Amulet was such an interesting read, with the novel at times dipping into fantastical and sporadic narratives and at other times detailing straightforward and raw accounts of Auxilio’s life in Mexico.
I found the book to be very fun to read, with the protagonist detailing the accounts of the people in and out of her life, as well as offering snippets of her own intentions and goals. I liked the opening as it framed the protagonist and her situation very ambiguously – there were almost no accuracies and she came across as a little bizarre (with the whole vase story). Nonetheless, I really appreciated her passion for literature and poetry, and being a philosophy major, I enjoyed the appearance of phil in this novel.
The central event of this novel was her getting trapped in the bathroom of her university during the take over. It was interesting that beyond her own survival, it seemed that there was an obligation for her to survive, which she did by staying quiet and starving – if she was the only one to witness this she had to survive to sustain the story. The concept of ‘beyond time’ was prevalent throughout the novel, and especially towards the end with her discussing the future of certain writers as well her recounts of her memories of others. This element of her being beyond time, cements her role as a ‘memory’ or as ‘history’ of all the experiences she witnesses, as well as the ones she belongs to, those experiences that only she holds the burden of viewing of acknowledging especially when the world doesn’t or works to invalidate them. I found this to be very creative, and I also liked how the erratic-ness of her story-telling mirrored the kind of history she held and it’s view in the world.
Overall, I really liked this novel, though I didn’t fully grasp all the symbolisms of characters such as Elena, etc. Though I suspect they represent some aspect of the history of the nation.
My question is: Why do you think the bathroom event was so central? Did it mean to root trauma centrally to history? How did you feel the characters were significant to Auxilio’s storytelling?
“Amulet was such an interesting read…”
– After having read Amulet I feel compelled to ask in what sense you are using the adjective “interesting” here 🙂 Is it in the sense, as our narrator explains, that the book might by mysterious? (p. 138)…
Also, for more on the “bathroom event” and its historical and literary background, check out the conversation video that Jon did, if you have not already: https://rmst202.arts.ubc.ca/on-roberto-bolano/
I believe that the bathroom scene represents a ‘flashbulb memory’, something so important, shocking, and therefore salient in her life that the details never escape her. Much of the narrative’s focus on the subjectivity of time and perception center on the fact that she so vividly remembers this moment which I believe accentuates the idea presented in the novel that time, in its perceptual sense, isn’t necessarily entirely linear