Monthly Archives: April 2022

Conclusions

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After the experience of reading 13 books this semester, I feel that I have a new understanding of reading. This semester is a process. For the first few weeks, I was excited about the articles I was about to read and felt a constant ability to support myself towards them, but when the interest became an obligatory thing, I started to get a little tired. But luckily, I persevered. So much so that in the end, despite the tight schedule at the end of the semester, I enjoyed the motivation that reading gave me to think, to think about the characters in these books, to think about how these stories made me feel. Although I don’t fully understand what’s in it, I’m still quite shocked that JON recommended it to us because they are really wonderful.

Most of the literary works are from the 18th and 19th centuries, especially the works on the theme of war, which are in the majority. War, a product of politics and history, may bring to the world not only the scars, but also the ideas that are inspired by these tragedies. For example, the changes brought about by the war to the city, the changes in people’s living patterns, the breakdown of families, and the violence caused by the poverty brought about by the war, have all appeared in novels of different eras to some extent.

 About women, about relationships between people, these are some sensitive topics that cannot be easily summarized. I think I have grown in this semester because of the power of reading. It has a subtle influence, even if as a reader it’s just a quick glance, it can still promote the way we think through words, which is really very precious.

For me, I prefer the two books “Bonjour Tristesse” and “My brilliant Friend” that I need to read this week, maybe because their language is easier for me to understand, maybe because I have had girls like that troubles.

Jon and the two TAs Jennifer and Patricio’s class mode is also very interesting and does not give me a very boring feeling. Every time I come to the classroom, I follow their rhythm to further think about the novel, and I can communicate with others to gain new insights.

I am very glad that I signed up for this course. Although the pressure is a bit heavy later on, I hope that I can keep this reading habit, which will be of great help to my future life.

Review of The Society of Reluctant Dreamers

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This is another surreal novel，which are often associated with those ethereal things, just like the theme of this novel-dream or a dreamer. Under Jose’s pen, his articles are very beautiful and colorful. You can see rainbows, blue houses, blue whales in the sky, avocado trees and more. We found a reunion of four different type of personality. Daniel who always dream about strange people is a really kind man. He doesn’t like to hunt animals like his father, but a man who can let go of frogs. “I only remember the sea “ Hossi and Danial father both said about sea when they dead. When he saw the women from the camera, the Cotton-Candy Hair Woman, he had a weired dream about a crow. He found the camera in the hotel named Rainbow Hotel. Everything seems to start here. And the rainbow is just the product of the mapping of light, like the foreshadowing of the dreamer, but it is not real existence. The artist with Cotton-candy-Hair-Woman vivid shown Infront of the reader who filmed about her dream. The owner of that hotel who experience horrible memory but given his hotel a lovely name” Rainbow hotel” Together, these people are both ironic and realistic.

I like the words in this book very much. Although it feels logically contradictory, it can express the author’s meaning very directly. for example, Killing isn’t the same as dying just like Hitler and Gandhi both vegetarian, but they are not same. (The funny thing is that everyone is different, vegetarian or not, so I think it’s logical to say that, but I know what the author is trying to say.)

What they choose to do is unbelievable, to realize the dream, to study the machine of the dream, even in modern times, this seems to be an unbelievable behavior. But these people are working on it. However, reality is unavoidable. Daniel and his party were involved in politics, and their dreams and reality could not overlap, and could only have a rough ending. The Dreamer in the title of this novel seems to refer to people who love to dream, or to people who have dreams. I don’t know if they are the same. There are so many storylines in here that I get confused. Beyond the dream, readers saw the tragic reality of several young people going on hunger strike for their own ideas, and also saw different political ideas about Angola. I agree with finding that on page 66, Daniel’s view of the dream narrative “maybe nightmares help people to deal with traumatic memories besides, it does seem as though dreams help to make memories stick. Finally, they can help us find solutions to problems that are troubling us”

So do you think being a dreamer can really help?

Review of My Brilliant Friend

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The stories of these girls growing up are both familiar and unfamiliar. Maybe I haven’t experienced what happened to them, but the little thoughts of their girls seem to be the ones we’ve had. Girls feel anxious about their body changes during puberty and share secrets with their friends. Elana has a fatal attraction to the “me” in this book because she has a maverick personality. If she wants to do it, including learning, she can do it well. If she doesn’t want to do it, no one seems to be able to force her. This book is like “Old Gringo” in a way, from the point of view of one’s memory. This book is like “Old Gringo” in a way, from the point of view of one’s memory. The disappearance and concealment of Lila became the beginning of this book, taking us back to their girlhood, an era full of “violence” and “chaos”. Lila’s love of Little Women’s books seems to reflect her character. She emphasises her dignity and standards and changes her life through her own efforts. She does not think that she is unsuitable for her father’s job. She loves making shoes, dares to resist teachers, and expresses her own ideas. Lina stepped forward and put a knife to Marcheno’s neck, starting a friendship between the two girls. This also makes Elena’s feelings for Lina both worshipful and appreciative. Her father would throw her out the window to the point of breaking a bone, and her mother would use physical violence against her. Her life is gray; her father would throw her out of the window to the point of breaking a bone; her mother would use physical violence against her; she married early but also met a violent husband; she is still so strong, she chooses to live alone. Although this book describes the parallel lives of a pair of girlfriends, the energy it brings seems not only to reflect on the life experiences of the two women, but also to arouse the women’s self-awareness. When girls are still young and ignorant, they will criticise people and things around them, especially violence and injustice, and then gradually become the disdainful people they used to be when they grew up. But it also tells us that even if life is unsatisfactory, girls should not give up on themselves, give up hope, and give up their dreams. Lila’s aura was not only alluring, but dangerous. Do you wish you had a friend like Lina by your side? Or do you think you are Lina or Elena?