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

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?

Hello everyone!! i’m very excited to start writing these blogs, this whole concept is so cool :)).

I’ll start with telling you all about myself – my name is Amanda and I’m a first year currently studying psychology but I’m leaning towards speech pathology route in the future. This course piqued my interest because I saw the word romance (duh) but i’m quite happy to find out it’s covering wider genres of literature instead. This class seems super engaging so i’m excited for what’s to come!

I made it a new year’s resolution to stop doom scrolling and read more books and so I think this class was made for me. Anyways, my family is from Chile. My mom’s side is from La Serena and my dad’s side from Santiago but I was born and raised in Canada. Growing up with Spanish around me I can understand and read it pretty efficiently but sadly i’m iffy at speaking it. I was stoked to see that we will be covering books with chilean authors. From what I know my basically whole family is loves writing poetry and such and i’ve heard this is because of the chilean writing genetics? excited to read and see if this is true (probably).

S0me of my hobbies are drawing, mostly faces and realistic things, thrifting and cafe hopping, reading, swimming at the beach + hiking and i’ve actually just picked up guitar which started off bad because my dad (mind you an avid guitar player) lent me his STEEL string guitar instead of the regular strings which butchered my fingers. Despite that I love learning songs so if you are reading this and know any nice beginner songs please let me know!

I also love love lovee listening to music and watching movies. Right now I’m mostly listening to artists like Marvin Gaye, The Isely Brothers, MJ and Olivia Dean but to be fair I really don’t know a genre I haven’t not liked yet. I’m very open to all styles but as of right now i’m fixated on a calmer vibe. As for movies some I like are Society of the snow, Whiplash, The House of spirits, and Little Miss sunshine. I prefer going out to watch them at theatres especially RIO on commercial, the vintage vibes and banger popcorn makes the whole experience for me.

Alright that’s all I can think of so hopefully this post gives you a good debrief on who I am!

byebye