The hour of the star is a novel I struggled reading. This blog is probably going to be confusing and all over the place, but I am just going to write my thoughts on specific scenes rather than the novel itself. First off, the narration threw me for a loop because I thought I was reading the dedication of the book or the reason why the author was writing it. Then I realized I actually started the book so I had to go back and re read the first few pages. Still I am a bit lost, is the author writing about a story from her personal life or is this a story she made up?

This made me think of the Netflix black mirror episodes where you can pick and choose which scenes you want to play out because like mentioned in the lecture, it is up to the reader to decide if the author has made the right decisions within the novel. I found it odd how the narrator kept questioning his choices in the novel with questions such as “How should I know?” This bothered me because it the narrator does not know then how does the book expect me to figure that out. Some people may like this freedom structure however, this is honestly my worst nightmare. I am glad I read this book because it taught me what I did not like in a novel, I felt too frustrated and just eager to know solid reasons where there were none. There were a few instances where the narrator was so caught up in a scene and he did not question it, I had more interest reading those parts. This may be because I am such an indecisive person that I need something decisive to balance my brain and make reading enjoyable.

One thing I did appreciate in this book was the humour. I did find myself laughing at a few things, one being where she was talking about slapping someone in their dumb face. I think I would say the exact same thing. Something interesting I noticed in the book was the use of three words. For example, when she was talking about novelties she said “…emerald, emerald, emerald…”. And again when she found a book she said “She thought, thought, and thought!” Does the use of repetitive words display that she was raised in a lower class?

Speaking of Macabea herself, the author kept mentioning that she was a virgin and a first I was confused as to why. I think the author even mentioned how her soul is a virgin and the more I read I could tell her virginity was referring to her inexperience with many aspects of her life.

Honestly I do not have much more to say about this book. I couldn’t really see a deeper meaning to it.

In the beginning of the book the author says that the book that is meant to be cold. My question is did you feel this book was cold or were you emotionally invested ?