions – no ‘good’ intention from her family that is doing her harm can mean good at the abusive level.

“The love is dead and lost forever. He killed it with his own hands. No! What am I saying? With his penis!” (pg. 119)

This was refreshing to see her use her gut and release what she felt. Even when she did fall in love with her husband and was devoted – it wasn’t enough. I was contrasted with her actions after this quote, where she plotted on the downfall of the new wife, quite cruelly aswell – even leading her into a miscarriage (thought not intentionally) essentially becoming the ‘daada-saaré, jiddere-saaré.’ Stripped of who she once was, and now into what she feared.

“Patience, my girls! Munyal!”

This was the most important line to me. Expecting patience and obedience, and pushing these woman to the core – misaligning where to place their love and shattering their voice. It keeps popping up, like a reminder slowly breaking. No patience is worth it.

I can’t believe we are at the end of this term, I  really enjoyed this class and all the knowledge I gained after it – I want to keep reading a book every week – like I already feel like my vocabulary got better!!

And now for the final question(s): What was your favourite book this term? Why? and one for this book, How does love feel interpreted for you in this book, for these woman?

and finally…

BYEBYE GUYS!!

– Amanda

karma, karma chameleonn ~

Posted on by under chameleon, poetic, The Book Of Chameleons

You know what I really enjoyed this novel! This is such a creative perspective as a chameleon and honestly very cute imagining it too. Also I couldn’t stop thinking about the song ‘Karma Chameleon’, hence the title of this blog – it just fits so well.

Anyways, let’s jump into it! Starting with the narrator, he’s a gecko who has made himself comfortable in a mans home by the name of Felix Ventura/Albino. Like I mentioned before I love that we get to observe Felix’s life through the eyes of a gecko, just in the corner of the room, watching, living life through someone else. At first I was a bit confused thinking, is the chameleon a shape shifter? why can he laugh and form thoughts but makes sense that he is a human man reincarnated into a lizard form. Honestly, that’s so cool to me – I want to believe that reincarnation into other life forms is a thing, wouldn’t it be so cool to be an animal? or maybe not, depends which one LOL. Off-topic! but continuing on, learning about the narrators previous life was super cool too, I feel like normally (or from what ive read) authors in reincarnation themes try not to give their character too much or even remember their past lives because it messes up with the importance of this new one. His life was sad. I think the guy killed himself? my mind is kinda hazy but from this quote I presume it implies that. “I turned out the light.I put the pistol to my head, and I fell asleep.”. He didn’t have much attachment to his parents either, even saying he felt worse when his dog died than his dad?? honourable mention is this quote too: “Whoever finds this bottle, please write to me. No one ever wrote to me.” – Like oh!! that is depressing (also the only thing he did aside from like 2 other things for fun)

 

One thing I really enjoyed about this book was the philosophy it included and pretty sentences I wanted to write down hehe – I took a lot of quotes but only 2 could make it.

“The worst of sins is not to fall in love” – I think i’ve seen this before, but it’s just really simple and meaningful.

“Where there is light, there are shadows too.” – this was said after Felix met Angela and was describing her very highly, which is met with wise chameleon advice. I really enjoy this statement, it really is true, you can’t always be blinded by the light in people for in that shine there is also the shadows and secrets that it casts.

That’s all from me, bye-bye!

Q: If you could reincarnate as an animal, what would it be?

money money money

Posted on by under Money to burn, Ricardo Piglia

okay, “Money to burn” was the drama. I feel like really haven’t seen as many books with this criminal, dystopian genre so I’m glad we added this to the mix. If I’ll be honest I’ve never been too much of a fan of crime stories, (aside from my annual true crime TikTok story time that I tune into) but this book proved not to be boring either. OH AND – based on a true story?? game changer.

Lets start with a little overview, I think the storyline where the main characters are misfits who don’t fit into society and rebel with an act of burning money was a bitt cliche as I’ve seen this concept repeated in so many other novels and films BUT I also contradict myself because it’s those stories that hits the money every time. (pun included). The author Piglia made this book special through two things. Firstly, by incorporating a shame of the hierarchy and ‘eat the rich’ concept. Like yes, burn peoples greed for money in their faces literally and by adding raw fluid relationships by incorporating the LGBTQ.

I always like to touch on how I think each authors writing affected my reading experience. For Piglia, I felt they had a very detailed way with words that made that painted a scene in your head. After reading Proust’s style of writing I always love to see authors with no need to overly describe the surroundings of every freaking thing, where Piglia’s detailed even poetic style got the point across.

Another aspect I appreciated was although there were so many characters and different perspectives such as in testimonies, newspapers and police commentary – where its usually hard to keep track of who is who, Piglia gave the characters life by crafting deep backgrounds, where we knew relationships and personalities – showing that the author isn’t one to just introduce a random to get the plot going.

One character I found interesting was Gaucho Dorda, his character was extremely unstable and violent but contrastingly there was a vulnerable side to him. I think his relationship with Nene really humanized him, showing that even someone who lives completely outside of society’s rules is still capable of loyalty and emotional attachment. Piglia doesn’t try to make Dorda a “good” person, but they also don’t make him basic.

Overall sadly this is just one of those books that wasn’t really a hit to me solely because of its plot, not even because I don’t like the characters. The predictable criminals obsessed with drugs and sex – eehhhh maybe not 🙁

anyways, thanks for reading bye-bye!

Question: Knowing money represents power in society, what do you think it means that the characters chose to destroy it instead of using it?

WHAT THE HELLY.

Posted on by under The Lover

Well this is one of those books that leaves me with an unnerving feeling after finishing it. THIS WAS GROSS MAN. “The lover” was not a good title, should’ve went with “The groomer” instead cause all I read straight illegal activity.

Let’s take this from the beginning, I think I originally chose this novel because of the title, little did I know the romantic reading mood that I was in was about to be crushed and ignited into man hating flames. This book gave ‘Lolita’ vibes and that’s a road I don’t want to go down. Firstly, the age difference was INSANE, all I got from this book was that this fugly, crusty, WEAK pedo slithered his way into this poor girls life. The way this was portrayed in the writing as her being framed as his child – ‘making love to his child’ etc. Was beyond me, that’s just straight up nasty.

Something I wanted to bring up was the ‘lovers’ shame, and how he knew he was to blame in this situation. Throughout all his actions he was very aware of inappropriateness and guilt he should have for taking advantage of a young girl, let alone getting intimate with one. It was laughable seeing how all those feelings hit him at points of their relationship, feeling shame but STILL sticking through it all.

It was honestly frighting to read about him crying in the middle of having sex with her, because it was really all revealed there – she herself knew it too but it was too late to go back. It was so upsetting to see that nobody really consistently tried to stop this scenario from unfolding, I know that her mother did try shaming her and whatnot but these approaches were more harmful than helpful. Moreover like in all cases of society, the blame was pinned onto her, the child instead of the adult who has power over it all.

My last note is going to be about the play of race in all of this. We know that her lover was Chinese and this brought disadvantageous to his life whereas his role as a man in society still granted him privileges – this along with our main character who has the privilege of being white but is contrasted with her lower role as a woman in the hierarchy was interesting. Their relationship sits in the middle of these different social ladders. She technically has more social privilege but in terms of gender, age and experience he clearly holds more power showing us that their relationship crosses racial boundaries making them appear even more unsettling to the public.

ANYWAYS, kinda a rant post but that’s all from me today!!

BYEBYE

Q: How do you guys think race influences the way people view the main characters relationship with the lover?

mama there’s a girl behind ME??

Posted on by under Calvino, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller

What the freak man. ‘If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller’ was genuinely so trippy I am half confused but also very intrigued. To start off, i’ve never read something with this writing style before, my actions being narrated by someone else felt weirdly unsettling and kinda like a tutorial for how to feel/act. I don’t know, this was conflicting for me as I feel the enjoyment of a book is to interpret and make connections to it in your own way, but with Calvino over my shoulder constantly telling me the right way to think kinda impeded on that.

But that’s just one aspect that bothered me, otherwise Calvino did an amazing job on investing the reader (ME) into the book (omg now i’m writing like them). The way the author describes surroundings and how it feels to be there, present, standing in an area was so surreal – especially mentioning all the smoke, it added to the anonymous field where faces and places are indistinguishable. The writing style is unique and foreign, Its nice to know that there’s so many writing styles i’ve yet to discover. If this is Calvino’s trademark then good job to them. I almost felt as if I was dissociating into the book – a piece that flows like a conversation but I can’t respond.

On another note, I almost feel like I didn’t get to experience the true nature and intention of this book soley because I didn’t have the physical copy, I keep thinking how cool would it have been to actively open the book, read the sentences and follow Calvino’s instructions directly while becoming completely immersed in a ‘breaking the third wall experience’. But whatever we ball.

Getting into the novels stories, as someone who gets bored easily reading something for a while, I really enjoyed the multiple unfinished stories. It also arose an interesting thought for me where I realized that whenever I’m bored of a book I just stop reading and carry on later (or never…) but I was uno reversed here where the stories where cut off really confusingly with BASICALLY NO END? … even when I wanted to continue. The one time I wanna finish a story on my own terms and instead the author gets to ghost me. It’s a love and hate relationship.

Random note: the author sometimes capitalizes every word? why? kinda strange – distracts me from reading because it looks so ungrammatical. WAIT THEORY he is trying to add that ‘something is wrong factor’. spooky.

To end this off I shall quote a song that describes how I felt after reading this “I always feel like somebody’s watching MEE, and I have no privacy” – Rockwell

Question: Does the narrator make you feel more immersed in the story or more controlled by it?

anyways thanks for reading – BYEBYE.

the time of the doves weeeee

Posted on by under Motherhood, Rodoreda, War

First things first, this book was strangely comforting to read. I enjoyed how the Rodoreda’s writing was smooth and simple just a description of Camila’s day to day life, raw and human, I guess it just felt relaxing the way it was so familiar. Now onto the actual story, the progression from seeing the relationship formed and carried on with kids, war and death was oddly sentimental to me which is strange because books don’t always send a message of appreciation for me.

I didn’t consider this novel a love story between Natalia and Quimet from the beginning. If anything maybe it peaked through more at the end of the book when he passed then it ever did during the mist of their relationship. For starters, nothing was romantic. I actually kinda appreciated the downplay of ‘love’ at first it was refreshing but I couldn’t help but think something was missing, that passion of ‘cliche’ emotions and descriptions of what is to be fall in love. The only semi romantic thing was the nickname “Colometa” and it really doesn’t even count because it went from what could’ve been an enduring nickname for your partner into him never calling Natalia her name and essentially taking away her identity for a long time. I think from the start I knew things weren’t going to end up well for them, Quimet was possessive and traditional with Natalia, I really hated how he acted and don’t get me started on his phantom leg pain? He was selfish – only caring about things that benefited him and throwing away people like objects and this affected his family heavily.

This thought carries into the whole dove situation. holy crap. How does one even get that far deep into that situation, I’m suprised Natalia didn’t start plotting earlier because the descriptions of the whole house being covered in bird materials and smelling like doves too would drive me nuts.

Something to point out was how CUTE AND SWEET Senyora Enriqueta and Natalias relationship to me. With every negative thing going on in Natalias life I feel like she provided her a safe space and a breather to remind herself of peace. She was truly a mentor, helped her to find jobs when times were tough and darn was she good at advice, I think we all need a friend like Senyora Enriqueta!

I also appreciated how this book portrayed war and how it can really change you as a person, for me this was significant when Natalia said she had decided to kill her son and daughter.  I was entirely taken back because you can either see this in two ways – a psycho who has gone crazy or a mother who would do anything to make sure her kids didn’t suffer.

Question: do you think Natalia and Quimet’s relationship ever really felt like love?

agostino

Posted on by under agostino

ok first impressions I AM SLIGHTLY TRAUMATIZED?? I knew from the recap in class I would be getting into a surprising book and boy did it deliver! Sometimes Freud just keeps finding his way into my peaceful life…

The main plot of this book is a son’s attraction to his mother and the overlapping emotions that come with it. The special attention Agostino takes to his mother’s body – was really an uncomfortable thing to read about. As a way to cope with this topic I tried to look over the gross stuff and try to connect it into an unfortunate consequence of his upbringing and past. Agostino has this territorial side of him where he unconsciously see’s his mother as “his”. This not a normal emotion that a son usually has towards his mother obviously, where we transform from protective to plain out possessive. This side is further exemplified after he views his mother openess to being with and meeting new men, driving him into road of confused feelings. This dilemma is most likely tied to the unspoken trauma of his father’s death where he has attached himself to his mother, misunderstanding the actions of motherly love into a hint of intimacy, creating one of the backbones for this awakened sexual side of him.

Now, a big transition in Agostinos life is when he meets a group of boys who really just have crude thinking about woman in general (yuck). While Agostino is treated very poorly by them he tolerates it, this held curiosity to me because although he is technically a higher social class than them he is so sheepish that they end up switching social class roles. It was upsetting seeing him relentlessly trying to fit into their group dynamic especially because we know it is just to find an escape from these confused inappropriate feelings he has about his mother (I really wished he picked up a hobby or even better THERAPY instead of picking up these bad influences LMAO).

The one thing that stood out to me was how the boys want to be perceived by others, it seems that the only way to prove masculinity is to be grotesque and degrading to woman. It’s sad to see that Agostino looks up to this behaviour and starts picking up on this, trying to prove himself by copying their behaviour and loosing his innocence forcibly.

Because I want my reflections to be truthful I have to point out that I did not enjoy this book. This is directly because the sexual feelings of Agostino has towards his mother are just so morally wrong to me that I cannot find a way to see this artistically. I guess the book served its purpose to invoke emotion because I am feeling heavily uncomfortable!

Question: Do you think these feelings in Agostino will carry out into his adulthood and affect his ability to form relationships?

the shrouded woman… IMMEDIATE YES.

Posted on by under Uncategorized

I really enjoyed this book! Hallelujah our first female author yayy:00 (plus she’s Chilean ultra cheer!!)

Starting with an overall reflection, I loved how this novel was depicted. The whole concept of death and how it is entered through reflecting on your lifes journey – heavily including all who were involved in it is sweet! This story really showed how many people can make an impact on your life, essentially showing us everything she saw through her eyes, reliving every interaction that ignited purpose. I was so delighted to see that instead of focusing on the past tense of who she was we got her story written in present tense! On top of that we also got perspectives and interactions the shrouded woman wasn’t there, allowing us to truly look over her life.

Something I absolutely have to bring up is how I especially resonated with the writing of a woman. I felt with the past two books I was stuck in a pattern of ‘this is interesting- next!’ maybe because Marcel was an ongoing sentence nightmare (sorry) or that Andre built an ego around his writing OR that they were both writing from male perspectives but nothing connected with me within experiences of life – whereas this novel ignited that. I felt in some characters I saw glimpses of people I know, more specifically woman I know, who have the same mindsets and intruding thoughts. Maybe it’s got something to do with all the men in this novel who are doing the female characters so dirty (queue in EVERY man falling for Maria Griselda – not her fault but damn she really took everyones man) but the woman’s reactions and inner thoughts to it was orchestrated perfectly. A great example of this is the text “Why, oh why must a woman nature be such that a man has always ways to be the pivot of her life”. I hate this text but I can’t deny I haven’t seen this exact play invade SO many woman’s lives. It was really interesting to see an immediate connection with someone’s feelings especially when portrayed in writing – maybe only a woman author can portray how a woman really feels?

Now onto a note about the actual story! I was shocked to see the whole unfolding of Sofia and Ana Maria’s friendship. Going from two peas in a pod to finding out your best friend is making out with your HUSBAND at night. Wild. Sofias reaction to it all also had me jumping between 2 thoughts, was she manipulating Ana by saying ‘kissing her husband made her feel more connected to her’ to cope with the guilt or was it really genuine? (a weird way to ‘connect’ with your best friend anyways…) I would love to see someone give me their perspective! — Seeing how forgiveness played into this was interesting as well, throughout all the distress love still remained within the longing for a lost friendship.

Lastly my question to you all is: Does the gender of the author affect whether a reader will resonate with it more or less?

does nadja have schizophrenia

Posted on by under Uncategorized

At first reading, I was gonna title this “nadja or nada” because the book well – wasn’t too appealing/ frankly boring to me BUT midway through I changed it because… well you know if you chose this book.

I’ll be transparent and say I have a lot of mixed thoughts and confusion after reading this, It’s one of those books that makes me want to re-read it to understand it better. The main character is a ghost narrator or a presence, he has so much input on what he observes, has likes and dislikes and a funny sense of self. The man he is haunting (I guess?) is an interesting character to follow but here’s where the writing confuses me, is the diary his own or his observers? I guess I will just write on how I interpreted it.

The man is entranced by Nadja from the get-go, their relationship is sweet in the beginning, like they have curated personalities for each other before even meeting. I honestly thought their interactions were rom-com material I was like “oh they are so odd, but a cute odd together way” but that’s shifted because. what is Nadja on? Maybe she’s just French and quirky and I just don’t get that but her talking confused me. I rest my title case with her drawings that she made, they were… interesting… and def signs of schizophrenia. In my head there’s no other way to explain it, why else is there a crow on a stick and a siren in the corner, hello?? but hey art is art and maybe she was onto something abstract. ok but wait two more: she kept seeing a man in a hat ‘staring at her on the train’, there was no man. WHAT MAN GIRL – got me scared… Also she would break into emotions about her ex boyfriend with the connected fingers randomly. Let’s just say when I read she was in a psychiatric institution I felt seen.

BUT let me add on that I think the man was moving weird too. EXHIBIT A: he has a wife. do I need to say more? like what are you doing leading on this girl WITH KIDS and being her boyfriend. and their friends too?? does your wife know you are kissing her friend. EXHIBIT B: though I will say he yearned (not rightfully so) it seemed like he was attracted to her beauty and company as an accessory, I think he just he liked that she liked him and felt responsible for her after a while, providing money and listening to her problems. Am I interpreting this differently? like it’s clear he loves her but I don’t think so for the right reasons. Let me know!

Well, I really did enjoy the writing of this book it was funny at times and we got our first romance book of romance studies (yahoo!) I wouldn’t be ending this right if I didn’t bring up the awesome pictures that the book had, I adored seeing an actual visual interpretation of what I’m reading.

that’s all!

byebye

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