- I really like the way the whole book is divided into many distinct parts! Each of them refers to a different story of the past. This kind of structure gently makes us as the reader feel we are involved into each remembered moment, creating the feeling of participating in her memories, while those stories do not seem cumulative to us.At the beginning, she is dead, which means she has lost everything. Later, the text turns back to her past, a time when she still had everything. This contrast makes us wonder whether the narrative is a dream, or whether she has truly died.And the overall tone is very beautiful. For example, at the beginning she describes the rainfall in a vivid way, by depicting the motion of the rainfall, we can imagine the scene while we read it. And when she describe how she remembers Richardo, she did not simply give us his appearance, instead, the narrative is infused with a strong sense of subjective memory and the descriptions of his expressions, giving us the sense that he is not merely a character in a fiction, but as someone vividly alive, and once lived in someone’s memory.
But why does she mention his name so late? Is this simply a narrative technique, or it has some specific purpose behind it?
- Her first love is bitter, even though it was sweet at the beginning, I don’t like the way Ricardo treats her. And also from the way she portrays him as someone who is easily influenced by his mother’s opinions (at least it seems to me like that) and from the way they break up, I don’t think he takes this relationship seriously. As when he claims that “love affairs are not eternal” to excuse the breakup and insists that he is not the one to be blamed, I think it somewhat makes me think he is emotional irresponsible.What is more, she describes her own blood as if it is shared with Richardo’s, implies to the physical and mental bond between them. But I think it is more likely expressing the cost of love?
- And I like how it says: “…for that insignificant boy, that good-for-nothing, you’re making yourself cheap! You who have your life before you, you who can choose the husband you want, you so proud, so intelligent…” (Yes, don’t marry him!!!) Also, she tries to use sex or a threat to keep a man, which gives me the sense that in such a relationship, the person who is more deeply in love often ends up in a lower position (Don’t marry him!!!!!)