Tag Archives: childhood

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

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This novel was, in a sense, eye-opening for me. I find this to be mainly due to the unfortunate circumstances that Lila and Elena endured from such a young age. From poverty to violence and just a struggle of trying to find a way to be something when surrounded by negativity. It really brought a real life connection because there are real people who go through these kinds of life events, immediately after they’re born. The story kind of brought that to the forefront, at least in my mind.

A recurring theme was the jealousy of Elena towards Lila. Like Elena found any attention to be good attention, for example when Lila was said to be missing. Elena somehow still felt like she had passed up an opportunity in some sense. Although this seemed to be an extreme case of jealousy, I can understand how friends can even be envious towards each other. Especially when you’re going through so many life experiences together and then one isn’t involved in something, I guess it can just be summed up as FOMO – fear of missing out.

I liked what appeared as a lack of length from chapter to chapter. The quick transitions were nice, as opposed to having read like 20+ pages and not having such a clear understanding of what happened because of so much in between. Also, the separations of stories within the novel. Like with the labelling of a prologue as “Eliminating All the Traces” and the section on childhood called “the Story of Don Achille.” I just feel like this helps me stay accountable of what I’ve just read and how to piece it together afterwards. Honestly speaking, without these checkmarks I find myself going back in novels often to make sure I haven’t missed something. Catching every detail I can on the first read.

In a way this was a coming of age story that followed pretty realistic aspects of some people’s lives. I also feel like it has appeal to many due to its coverage of so many topics, most people can find something to relate to. This leads me to my question: what aspect of the story did you relate with most and why? Being able to relate to a story always feels more rewarding to me. It’s like a bonus that you got to self reflect through a book that maybe made you realize some things you hadn’t before.

W, or The Memory of Childhood by Georges Perec

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This novel confronts the theme of memory quite differently than the others we’ve previously read. Most of the texts I’d read before this speak from a point of memory, past-tense, and experience, whereas Perec approached memories that weren’t there. It brought an alternate perspective of how some have the privilege of accessing and reflecting on such memories, and others not so much – for various reasons. An assumption I made based on the lack of childhood memories was that it was due to trauma, mainly because of the war. Many can dissociate from a time in their life when it’s tied to some sort of trauma, war being a likely trigger.

Although I haven’t necessarily lost my sense of childhood memories, I do relate to how the past can become twisted or jumbled up in one’s mind. Thinking about certain times in my life prove to be either recounted as differently than they were or just completely missing from my mind. However, I can’t seem to pinpoint when I lost the clarity or how it was lost. Having this self-reflection period made me connect with the novel more, it’s nice when a text can make you think.

Something that I question though, is the title. Maybe it’s a play into the whole loss-of-memory theme, but it seems like Perec is unsure of it. Just the presence of “or” being there, like it’s up for debate or something. Then again, it could be to do with the double story. Where one is intertwining with the other, so there’s two titles combined. It would be interesting to know whether it was purposeful or out of hesitance.

A connection that was though-provoking between the two stories was the island and the Holocaust. The fact that the narrator could make this connection, unless it was unintentional, shows me that there is some recollection there. With the violent games and the concentration camps. Though it could be that it just happens to correlate, it seems more like it was thought out.

Having that the narrator appears to have lost some parts of their childhood, assuming it’s due to trauma from the Holocaust, I wonder how common it is for for others who survived it as well. I may have to do some research on that. In that I will ask, do you feel like you know your childhood well, and why? Even more so, for the parts you may not remember, is it due to trauma or why do you think those parts are missing?

Combray by Marcel Proust

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(Particular to Part 1)

First things first, this text had me truly puzzled and even felt chaotic at times.
Specifically, it hopped from describing one thing to another so quickly, almost without transition. It was difficult for me to stay focused and keep a general idea of what was occurring throughout all of my reading, with Proust getting into specifics of every single possible detail. There was a point that seemed like he was describing unnecessary elements of the story, just to purposely throw you off trajectory of what he’s actually trying to convey. An example of this that comes to mind is on page 12, where we go so far into Bathilde and her husband’s drinking problem. Maybe I just don’t see the connection to the rest of the story, but these parts of the text directed me away from continuing. However, although I did not feel the need to have these extra details, I did enjoy the diction and imagery that Proust used in these sections. He really brought these parts of the text to life and allowed me to imagine it, to feel as if I was overlooking these moments as they happened.

Being honest, I’m still having a hard time piecing together what I read and how it comes together as a part of a larger story. The density of each page and constant divulging into semi off-topic anecdotes kept pushing me away from retaining the actual important information to understand what was taking place. At one point, I was trying to discern if this was a recollection of a not-so-disturbing but baffling fever dream.

Though I must say it was not all bad. Some areas, such as the speaker’s mother approaching Swann about his daughter, were interesting and had me invested in how the characters would respond. I also found some aspects relatable, such as having guests over while I’m in my room just waiting on them to leave.

Also, I feel as if it may be partially my own doing on why I found this text difficult to follow. I didn’t read the entire chapter all in one sitting, so as I sat down the following couple days to continue reading I may not have retained the points that were crucial to grasp the ideas Proust was laying down.

A question I had as I read this amazingly confusing chapter of Combray was “why does this text, or does Proust feel the need to, contain so many misleading features on the way to discovering the story at hand?” Maybe with all components of this entire text it makes more sense, or maybe it’s on purpose – as a challenge. I look forward to further discussion on this topic and how others feel in relation to reading Combray by Marcel Proust.