The Time of the Doves by Mercé Rodoreda

This week I decided to read The Time of the Doves by Mercé Rodoreda. I really felt a difference engaging with the novel by having the paper copy rather than a PDF. I really enjoyed reading Rodoreda’s detail and uses of literary devices such as “cool as a cucumber”(pg.25) and “raining cats and dogs”(pg.67).

At the beginning of the book, I got a bit confused about the relationships that were happening with the narrator, Natalia. As well narrator repeats herself times like referencing her mother’s death and “little eyes like a monkey” (pg.16). This made me question if there was a deeper significance of the repeated statements. Her fiancé, Pere came across as a really controlling and toxic relationship. I really liked the description Rodoreda used in this novel. For example, “Pere had flamed up like a match when you blow on it” (pg.21) and that Natalia had ruined his life “into a little clot of mud” (pg. 21). It emphasized how toxic the relationship was. Then she broke things off with him and became closer with Quimet. I thought when this character came into the picture that his story would’ve been different. I thought it was going to be a happy ending with Quimet and Pere would be more involved and like a Twilight novel. However, I think that’s just me expecting that type of drama. The nickname Quimet had for Natalia stood out to me initially because of the title of the book but as I kept reading it really showcased Quimet’s character of manipulation and possessiveness of her.

I felt bad for Natalia as she endured the detrimental impacts of war. I felt heartbroken for her as I could not imagine having the thought to kill my family would be better than living like this. These were two quotes I thought really capture Natalia’s pain and sacrifice. “I looked at the people who didn’t notice me and thought how they didn’t know I was planning to kill my children, burning them up inside with hydrochloric acid” (pg. 147). This made me think of anyone who is suffering from depression and how this is so sad because we can’t see everyone’s pain. The other quote was, “Quimet didn’t see that I needed a little help myself instead of spending all my time helping others and no one cared how I felt and everyone kept asking me to do more like I was superhuman” (pg. 107). I read the introduction of this novel and it stated “[i]n a sense, The Time of the Doves is the story of most Spaniards during the 1930s and 1940s” (pg.8). I think these quotes truly captured how to imagine and sympathize with people’s experiences.

The question I pose to the class is what do you think the significance of “poor maria” (pg.24) and any other time Maria was said?