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Tag Archives: #history

Cercas x Mazas In Soldiers of Salamis

Cercas’s novel was a very nice blend of truth and fantasy to it just like Bolanos Amulet. The main difference is the narrators and authors. Bolano felt like a big-league writer who was already very established. while Cercas is a person who is struggling to find his groove in the writing industry and has a very rough personal life. I can honestly relate more with Cercas more because I can relate with him and he feels like just a regular person like any other person that’s trying to get by in life. His journey to relevancy really got him to connect to an individual he even never met before in Sanchez Mazas. Even though they lived in two different timelines, The connection between them was very crucial as Cercas was able to overcome his demons by writing, researching, and telling the story of Mazas while we get to learn more about the his history and the conflicts of 60 years ago. But the character the seemingly stole the show was Antoni Miralles, the well respected soldier with prestige. His moral character was very admirable and the little things like hiding a smoke from the nuns or showing emotion when dancing with his partner shows how human a soldier can really be. More importantly, this novel gives us the biggest question to ponder, is he the soldier that spared Mazas’s life? I’d like to think so.

The theme of this book revolves around the concept of memory and history. How 60 years have gone by and how those conflicts and war still affect present time. People are still so fixated in uncovering the histories of the olden days as they want to prolong the memories of their ancestors whether it is good or bad. The more they uncover, the more they realize how society ended up to where it is because of the actions of the past. A really great point Cercas mentioned was that not only the winners of war or life are remembered, but even the losers and anyone can be remembered as long as individuals have the willingness to learn their stories. Hence, why the dead are still alive to this day through storytelling and remembering history.

Finally, I really adored how the utilization of literature gave us a fiction novel with a nice plot and story while also giving us a true history lesson about the characters and the events that was depicted, It was a perfect blend of both.

my question for this week is do you agree with authors such as Bolano and Cercas stretching the truth in a way to further excite the book they’re writing?

-Xyrus Ramos Aparri

Amulet by Roberto Bolano

The amulet was a confusing mess of history but Bolano somehow made it a must-read. The suspense was killing me only to realize that the horrors were never really going to appear because the narrator constantly dodged those bullets and got to see the better sides of the stories she shared. The first part of the book I believe was the peak, as Auxilio was trapped in the 4th-floor bathroom while the police and military were raiding her university. I thought the officer was going to find her and capture her, but instead, we got to hear her “memories” instead, and honestly, that provided more excitement than the typical rising conflict scenario.

Every character had depth and had a reason for the readers to be invested in. Elena and Arturo were the standouts, and the son of Lillian was definitely the eeriest character. Elena was Auxilios self-proclaimed best friend and would always be worried whether Elena was not around or missing. Although, the friendship did seem one-sided as Elena focused on love with Paulo near the end and constantly left without a trace. But Auxilio would always be there longing for her friend to return. Her relationship with Arturo was a little more complicated as she was his teacher and provided as some sort of secondary mother figure, but at the same time a friend once he returned from the army. The mystery of Arturo’s experience seemed horrifying to the point where he started hanging out with the other sewer boys. It seemed like he was very much humbled and decided to go back to his roots and also act as a leader for these struggling kids. The most important part of the book for me involved the confrontation between Arturo, Ernesto, Auxilio, and The “King” about Ernesto’s debt. I expected some blood and tragedy to occur but instead, Arturo was more focused on helping the slave child and making sure he was to be saved. Whatever happened to the kid seemed horrific, but the book constantly dodges these horrible moments and that seems to be the “horror” part.  Constantly narrowing disaster, but still reminding us of the events that still transpired really got me invested. And the fact that I kept bracing myself for the worst, but only getting to see Auxilios connections with many important figures were still eye-opening. The journey was endless, but so were conflicts and terror.

My question for this week is what kind of memories would you want to fall back on? Back in time? Forward in the future? what would be your bathroom moment?
Xyrus Ramos

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