Alas, we have reached the end of this course! This course was strangely nowhere near what I expected but in the best way possible. I think the texts we have read and the discussions we have had, truly make me think about literature in different ways which was one of my main goals for this course. Often times I usually just take the text for what it is, but it was interesting to apply the context of the environment and time period to truly understand some of the intentions of these novels.
I think if I had to pick a favourite novel for this course, it would be Nada by Carmen Laforet, which is strange because I remember that not many people chose that book. I felt like I experienced every emotion possible while reading that book. Seeing such a significant change in Andrea’s character and her own narrative perceptions of herself truly stuck with me the most. I also think it was so interesting how Laforet’s writing made me love a character on one page, but then absolutely despise them on the next. Usually, I feel like when I have a perception about a certain character, it is really difficult for a book to change my mind about them because I either want to defend them or absolutely trash their entire existence, but for some reason, this book gave me whiplash the entire time. I found myself being able to justify certain characters who I know deep down are still horrible people, and despise characters who I initially liked. Looking back on it now, Andrea’s friendship with Ena kind of resembles Elena’s friendship with Lila in My Brilliant Friend in terms of dynamics, jealousy, and reliance (although I will admit I liked Andrea and Ena’s friendship way more).
My least favourite book without a doubt has to be The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda. Honestly, I feel like I don’t really have a good reason for hating this book other than I simply just didn’t like it. I felt like I was so frustrated the entire time that it just wasn’t enjoyable for me. Every single character made me angry to the point where I didn’t really care much about them or about what happened to them so I never got invested in the novel. I noted how it has similar themes to Nada regarding changes in perception and character after one goes off to fight in the war, but every time I think about that damn tapeworm in a jar I need to take a few minutes to meditate.
I mentioned this in one of my previous blogs but I literally had to start keeping track of how many Judas metaphors there were in these books and out of the 11 books that I read there were a whopping 6. Which doesn’t seem like a lot but it’s quite interesting to notice. I realized that most of the times they would pop up as metaphors regarding betrayal obviously, even though it could be recognized as one of the more subtle themes across these books. I am not a religious person myself, but I do enjoy the Lady Gaga song therefore to describe my experience of this course, I would use that song.
Question: What song would you pick to encapsulate this course and why?
Ava, I’m glad you enjoyed the course! And I agree that Nada is great… I think it’s one of my favourites, too. And yes, I see the connection to My Brilliant Friend. (But I think you’re wrong about The Time of the Doves, ha!)
And I think I said to you before that your observations on the Judas references were interesting, as one thing I’m keen on is thinking about the theme of betrayal… though we never really got to discuss that in class.
Thanks for all your contributions, and have a great summer!
Honestly fair enough. I was planning on re-reading The Time of the Doves over the summer to understand why I feel a certain way about it, so perhaps future me may change her mind 🙂
Oh, and I like your question… I chose “Walls Come Tumbling Down” as the final song for our playlist, and I think it fits. At least, I hope so. 🙂
Hi Ava! I also liked Nada quite a bit and now that you’ve mentioned it, Ena and Andrea’s relationship is very similar to Elena and Lila. While I liked Time of the Doves quite a bit, I had your same frustrations but with Money to Burn! I don’t know what song I would use to sum up this course tbh, but probably something off of my study playlist.