Amulet, to me, was a simple read. It did not feel as though the story was as hard to follow as some others we have read this term. Just like many other novellas we’ve read, the story focused a lot on the past and reflection of important moments of the narrators life, primary being locked in the women’s room at university. When the story begins, it states that it is a story of horror. Like many other’s have said in their blog posts, I assumed it would be a violent and graphic horror story, but instead it was much more psychological. I am not afraid of much in life, but I am extremely claustrophobic. The thought of being trapped somewhere is something that always makes my heart beat a bit faster and my palms sweat, so I was able to understand the horror that would have been felt during the raid at the university.

As the narrator is trapped, they reflect on their life and relationships with others. I think this is one of the most natural responses to being in a situation like this. When there is no end in sight, and all you have to keep you occupied is your thoughts and books.

I appreciated the way Bolano described everything in great detail. It made it much easier to immerse myself into this world and sympathize with the characters and the narrator. In the first few sentences, the narrator says the story will not seem like a horror story when told by her, and at first I took that with a grain of salt, but after finishing the novella it was very true. The story was told in an almost peaceful way. The situation playing out was obviously stressful, but the narrators tone made the violence seem far less serious than it truly was.

I also really enjoyed the way the novella ended. I thought it was a beautiful way to wrap everything up together. Taking something that has meaning of the war and viewing it as something beautiful without taking away from the importance of it. It provided a feeling of unity and peace, and referring to the song as an amulet I think was a really nice way to show that even in times of extreme hardship and terror there can be beauty found in group solidarity and “love, desire, and pleasure” that comes from sharing something like this.