I decided to go with this book to challenge myself and I’m glad I did. I really enjoyed reading this week’s read of Laforet’s Nada. I was really intrigued by the title because I vaguely remembered that “nada” means nothing in Spanish. Then I read the transcript confirming my thoughts stating, “[a]fter all, a narrative about her experience has cohered in some way, in the book that we are reading and that is now coming to its conclusion, a book that makes “nothing” its theme, that makes something out of nothing. Perhaps “nothing” (Nada) is precisely what she takes from her year in Barcelona” (Beasley-Murray, Pg. 2-3). I can sort of recognize this theme by the way the story began and ended with Andrea entering and leaving Barcelona. Which makes me wonder if that correlates together with the title? Another thing, I kept in my mind while reading was the possible significance of the highlighted statements on the digital version. At first, I thought it was going to be distracting but it was actually really helpful and a bit exciting if there were a lot of highlights on the page.
I was fascinated by how Laforet portrayed each character with great detail while also showcasing how the war impacted all of them and the house overall. Quotes such as “I was afraid to get into the bed that resembled a coffin” and “I never sleep, child, I’m always doing something in the house at night. I never, ever sleep” (pg. 9) really captured a visual of how the family is mourning. I also liked the narrator having inside thoughts “[i]s it possible, I thought, that I am the protagonist in a ridiculous scene like this?” (pg. 182). It was different compared to the other novels we have read. Also, I noticed memories seem to be a common theme within this novel as did the previous ones, which makes me wonder about how someone in the class asked if memories are going to be a similarity between all the novels.
I noticed that throughout the novel continued to reference such as “[i]t was like the end of a novel” (pg. 38) and “[t]hat’s how it happens in novels, in movies, but not in life…”(pg. 206). It wasn’t until I reread the transcript lecture I understood the reference Laforet was trying to convey. That made it truly click for me to gain a full perspective of Andrea’s character as this is how she views the life surrounding her like a story.
A question I pose to my fellow classmates is, something similar mentioned within the lecture, do you think there is a correlation between the title and how Andrea views her life as a story? What do you guys think of the title translating to “nothing”?
Arielle – I really like your use of quotes (both of the lecture, and of the novel itself). I am glad that you picked up on the idea of Andrea viewing her life as a story as this has not yet been addressed by your peers! To somewhat answer your question, could we call Nada an “unfairytale”? The story of a young, orphaned girl who moves to a new “land” but for whom no real physical or emotional transformation occurs?
Hi,
I think the title of the book is such an interesting mystery! I thought that it might just signify that even though Andrea felt that she left with nothing, or that she didn’t experience what she had hoped for, or maybe that she left with a feeling of nothingness from the resulting trauma, she did in-fact pick up on a lot of understandings and revelations (about family, friendship, unimportance), that she will inevitably carry on with her to Madrid. Just my thoughts!
Hi, I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I think that you’ve posed such a great question! I was also wondering to myself what the title could mean. Titles have many functions! For instance, a title can be used to identify main themes/concepts, it can help with the context or even convey a minimal summary of its contents. Though a lot of the time, I feel like writers pick titles to pick at the reader’s curiosity. Especially, if the book is fiction! If I were at the book store and I was wandering around aimlessly. I would probably pick up Nada. The title is short, one word and four letters. I’d want to know more about the characters and setting just from the title. Maybe it reflects the context, maybe it doesn’t. The point is, I picked it up to know more!
Thanks for sharing! 🙂