This reading was probably the second hardest for me, after Combray. At times it felt very slow, but I understand that this pace was maybe intentional, to guide us through Ernesto’s perceptions, memories, and reactions to the world around him. I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about the novel as of now, but maybe writing this blog and taking some time to reflect will help me make sense of it more.
What stood out to me most in this reading was how deeply Ernesto feels everything, even when he doesn’t act on it. I think this is part of what made the pacing feel so slow. From the beginning, as he travels through the Andes with his father (which I really liked and found surprisingly wholesome), it’s clear that he experiences the world through sound, landscape, and emotion. Rivers, mountains, and songs feel alive to him, almost as if they carry history and memory within them. To me, this felt like the author’s way of connecting Ernesto to the Indigenous identity.
When he is later placed in the boarding school at Abancay, that same sensitivity becomes a burden. The school is rigid, violent, and deeply hierarchical, and Ernesto doesn’t fit easily. He watches cruelty unfold between students and from priests, but he rarely fights back. Instead, he absorbs it, which honestly reminded me a lot of Andrea in Nada.
Just like with Andrea I found myself wanting Ernesto to fight back or speak up. As the novel went on i started understanding that this silence of his wasn’t weakness it was awareness, he sees the injustice even when he lacks the power to confront it. I think this makes it more realistic as alot of the time we are aware of the injustice around of the world but all we can do is watch. A very powerful moment during this novel was the conflict involving the chicheras. Watching Indigenous women collectively resist exploitation feels like a direct contrast to the silence enforced within the school. That moment seemed to awaken something in Ernesto. It’s not that he suddenly becomes brave or outspoken, but his understanding of injustice develops and deepens.
By the end of Deep Rivers, just like with Nada there’s no clear resolution. Ernesto doesn’t escape his circumstances or win in any traditional sense. But he isn’t the same boy he was at the beginning either. He has gained some sort of moral clarity, even if it comes at the cost of innocence. To me, that felt like the heart of the novel, that growth is always a clear change on the outside. Sometimes it’s just learning how to see the world clearly without losing your capacity to feel.
My discussion question for this novel is, Just like Nada the novel doesn’t end with a clear resolution, do you find that frustrating or do you think its better that way.
Overall was a good novel but i kind of liked the previous readings more, 7/10.