Hey! First of all, we started the term strong. I enjoyed this first week’s lecture. The one thing I particularly liked the most is the fact that while it is fiction, the character is based on her but is not her. It accurately reflects many aspects of her life, especially the political ones. I enjoyed how this book narrated the political circumstances of living under a Latin American dictatorship.
For a while, I was touch and go with whether it was an autobiography or a novel, and, yes, I even wondered which parts were honest and trustworthy and which were enhanced to a certain point.
I enjoyed how, despite the text being a novel. It does not focus that much on idealizing or portraying a perfect situation as novels do. It was refreshing and a bit pessimistic the critics that were made in regards to modernization and technological advances and how the author makes this reflection on her memories.
She views her childhood memories and her time with her sisters as the ideal place when things were good and not as bad as they are in the present when she narrates it.
A line that stuck with me through the book since I read it at the very beginning was
“It was written for them, but I am leaving it to you.”
And when I thought about it, I began to realize that often we spend much time thinking and doing things for people we care for, and most of the time, it takes us too long that we never end up telling them or giving them to the people we mean to. A fact that is congruent with this vision she has of life on treasuring memories needs of living in the moment because what good does it do to a person to remember if they didn’t properly enjoy it while it’s happening?
Anyways, that was some ramble. hahaha
Another thing I enjoyed was the naming of the chapters; more often than not, when I read, I find myself just reading “chapter #”, and I found it pleasant how you get a preview when you are getting into a new chapter and how sometimes it will click why its called like that halfway through the story, or even instantly, or if you decided to read this in one go and are tired, maybe never.
Anyways, I hope you liked it, and my question for you this week is. Which sister did you find more exciting or liked the most?
Jon
January 16, 2023 — 8:17 am
Thanks for this, Montse! Two quick points…
1) “I enjoyed how this book narrated the political circumstances of living under a Latin American dictatorship.” Why do you say this is the depiction of a dictatorship? Do you mean Venezuela was a dictatorship at the time? (It wasn’t.)
2) “It does not focus that much on idealizing or portraying a perfect situation as novels do.” Is this what novels do?
Jon
AlizeySultan
January 16, 2023 — 11:19 am
Hi Montserrat! I really liked how you mentioned if there were parts that were actually real and other parts that were enhanced for the story. I found myself wondering that too throughout the text. I mentioned in my post how I liked the descriptive language that was used and it made me wonder if the way things were being described was truly from memory, or was it “enhanced” just for storytelling purposes. To answer your question, I will have to say that Violeta was the most exciting character for me. She was loud and honest to a fault, which I found interesting in contrast to the stories overall atmosphere.
Jon
January 16, 2023 — 6:09 pm
test comment from Jon
Jordan
January 16, 2023 — 8:30 pm
Hi Montse!
I found your interpretation and understanding of the reading very interesting. I also kind of struggled with knowing what was real or fake or autobiographical or not. For me, the book was very story-like, I’m not sure if that was just from all the attention she put into at the beginning in describing everyone in crazy detail. I always appreciate when authors take the time to do this as it makes you more invested in the story as well as the characters. I thought your analysis on the authors line, “it was written for them, but I am leaving it to you” to be very interesting as well. It left me thinking about the idea of like remembering a memory that I enjoyed in more detail vs one that I didn’t enjoy. I’m not sure if that makes sense, but I wonder if we remember happy memories in more detail than we do sad or angry ones?
Jordan
January 16, 2023 — 8:35 pm
Hi Montse!
I really enjoyed your interpretation and understanding of the reading. I also found myself questioning which sections where true or false, or autobiographical or not. I found the book to be very story-like. I’m not sure if I felt this way because of the authors intense attention to detail when describing everything in the book. I always appreciate when authors do this, I feel much more connected to the story if I can have a clear image of what everything and everyone looks like. Your blog also made me think about whether we remember memories that we enjoy more clearly or ones that we didn’t enjoy. I’m not sure if this makes any sense, but I wonder if our memory is more vivid and true when its a happy memory vs one was sad or upsetting to us?