If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this class, it is that the shortest books have the most to say. I found this novel to be such a beautiful telling of the ‘other side’ of war stories—a story about the people who stay behind, and the aftermath of conflict.

One thing that really stuck out to me in this novel, was the ‘separation’ between the political landscape happening around her, and Natalia’s personal life. Natalia chooses and wishes to remain political and simply just live her life. Unfortunately, the political climate she lives in, makes this impossible. At first, I saw this separation as the gendered public and private spheres: where men take on the public life and women keep to the private life. But as I continued to read I saw how Natalia’s want for separation is something that is still apparent in today’s world – many people try to separate their personal lives with politics. But I don’t know if a true separation between the political and the personal is entirely possible. And Natalia proves that. Her day-to-day life is completely changed during the war and its aftermath, she struggles with poverty and lack of food. Her life is so flipped that she even contemplates murder. 

The lecture video told us to pause and think if we should judge Natalia for contemplating the murder of herself and her children. While this idea is uncomfortable and feels almost subhuman, I can’t super judge her. The life she brought her children into and the current life they live are completely different. I don’t see this as an evil act, but rather an act of love (in a fucked up way). The lecture video also noted that a mother murdering her children is one of the greatest sins. While I obviously agree, I find it interesting that in these stories (like Medea) we tend to focus on the mother’s wrong actions, rather than the actions of a society that has failed them or the men that have abandoned them. Natalia is not the only one to blame, a war-torn society unconcerned about the livelihoods of its people is also to blame. 

Another aspect of the novel I wanted to touch on was the extensive bird metaphor relating to Natalia. The pigeons are taught to be domesticated and that the cage is their home, but they are fighting their innate predisposition to fly. Natalia constantly being compared to pigeons shows her internal fight of wanting to be free of her circumstances but also being trapped in them. I also found a parallel in the way birds are compared to as both humans and machines is also the way soldiers can be talked about as both human and war machines. 

My question for discussion would be: do the translation differences of dove vs pigeon or space vs time in the title change the way you perceive the novel?