Author Archives: mdueck01

About mdueck01

Hi! My name is Maia and I'm a second year arts student. I created this website for the purpose of RMST 202.

A Conclusion

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LAST BLOG POST!!

Shoutout again to all my classmates, teachers, and TAs for the hard work this term!!

Heading into this course, I expected to challenge some of my thinking through the different books and perspectives that we read. I think I definitely achieved this because we read many narratives where views and outlooks were presented that I didn’t always agree with, or life experiences that I hadn’t experienced myself which that helped broaden my horizons. I didn’t really expect to connect with a lot of the narratives or to feel like the author had put into words exactly thoughts I had had or a perspective I understood, particularly with the books talking about gender and the experiences of women. I also expected myself to fulfill my contract which as far as I’m concerned I did unless I missed a book lol.

One of my goals was to “pay attention” to the details of the books and the world in which they were written. The lectures definitely helped me learn more about the time period that the books were written and what influenced their writing. As for paying attention to the themes or the things that the author wrote about underneath the surface, I felt like I paid more attention to the surface level and wasn’t really too in tune with what was happening underneath, but the lectures helped me understand certain themes and topics I hadn’t seen before by pulling out quotes and thoughts on the novels.

One thing that I liked about the course, like someone else also said, was the ability to hear what other people thought of the books – especially when people ranted about what they didn’t like because that was highly entertaining. Another thing I liked was being able to place the book’s narratives within their historical context because that helped me visualize what the politics were like at the time that the author was writing or in the time of the characters. It was helpful to have some of the course content be online and only attend class for the books you read because it allowed me time to both read the books and write the blog posts and watch the lectures. Also, like I said before, I liked that the lectures brought in themes I wouldn’t have thought of before or confirmed some of the thoughts I had going into them and introduced me to new thinking or ways of looking at the book.

Honestly, out of all the books, my favorite (and this may be recency bias) would probably be Money to Burn. I think because it was fairly different from a lot of the other books we’d read, it provided a nice contrast because of the adventure and the thrill aspect of it. Also, I was invested in the characters and their life stories even though it was quite gritty. Other contenders would probably be The Shrouded Woman and My Brilliant Friend because of the exploration of female friendships and inner lives.

That’s all for now.

Peace,

Maia

“My Brilliant Friend” – Class and Clashes

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LAST BOOK LETS GOOOO!!!!

This has been a wild ride. I’d like to thank my classmates, teachers, and TAs for their hard work and for reading so many blogposts and also to us for reading the books and for writing all the blog posts. Good job all. We made it. Also this class significantly contributed to my Goodreads goal so I’m grateful for that (I am now 20 books towards my goal of 50 for this year, not that anyone asked). Also shoutout to my grandma because she read me some of this book in the car while I was driving.

I think the theme and exploration of class in this book was very interesting. Seeing the choices that characters made and their different paths, particularly the contrast between Lila and Elena, was interesting to watch as it developed over time. Not only class but also just the reckoning of a community and neighborhood after the war, particularly the exploration of this violence and tension in families that later bleeds into their friend groups. I was so shocked when Lila’s dad literally throws her out the window?! Like… what. When Elena steps out of her neighborhood and goes to see her high school with her dad, I thought it offered an insight into her mind and thoughts as her world almost got bigger: “Was it possible that only our neighborhood was filled with conflicts and violence, while the rest of the city was radiant, benevolent?” (137).

I found myself rooting for her and also for Lila because I wanted them to get what they wanted and “escape” in a sense so when Elena went away I thought it was a beautiful time away for her that was probably needed even though it was overshadowed by her experience with Nino’s dad and I don’t really want to get into all that because he’s just… ugh. But also Nino was a strange character for me because I almost rooted for him and Elena at the beginning but then I couldn’t really understand what he wanted or if he even liked her. It made me curious to see who she ends up with (because I think it mentioned in the beginning and I could be wrong that she and Lila both get married) or what path her life takes.

The world of this book felt very expansive because there were a lot of different characters to keep track of. The tensions in the friend group were also interesting because their group and the people they interacted with were filled with so many clashes. My grandma and I spoke briefly about the “macho-ness” particularly during the New Year’s scene because there was so much competition and the boys almost felt like they were playing a role and the girls were, too. These themes of coming-of-age and of particularly Elena coming into her body, appearance, sexuality, personhood and womanhood were really compelling for me because I felt I don’t often read stories that talk about these topics frankly and honestly. The writing style helped convey what Elena was thinking/feeling very clearly and I felt it was put in terms that I could understand and sometimes relate to.

Her and Lila’s friendship felt a bit like a rollercoaster simply because there was a lot of comparison and jealousy between the two of them and because they went through a lot of life events together. I actually thought this depiction of friendship was really honest and I think the ending really brought to mind this idea of diverging paths and how life can take people in different directions, and that Elena was almost mourning this image of her friend that she had in the past, but also trying her best to support her as she transitioned into this new stage. I think I related to her in that sense a bit so maybe that’s why I felt connected to the ending of the book. I was honestly so shocked and touched when Lila called Elena “my brilliant friend” (312) because it almost flipped the tables and I was curious about what would happen next for the two of them.

Memorable quote: “We were girls, even if we imagined ourselves wickedly daring” (243).

My question for the class would probably be: what theme or idea (class, friendship, ambitions, family, gender roles) stuck out to you the most?

I’ll explain my choices of emoji just in case it does not compute:

  1. Quill: obvs bc Elena decides to write about her friend
  2. Two girls: because they’re besties, could also represent the dolls
  3. Number one: represents the competition between the girls, as well as the other people in their classes and among their friend group, to be number one, to be the best, etc
  4. Student: represents Elena/her efforts in school and the teachers
  5. Fairy: there were a few references to fairies and specifically the story that Lila writes so I thought I would include that
  6. Car: represents the Solara’s 1100 and also the car Stefano says he buys for Lila
  7. Shoe: um, there were shoes in this book, so… kinda important
  8. Fireworks: New Year’s party and the guns (again the themes of competition)
  9. Island: When Elena goes away and gets a bit of freedom on Ischia
  10. Bride: represents Lila and the new life she steps into

That’s all for now. Give yourself a pat on the back for making it to the end of this blog and also to the (almost) end of term!!!!

Peace,

Maia

 

“Money to Burn” – Madness and Morality

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Dang that was crazy.

At first I read this book as a completely fictitious account not at all inspired by a true story, but throughout most of it I was like wow the addition of the newspapers and “eyewitness” accounts really made it more realistic. But afterward I was like… well how much of that was fiction, and how much of it was real? I tried to look up the case that inspired this book because I wanted to know more details but I couldn’t find much about it, or how much was fictitious or inspired by the actual events.

The backstories of each of the characters were absolutely brutal and the abuse and violent actions that they took were difficult for me to read about, but I think they provided background for why they were on this robbery and what led them to being the people they were. The author didn’t shy away from any of the details. For me, one of the characters that stood out the most was Dorda simply because the audience got more of an inside look into his head and because there was so much that went into making him the character that he was. The moment between him and Brignone at the end was kind of a break in the madness or the chaos of the rest of the heightened action and was just a very tender and interesting moment that also stood out to me.

I honestly really liked this book but it made me question myself because I was wondering about this line between truth and fiction and if it was a completely true story, would I be more horrified by the events and less… I don’t know, invested in the characters? I feel like there was a degree of separation between the characters and me and reality, so I was able to immerse myself in the story, but afterward I was like… should I have liked that book so much? What are the moral implications of being so invested in morally grey characters?! But also, I think that’s kind of the point of these books is to bring the reader along on the journey and the adventure, and in this case, the reader understands that their mission or the story is doomed, like Dorda says of himself: “I’ve been a lost soul from the very start” (58). Still, I wondered who was going to make it out, or if they were going to succeed at escaping with the money.

My question for the class is: why/why didn’t you enjoy this book, and which character’s story were you most invested/interested in?

Memorable quote: “They’ve got no normal sense of danger, they carry death in their bloodstream” (163).

Here is yet another stream of book related emojis:

Also book rec: YA book Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo has the same elements of the squad of people doing a heist but it’s set in a fantasy world with very compelling characters.

That’s all for now.

Peace,

Maia

 

 

“The Lover” – Memories and Names

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After reading this novel, I’m now thinking about the subject of names. When the girl (who, as far as I can tell, was never named) talks about her lover and her family, they are not named (unless I missed the mentions of their names) – except when she names her younger brother, “our little Paulo” (79) over halfway through the book – but when she talks about her female friends, they are named fully, with both first and last names (Marie-Claude Carpenter, Betty Fernandez, Hélène Lagonelle). This made the sections about her friends stand out to me, drawing the story wider as she talked about events and relationships that took place outside of her relationship with her lover and her family, and made me think about the desire/feelings she felt particularly for Hélène. The omission of names perhaps points to painful memories and experiences, or even provides some separation between the reader and the story, making the characters feel almost more mysterious in a way, and the naming of the women points to another quote where she says: “My memory of men is never lit up and illuminated like my memory of women” (66), making me think about the narrator’s relationships with women and how those may be different than those with men, so much so that they effect or show up differently in her memory.

Also as I write this I’m finding I wrote a lot of quotes because a lot of them stuck out to me and even if I didn’t quite know how to feel at the end of this book I did finish it basically in one sitting. So yeah, apparently I have things to say that may be rambles, as per usual.

I thought the imagery (some moments/words that stuck out to me were the references to the family of the hunter, and the moment where she talks about the sky) and the way this novel was structured definitely made it feel like it was a reflection on a life from an older perspective because of the way the narrator jumped from different times and different subjects, following up memories of her lover with her family, or vice versa, and giving us glimpses into how her brothers and their fates end up as the story went along.

I didn’t expect so much about the family because I went into the book expecting it to be mostly about the relationship between the girl and her lover, which was obviously also a huge focus of the book. I thought it was interesting how it ended with the declaration of love because it made me think about love and memory and how things that happened even when people are younger or the relationships they have can still be remembered and thought about as they grow older. After learning about the way the author rewrote the story and came back to it, I wondered which parts she decided to change or keep, and how much of it was auto-biographical. It also made me wonder whether the narrator really loved this person they had a relationship with (at the start, she writes “I’ve never written, though I thought I wrote, never loved, though I thought I loved” (25) and later at the end, writes, “suddenly she wasn’t sure she hadn’t loved him with a love she hadn’t seen” (114)) because there are obviously different agencies and power relationships at play between them.

My question for the class would probably be: do you think that the girl loved the elegant man? What were your opinions on their relationship and the age gap/hierarchies that existed within it?

Memorable quote: “Our first confidants, though the word seems excessive, are our lovers” (60).

That’s all for now, so here are some more emojis to spice things up:

Peace,

Maia

“The Hour of the Star” – Screams and Streams of Consciousness

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First off, WHAT was I reading.

Second off, WHAT was that ending.

I haven’t read anyone’s posts or watched the video(s?) yet so I am writing this while trying to find my way in the world. My way? Yes, my way, because what exists is the way and what exists is the world…

I teetered between anger at and trying to appreciate the prose in this novel. I think it’s definitely a daring choice but in a way it bothered me because it seems all over the place, which I know is the point… probably. Honestly, I think it was difficult to get through because I was just frustrated and felt like I couldn’t track what the tone of the novel was other than sad and introspective. It picked up once more characters got involved and we met Quimet 2.0, and once Macabéa was named I could flesh out her character a bit more in my mind because she spoke and I liked hearing her thoughts. This helped establish her in her world but even before that we got glimpses of her and that beautiful moment of her being “f-r-e-e!” (33). I think this stream of consciousness and author as an involved character definitely made for an interesting choice and almost made the audience more removed from the characters and their lives because the readers weren’t in it, in a sense.

Okay but I don’t want to bash things or choices that the author made because I knew that it would be a bit different going in and I want to be a happy and optimistic person and not a hater but um yeah I feel bad giving books less than 4 stars and I rated it 3 stars on Goodreads. There were definitely some memorable quotes and I did like the author involvement and the talk about writing and being responsible for a character in a way.

Because we talked in class about screams for The Time of the Doves, I think the mention of “the right to scream” (5) stuck out to me at the beginning. Obviously I suspected that this would not be a very happy story going into it and I thought the novel ending in silence and rain, as was mentioned earlier in the book, was quite poetic because it tied back that theme and title of being unable to scream and yet having everything to scream about.

My question for the class would be: is a scream a right? A compulsion? A nuisance?

Memorable quote: “You know what I want more than anything else in the world? To be a movie star” (45)

I seem to have established a format with my blogs and my titles that I would not like to break because of consistency but here’s some emojis in an attempt to not to make this boring:

That’s all for now.

Peace,

Maia

“The Time of the Doves” – Motherhood and the Mundane

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“Start tomorrow” (155).

This was the moment that probably gave me the most emotional reaction or hit me the hardest. I was completely shocked when Natalia made the decision to kill herself and her children, and since there was still 50 pages left in the novel I was sincerely wondering how it was going to end. But this moment with the grocer really connected to me because after her deciding that it was over, someone actually looked out for her and changed around the course of her life. Despite all of her struggles, Natalia showed tremendous determination and resolve to continue on and forge a new and different life for herself and her children.

I thought this novel showed the unique perspective of everyday people in the face of tragedy, poverty, and war. Often the point of view of women and mothers is left out of history and out of the stories, but this novel shone a spotlight on the unique interiority of Natalia and how she went about her day-to-day life working and living her own unique life.

Also I was really mad at Quimet whenever he showed up because he kept making excuses!! Like boy I know your leg isn’t really hurting and you better help Natalia with that wallpaper!!

Ugh. Anyways.

I think because I felt like Natalia was struggling in silence and her marriage I just wanted things to change and improve for her and for people to really see her and help her out, especially when she talked about everyone expecting her to be superhuman on page 107 because I think that’s a thought that is echoed by a lot of mothers or primary caretakers who do so much for their families. I liked the characters of Senyora Enriqueta and Julieta even if she only showed up a bit because they were prominent women in Natalia’s life and they listened to her and provided a way for her to connect with community outside of her dove-infested home. Also, I found Quimet’s friends interesting, particularly Mateu because I think he and Natalia had an interesting connection.

Even though this focused on the supposed “mundanity” of everyday life that some can see as too simple or boring, I found this novel very interesting and the point of view very easy to connect to. I think it showed there is so much beauty in the “mundane”. A lot of the topics the author talked about were engaging and the narrator’s voice was clear and I feel like this perspective of a mother or everyday women is important to read about because it gave a voice to experiences and circumstances that may be different or not as often talked about.

My question for the class would be: were there any moments, quotes, or parts of the text that you connected to emotionally or that struck you?

Memorable quote: “And while he sipped his coffee he went on to say it was better to read about history in books than to make it with guns” (125).

Peace,

Maia

“Black Shack Alley” – Setting and Stories

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One thing that was interesting about this novel, similar to the others that we’ve read in this class, is that it is told from a child’s perspective and point of view. I expected that it would be a bit darker in a sense simply because of the fact that it deals with racism and plantations and slavery, but what I found unique was that José often had a very joyful outlook or tended to find moments of excitement and play with his friends even in the midst of the difficult situations and life experiences of the adults around him. I think all those moments, joyful or not, painful or not, are important to include because they create a more complex and wholistic story. Over the course of the novel I think José loses some of that initial innocence, particularly as he joins school and notices that “there was no one like me” (155) and later gets let in on the darker experiences through Carmen’s stories and as he comes to his own conclusions about race and the power structures he observes, but in the beginning, it was interesting to read about the kids finding ways to enjoy themselves in a difficult and oppressive system. It’s a story and a perspective I find that isn’t often seen or shown.

The scene and setting descriptions in this novel were really well done. Every location that José went to or visited felt rooted and realistic because of the way they were described, whether it be Black Shack Alley, the school, or his various homes and dwelling places as he grows up. The character of his M’man Tine was very inspiring because of all the work she did for him and all that she sacrificed for his future. When it got to the end and José said he’d tell a story, I felt I could see the novel through a new pair of eyes as more of a biographical account. All of the individual scenes and experiences José had with his friends and the people he encountered joined together and made me wonder about the author and how much of the novel or what parts were inspired by his own life or experience.

I liked the commentary on novels and who is on the margins or left out because their stories don’t get told, and the way that this story tells a perspective that is important and has a place on bookshelves. I think what this novel does well is to describe a life and experiences in all their vivid detail to challenge what is “literary” and to simply make space for the stories that are often left out.

My question for the class would be: what did you think of the style of writing? What did you find that the descriptions of scene/setting added to the story?

Memorable quote: “I could make out all the traits in the face and all the expressions of the master storyteller, carried away by his feelings into the magical domain to which he lifted up his enraptured audience” (68)

Peace,

Maia

“Agostino” – Transitions and Identity

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One theme that I found interesting in the novel was the theme of transition. Agostino is often caught between childhood and adulthood and expresses the want to enter the next stage of his life by doing more “adult” things. I think the moment when he isn’t allowed into the home at the end of the novel with Tortima and is kicked out for being too young really exemplifies the fact that he’s adopted this older or more mature attitudes from the boys he hangs out with over the summer, but that these things he’s learning might not apply or be put into action in his real life because he’s still a child and not physically at the adult stage. As well, he’s away from his regular life and is trying to come to terms with his identity as he grows into being a man, but we have no idea what his life will be like after this brief vacation period.

I’m really not sure how I feel about this novel. I don’t think I liked it as much as the other ones. I anticipate there being some discussion over Agostino and his mother’s relationship. I’m not sure what my opinion is or how to interpret it. I think because Agostino is young and still figuring things out, his curiousity about his own sexuality was something he was trying to explore, and he was trying to come to terms with all this new knowledge during this summer in the only way he knew how – by relating it to the primary female figure in his life.

As for his group of friends and buddies, I think their teasing and bullying and treatment of Homs really detracted from my reading experience. I think it depicted the often brutal aspects of the main group of boys, but I just felt sad that Agostino felt pressure to change and that he lost some of his innocence in that way, and that they treated Homs terribly. I guess that loss of innocence was one of the main themes, but it made me think about young friendships in general and how there’s a lot of pressure to say certain things, like Agostino does when he’s trying to have the same attitudes as his friends, even if he doesn’t mean them, to fit in.

My question for the class is what did you make of the setting? Did having Agostino outside/away from his regular life contribute to the themes of transition and change in the novel?

Memorable quote: “So he found that he had lost his original identity without acquiring through his loss another” (78).

Peace,

Maia

“The Shrouded Woman” – A Perspective From Beyond the Grave

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As I write this, I’m listening to “She’s a Mystery to Me” by Roy Orbison, and in some way, I think the lyrics of this song relate to the musings expressed in “The Shrouded Woman” and talked about in the lecture – that in this novel, there is something about the female characters that cannot quite be pinned down, that is mysterious, distant, or inaccessible to many of the male characters.

Gender and status were themes that intersected throughout this novel. I really enjoyed looking back on the story and seeing how the female characters interacted and were able to have agency even while operating in a “man’s world” in a sense. However, rage and frustration were also evident in Ana Maria’s reflection on her life because many things, such as her marriage, were not a decision she made herself. Many of the men go to great extents to control their wives, even though there is something that is unattainable or mysterious about them, too. Seeing how status played into this, particularly in how marriage, land, and houses worked was also interesting to read about, as well as Ana Maria’s thoughts when her son didn’t consult her in his marriage and the way her children have power, but she has power, too, as their mother.

Nature and the connection with the earth and the way Bombal described the scenery was also very beautiful, as well as the narrator’s thoughts about heaven and it being a garden and her own back and forth in her thoughts with the world, religion, and life after death.

At the end of the novel, I was super interested in the shift of perspective where the audience almost steps into Father Carlos’ shoes as he reflects on his experiences with Ana Maria. As a Christian it’s always really interesting for me to read about people’s different experiences with religion and to see the references to it in texts because 1) it’s cool to see the biblical references and feel like I understand them, haha! and 2) I find I tend to learn something from a different perspective. I liked the exploration of the ideas and themes of forgiveness, and the moment where Ana Maria appears/comes to her friend Sofia as “an almost forgotten friend that had come to her in death to tell her she was forgiven” (248) sticks out to me because of the way Bombal describes it and the way she made that moment feel really grounded and moving.

I tend to focus on the main characters for my questions, but here goes anyway: how did Ana Maria’s perspective and point of view from beyond the grave impact your overall reading of the text? How would it be different if it was simply a reflection on life, a description of the events as they happened rather than a reflection on the past?

Memorable quote: “Poor Ana Maria! Your whole life was nothing but a passionate search for that Garden of Eden, lost irretrievably, however, by man!” (254)

Peace,

Maia

“Mad Toy” – Thieves, Treachery, and Time

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While I wouldn’t compare “In Search of Lost Time” and “Mad Toy” in terms of style of writing because they have so many artistic differences, one thing they have in common is that they both deal with the subject of time and the changes that occur to people over time. For our narrator Silvio in “Mad Toy,” the journey that he takes us on – from his home, to libraries and bookshops and barracks, to the new and unknown future he heads off towards – is broken up by years. We follow along with his journey from young to slightly older as he brushes up against authority and searches for a place in the world and in his city.

I found it really compelling that the novel followed such a young protagonist and yet I felt that his view of the world was solid and backed by years of experience. Silvio’s inner musings about life and his own perspective and ideology were complex, but I felt like they made sense given his life experience and the stories he read as a kid filled with the characters he wanted to emulate. His desire to be a rogue and a thief was born out of those stories.

Thieves are popular main characters in many genres, including some of the YA and fantasy books that I grew up reading. Maybe it’s because of their ability to slip through the cracks, but I think the reason people like to read about these rogue characters is because, like Silvio, these characters can question the authority and expose the underbelly of a society. Like other protagonists who are “on the outside” in a way, Silvio provided a perspective on the world that allowed for questioning and for inner wrestling that is often different from our own and can challenge or reinforce our ways of thinking or our own perspectives on the world.

The last part of the novel, “Judas Iscariot,” contained a treachery that I didn’t entirely see coming. When Lucio was re-introduced, I found myself wondering whether he, now a police inspector, was going to turn Silvio in – thus becoming the Judas character himself. I honestly didn’t expect that Silvio was going to betray Rengo, and that twist, as well as Silvo’s thoughts about it, were so interesting in the sense that he talks about having a beautiful life – but Judas didn’t have a beautiful life or at least a long one because he killed himself after his betrayal of Jesus. Still, the book maintained a hopefulness for Silvio’s future as Silvio himself wrestled with his place and his path, and despite what he did to his friend, I still viewed Silvio as a sympathetic character: somehow still the fourteen year old we met at the beginning of the novel, and yet now carrying the weight of this choice he made about his friend into whatever comes next.

My question for the class would be: what did you make of Silvio’s character at the end of the novel? Were you still rooting for him as the protagonist, and what did you feel when Silvio betrayed his friend?

Memorable quote: “Sometimes at night. – I would think of the poets and how their beauty made the world tremble” (77).

Peace,

Maia