First things first, this was so much easier to read than Proust’s Combray. This would be a type of book I would pick up when I am in a sad/depressed mood. That made it a little difficult to read because these past few week I have been in a mood for fun books filled with love and not heartbreak and death. But going back to Proust, I really liked this writing style compared to his. There was still a lot of description, but the description was important. Connecting it to our in-class discussion, there were some habits described in this books as well, though they were not as focused on as they were in Proust. Maria Griselda’s walking path, the firefly that greets her and also the toad that waits for Maria when she goes horseback riding.
It is an interesting way of writing of about a characters life by starting off with them being dead and then, what I assume, is having them go to places and re-live the memories. (At least that is what I understood from the “Arise, come!” lines that would break up the different memories.
I do have to say that I still don’t completely understand how Ricardo knows them. I’m pretty sure Ricardo is Aunt Isabel’s son, which makes him Alicia’s brother. To be honest, I actually thought it was incest at first because Ana Maria said that Alicia is her sister, and I missed the part where she mentions that they aren’t blood sisters but their families are close so they call each other parents uncle and aunt. (While writing this, I went back and read the section and realized I was not reading it correctly. Alicia and Anna Maria are sisters. Ricardo considered them to be his and his sister’s cousins because of how close their families were. They, therefore, called each other’s parents aunt and uncle. This still gives a little incest-y to me because what do you mean that the girl you grew up with (?) and saw as a sister is someone you get together with???).
During my first read through, (I have not read it again), the end of Ricardo’s part, it seemed to be hinting at a miscarriage?? “Silent and tearful, she spent the rest of the night mopping up the flow of blood in which your flesh joined with mine was slowly disintegrating” (pg. 175). This screams miscarriage to me and it not discussed afterwards and there is no mention of it. I can’t imagine the trauma it would have been on Ana Maria mentally, but also physically.
Speaking of trauma, her husband Antonio is abusive. He literally rapes her in the beginning and manipulates her into thinking that he loves her.
It is interesting in seeing what memories she was seeing. It makes me wonder, is trauma the thing that connects all these memories? Even if it is a love memory, is it connected to something traumatic that happened before that is only mentioned in the memory?
“This screams miscarriage to me and it not discussed afterwards and there is no mention of it.” As you may have noticed, there is a great deal of subtlety in the descriptions of things, events, and feelings in this novel. This requires us to pay close attention to detail, as you say, to better understand what was going through Ana María’s affects.
Hi Jaz!
The weird dynamic of Ana Maria and Ricardo being a ‘thing’ and also being referred to as cousins definitely gave me pause too. I’m thinking the cousin thing could be cultural, perhaps people living in close proximity would think of each other as family, as Ana Maria calls Ricardo’s mom “Aunt Isabel”, even though they aren’t related at all.
Also your comment: “I have not read it again” made me laugh so thanks for that haha:)
I think trauma does connect many of her memories. Even moments that seem loving or peaceful are often tied to pain, loss, or fear underneath them, which makes them resurface more strongly. It feels like Ana María remembers what hurt her the most because those experiences shaped her life more deeply than the happy ones.