Reading this book was pretty different from what I expected out of a wartime novel! It focussed a lot more on the daily, domestic aspects of Natalia and those around her, so much so that I almost forgot about the war until the book reminded me halfway through（´∇｀”）I was also growing increasingly frustrated with Quimet, even from the very first time he appeared on the page, and especially when he essentially gaslights her on page 32 ᕙ( ᗒᗣᗕ )ᕗ!!
Something I found interesting was how the humans were continuously being described with animal features. For example, Quimet has monkey eyes, Father Joan is made of fly wings, the lady on the street has jowls like a dog, etc etc. These comparisons subtly made me see them as slightly distanced from a fully human existence, connecting to the concept of living the “bare life” of animal existence from the lecture video.
The moment where Natalia kills the bird eggs and where she tries to kill herself and her children feel to me like she reaches a breaking point and tries to regain control. Throughout the book, she doesn’t seem to have much control over anything in her life. Quimet doesn’t listen to her, the war takes away any stability of the basic necessities in life, and her own home is overtaken by pigeons. Even her nickname, Colometa, is given to her and only connects her more to the animals taking over her life. By the time she reaches for the eggs, I understood it as Natalia trying to gain some semblance of agency over at least a small aspect of her life. Similarly, when she decides to kill herself and her kids, it feels like she is choosing to change their fates and relieve their suffering in the only way she can guarantee it, even if that is through death. I really don’t think I can fault her for that (╥‸╥)
Although I understand Natalia’s actions, the writing of the scene where she shakes the eggs brought out a very tangible discomfort in me. It wasn’t even one page long, but the descriptions of how she waves them in front of the pigeon’s face and the resulting swirl of blood and yolk and barely-formed hearts felt so incredibly cruel. At that moment, she even seemed a bit inhuman to me.
Overall, this felt like an easier read than some previous books, yet contained so much depth and emotional weight. Do you think the straightforward style affects your reading of the story? Did it in fact make the experiences of Natalia more of an impact?
I really enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to discussing this in class!
See you tomorrow!
Julie ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
3 replies on “Rodoreda — the day-to-day”
“At that moment, she even seemed a bit inhuman to me.” This is an interesting point: you also mentioned discomfort in this paragraph. It seems we’ve discovered another way to experience it with this novel! While it’s certainly easier to read than some of the others in the course, it’s still quite challenging in some ways, as you seem to suggest in your questions. What would have happened, hypothetically, if Natalia had poisoned her children?
I actually love the fact that the war is so in the background for the beginning portions of the book. I mean we’re seeing this all from Natalia’s perspective, and she is so wrapped up in her life, specifically Quimet and all that comes with that, that she completely neglects to think about the political climate. It’s only when it is literally thrust in front of her face that she realizes the war. I love that we feel the same way as we read it despite knowing the era it’s written in.
I’m not sure if there was a hidden meaning or any sort of significance to describing everyone with animal features but it definitely made imagining the characters more interesting! To answer your question, I think the straightforward reading style definitely somehow slowed my reading progress LOL. Despite it not having fancy words, or run off sentences, there were so many details describing one setting that it felt never ending! I think the style added to the impact of Natalia’s experiences since just like how the text is slow paced and sometimes stagnant, her days to day life seems like that too. An endless loop perhaps ? till of course the war disrupts the flow of events.