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Final conclusion

The final week :(

This course was honestly wayy better than what I was expecting. The main reason I took this course was because I needed to fill the literature requirement, and people told me that this course was pretty easy-going. At first, I didn’t know what to expect from a course called romance studies, but I was pleasantly surprised.

One thing I really liked about this course was the readings. Which I know was the whole point of the class, but more specifically, the habits and things I learned through the process of sitting down and reading them. I’ve always wanted to be someone who reads more instead of sitting at home and just playing video games. But every time I tried to open up a book, I would get bored and do something else after 5 minutes. So when I saw that I would have to be reading around one-ish books a week, I was honestly thinking of dropping the course. But I’m glad that I didn’t. In the beginning, I will admit, it was pretty hard. But as I started reading more and more, it not only became easier, but a lot more fun as well.

Another thing I liked was the quizzes, because they forced me to actually pay attention to the content and stay present. Without them, I probably would have skimmed most of the book and simply searched up a summary after ^o^. My favourite book that I read would defenitly have to be Money to Burn. It was overall interesting and a fun read. Faces in the crowd would be a close second tho. For this one, although it was confusing, I really enjoyed the switching between multiple narrators within one book.

Also, one thing I noticed was that lot of these stories didn’t really care about being clear. Like they were fine with being messy or incomplete, which is kind of different from what we usually see. At first that just made everything harder to read, but I guess it also made me use my brain alot more while reading.

What I didn’t love was honestly how dense some of the readings were. Sometimes it felt like I had to reread things multiple times just to understand what was going on, and even then I wasn’t fully sure. But again, I guess that struggle was part of the process.

Qustion: Is it actually better for a story to be confusing and open-ended, or does that just make it harder to care about?

 

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Valeria Luiselli

This book was so confusing.

So my first thoughts after reading this novel… was honestly “confusion”. I did not know what was going on for the first half of the novel, and even after finishing it, I still don’t feel like I fully understand what was going on. Things started to make sense after I watched the lecture video.

The book felt like 3 different novels happening at the same time, but not in a structured and organized way. Things are fragmented and then just thrown together. So we have her family life in Mexico, her past life in New York, and an entirely different character -> Owen. So instead of them being distinct stories, they start to mesh together till the point where you don’t even know who is who anymore. This was further supported in the lecture when the professor said that the book is more like two or three novels happening at the same time.

While reading this book, I kept thinking that I was reading something wrong because it felt like the story was jumping all over the place. That’s when I figured out that this was purposely done by the narrator. Like it took me soo long to realize that the stars meant a story change, haha.

Let’s start with Owen, who was probably one of the most confusing parts in the story. So Owen started out as someone the narrator was researching and obsessing over, but then he started narrating? And even met the female lead on a subway?? I honestly started to get nervous because I thought I had missed something big or I was reading the whole book wrong. But like I said earlier, I started to realize that this was an intentional part of the book.

Then we have her life in New York, which was definitely a lot more interesting than the cuts to her current life, or Owens’ life in Philadelphia. She was just living her life. Hanging out with random people, stealing random things, having fun. On the contrary, her family life in Mexico was the complete opposite, where she felt stuck.

I also really liked the importance of the subway in the story. As a sucker for sci-fi, it being a vessel where time, reality, and imagination overlap was quite interesting. The lecture even mentions how it’s like a haunted underworld.

Overall, although it was confusing, I really enjoyed the book. Especially after I started to know what was going on.

The question I had was, did the fragmenting of different stories mashed together help the book be more interesting or confusing?

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Money to Burn

They indeed had the money to burn

This was by far the most interesting book I have read so far. (Maybe this was because I chose my books based on lengths, rather than which stories actually stood out to me ^o^). All the other readings I’ve done had me zoning out and re-reading paragraphs, but this one was able to be completed in a couple of short sessions – even though it was over 200 pages.

From the start, I liked how the author included little stories about the side characters and the events from their point of view. For example, about the shopkeeper, talking about how his day was slightly delayed, and that slight delay made him run into misfortune -> getting his car stolen. This is reminiscent of other movies and works where one story is told from multiple different perspectives. Which I very much enjoy.

One thing I noticed from the book is that, rather than the robbery itself, the author seems to focus more on what happened afterwards and how the “story” gets told. It was also interesting how the novel keeps reminding us about how it’s based on a true story with relevance to real-life events. Hard evidence from the past, such as police reports and newspapers were included, but at the same time, the author had to create conversations/ what the characters were specifically thinking. Furthermore, the lecture supports this by talking about how the author plays with the idea of truth. The story is represented as a factual recreation, but there are a lot of aspects that are fictional.

The criminals also be acting like they’re in a dramatic movie. Lowkey be doing too much. Especially during the siege at the end. They’re stuck in an apartment, surrounded all around by the police, EVERYONE watching. And of course, they choose the most logical action. To Burn The Money. I honestly did not see this coming, even though the title of the book was literally “Money to burn”. It was defenitly an interesting scene though. Where the criminals went through all that work to get said money just to burn it to ashes. But this idea made more sense to me after the professor explained how money is a social fiction. And when they burn it, they’re showing that it is, in fact, all just paper.

In the end. All the effort, the blood, the tears ended up leading to:

Nothing…. Overall a good read though

Question for the week is: Do you guys feel sympathy for any of the characters?

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The trenchcoat

Watched

When I was first reading this book, I honestly did not know what to expect. I initially thought this was going to be something related to the main character being a spy (Hence the name trenchcoat). The story starts off with a dinner between friends. It’s a nice dinner with conversations between friends and peers. Good food, good wine, good-ish vibes. Although it seems like everything is polite/cozy. Underneath, you could feel some sort of tension where not everyone is relaxed. Like they were filtering and being cautious about everything they were saying. At first I thought that maybe it was the author’s writing style, but as I read more I realized the bigger picture. How it relates to the environment and the times they were currently living in.

And by environment, I mean in the heart of communist Romania. Where everyone and EVERYTHING is under strict surveillance. The secret police could be listening in and watching you at any time. This adds to the difficulity for people to trust anyone. One wrong companionship and your life could be at stake. It also got me thinking about what life would be like if we lived in a situation like that. There would probably be a lot of fear and constant worry whilst doing even the smallest things. But at the same time, it’s interesting that I think there would be more order between people and some people would start thinking more before they act. It’s personally hard to gauge whether or not there would be more conflict, though.

I also thought it was funny that the main conflict in the story was about a simple raincoat left after a dinner. The host finds a raincoat in the hallway that no-one else can explain. I mean, usually this wouldn’t be a big deal. The host would probably put it somewhere in a closet and forget about it till the owner shows up. But again, the times are different. They started off wondering if it belonged to a neighbour or a similar person but then this snowballed. What started off as simple curiosity quickly turned into suspisions and accusations. Maybe the coat belongs to someone who was secretly listening to them. Maybe it’s connected to the authorities. Maybe someone is being watched.

By the end, the story doesn’t actually explain the coat or who it belongs too. Everyone is still living in uneasiness and uncertainty. But I think this was the point. The characters live in a world where they can never be totally sure what’s happening behind the scenes.

Do you think the trenchcoat actually meant something, or were the characters just overthinking it

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Hour of the Star

What a book

First of all, I will start by saying that the writing style of the book was defenitly confusing. Here I thought that this would be a super easy read cause it was only 77ish pages, but I was wrong. Especially at the beginning, I wasn’t really sure what the book was talking about. I had to reread parts multiple times, but as I got through more and more of the book, it was quite interesting. I don’t know exactly how to explain it, but it was cool that the author was giving his own thoughts during the book. Interrupting himself, questioning his own writing. You don’t see that in other books.

Macabea is also an “unusual” character, to the point where I think someone like her could not possibly exist. (Even though I know that the author did say that she was entirely made up). But usually in other books, the characters would be somewhat relatable, or I would know someone who had very similar character traits. Maybe I’m just being I’m just being biased. She’s sooo passive, even more than Natalia in the hour of the doves. There’s even a line that says she’s just “inhaling and exhaling”.  That hit me. She doesn’t really dream big, she doesn’t rebel, she doesn’t even fully understand how unhappy she is. She’s almost blank. And that blankness is uncomfortable. She’s always just  “happy.” no matter what life throws at her. In the beginning, I felt that this was a good way of living. Glass-half-full type beat. But the more I read, the more I realized that she’s lowkey just a pushover. She does not have a backbone at all.

I also noticed at times the narrator also be comparing herself to her. During parts of the book, he was talking in a way that made him seem better than her. Undermining her simplicity. But at other times seems almost jealous that she didn’t care about much. I guess this is a contrast between someone who knows too much and someone who knows nothing (Macabea).

When she skips work to meet the fortune teller, THINGS FINALLY TURN AROUND. Madam Carlota starts telling her things about her future. How she’s going to meet a foreign rich man who spoils her. She’s going to be happy. This is where she finally learns something called hope.

And then she dies…. What a tragic ending.

Question: Do you think that the Author did a good thing by telling giving her hope before she was killed? Or should she have given it to her straight.

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Time of the Doves

Loss of Natalia

The pacing in the Time of the Doves was definitely different than other books I’ve been reading so far. At the beginning, nothing big seems to be happening. But as soon as you finish it, you realize, “wow, a whole life has really just passed”. I especially felt this at the beginning of the book. There was a short introduction to the characters, and then suddenly they were getting married.

Natalia is such a passive character. She doesn’t take actions or choose things for herself, but just lets them happen. I feel like she  wasn’t even fully convinced that she wanted to marry Quimet, but maybe that’s just me tho. I feel like a lot of people would agree that at times during the book, you wished to tell her to stand up for herself!! But at the same time, I feel like it was a pretty realistic view of what life can be like. How people just drift into where they are without a clear direction. And then the doves.. cute at first, but eventually become so overwhelming for her. They start making messes and taking over the whole apartment. I wanna say this ties back to what I said about the life Natalia didn’t really choose. Starting with the marriage with Quimet, then the children, the resposonsibilities and honestly just all the expectations people had of her. All these things start off pretty small and manageable. Where she has control, but as time goes on, it grows until they eventually “control her”.

On the other hand, we have the husband, Quimet ……. He starts off the book as pretty charming and confident, but as the story goes on, you can tell he’s pretty controlling and insecure. He starts telling Natalia what to do, and WHO SHE SHOULD BE?! without letting her figure this out by herself. He essentially even changed her name without her wanting it -> to Colometa. I feel like the name is a symbol of how he’s claiming ownership over her own identity. She starts to slowly stop being “Natalia”.

I also found the part about the Spanish Civil War pretty interesting. I’ll be honest, I usually find that books about war bore me. They usually read like a history book or textbook, but that wasn’t the case for this book. You just feel the effects of the war through her thoughts and actions. How her life gets scarier and more confusing. This made it better than if the author just described the specific battles or political outcomes of the war.

Overall, a pretty good read. Didn’t have me having to go back and re-read things, which is always a good thing. The book was pretty interesting too.

Question for the book: Do you think Natalia changes over the timeline of the novel, or is the environment around her changing until she is forced to adapt?

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Black Shack Alley

Identity in Black Shack Alley

While I was reading Black Shack Alley, I honestly thought this was going to be another cliche novel where a poor kid goes to school, works hard, and has a good life. END OF STORY. But as I kept reading and after I watched the lecture, I realized the author wasn’t really focusing on the education or development aspect to be the main outcome of the story at all. It was also interesting when we really look at the value education has on his life. Jose finds that, to have a shot at having a good life, he needs to go to school. But going to said school pulls him farther and farther away from his own community. There’s even a part in the book where he isn’t able to explain what his grandmother’s line of work is in French.  This says a lot, without explicitly saying anything. I feel like the system undermines not only her as a person, but also the blood, sweat, and tears she put into making his education a possibility. His identity also seems to be getting shifted away from his roots. Rather than learning new and exciting things, he’s being reshaped into a new order of structure that doesn’t recognize where he comes from. The lecture further brings this point home when the professor goes into literacy vs orality. We know that Black Shack Alley has it’s own culture. It’s own people, music, stories, and wisdom passed down. But when he starts reading, he realizes that these books are fully disconnected from his own reality. Full of white people and settings. He even gets accused of plagarizing because this life seems so alien to them. Oh, and another thing that stuck out to me was the emotional weight I felt when the book went into talking about how his mother was working so much to support his education, and how disappointed she felt when his first report card was full of mediocre grades. I feel like many people can relate to this, especially asians, where their parents were first-generation immigrants to North America. They left their stable jobs in their home country to come here and work hard just for a chance that their kids would be able to have a good life and education. Most kids would probably think that “it’s just grades” and “it’s honestly not that big of a deal” but its more than that. To Jose’s mother, they represented whether all of her effort, exhaustion, and sacrifice were actually worth it. In the same way, for immigrant parents, grades aren’t just grades but proof whether if their struggles mean something. Those are just my thoughts though. The question I had this week was: How do his mother and grandmother’s sacrifices change how we see his education?

 

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Alberto Moravia

Feeling stuck :(

This, by far has been the easiest read I’ve done so far. I know it’s probably because it’s an easier book but I’m going to tell myself that I’m improving my reading attention span. I was able to finish this book in 3 short sessions which is a big win. The book was quite straightforward and the storyline was very easy to follow. I believe this ties to what the lecture said about the book deliberately being shorter and how the author focused on a very small window of his life. Instead of bombarding the reader with multiple characters and story tangents, he tries to explain the plot without a lot of distraction.

While I was reading the book, I was honestly waiting for something big to happen. Along the lines of maybe him growing up and going through a big learning opportunity, but no. In fact, the book kind of just ended without resolving anything. I guess this was the point of the author. For us to see how he feels unable to move on.

The big focus of the book was on the relationship between Agostino and his mother. Even from the beginning, things were kind of weird. Agostino liked how people stared at his mother’s beauty, and he even felt proud when people envied him for having such a beautiful mom. (It sounds even more weird after typing that out). But once she attracts the attention of a young guy on the beach, he is pushed out of the once intimate space he had with her. Having an absent father, it is easy to analyze his jealous gaze through the Oedipus complex. The lecture mentioned that a part of becoming an adult is detaching from the mother and redirecting your desire to something or someone else, BUT Agostino fails at this. Even when he went to the brothel with Tortima, he got so close yet wasn’t able to go inside. He just had to stand outside watching through a window. This again shows that he was close to entering adulthood, close to finding his own sexuality, but he got stuck outside. Forced to watch instead of experiencing.

By the end, Agostino was still stuck. Which felt relatable since growing up isn’t a smooth and linear transition. It’s full of surprises and obstacles you have to overcome, which is what I feel the author was also trying to convey. -> Overall, a nice read.

The question I have for this week is: Why do you personally think that the author ended the book without a clear resolution?

 

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Shrouded Woman

My two cents on the shrouded woman

I’m beginning to think that reading is not for me lol. This was only around 100 pages and I even struggled to finish that within a couple days. But I do feel like it is getting easier with more and more readings. Especially easier than the combray reading we had to do.

Starting off, It’s very intersting that the book starts off with the main character dead in a coffin. To be honest, I had to go back and reread the beginning to figure this out. I think I missed a couple details and thought it was just a metaphor for her life being mundane. It was a first to see something like this in a book and made me really respect the author’s creativity.

Relating to the lecture, from the book we can see the sad reality of how women can be treated as objects rather than people. Ana Maria was still being admired for her beauty even when she was dead. This means that even in death, she was being evaluated and her value was tied to how she looked rather than who she was or other less shallow traits.

Marriage is also shown as more of a societal show. Her husband isn’t a bad person per say, but still made Ana crave for a better connection. Especially because she didn’t freely choose her partner. It feels like the relationship was based more on social expectations and duties. I believe this is what made her more attached to her love for Fernando and even Fred. Because she was unsatisfied in her current marriage, this turned into regret and longing. She looks at these 2 guys and imagines what could’ve been. How different choices may have led to a vastly different outcome in her life.

Another interesting point that was covered in the lecture was the fact that the women in the book were not only isolated from men but also from each other. The story’s characters, like Maria Greselda and Anita, don’t work together to form a strong female family/community but instead create rivalry and competition for approval and attention. At first, this seemed to me like such an immature thing for adults to be doing. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it’s not really their faults but rather baked into the social structure that they live in. Because of the limited power and identity they are given, they inevitably have to compete for the small ounces of validation available.

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Proust

Zzz

If I’m being 100 percent honest, this book was a harder read than I expected. I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t sat down and read a proper book in a while or if the pacing was extremely slow. I found myself constantly constantly staring at the same paragraph for 15 minutes, restarting it whenever I got distracted. First of all, the whole thing about the goodnight kiss was interesting. My first thought was that this kid was being too overdramatic on whether the mom would come up or not. But I then started to become empathetic towards him since at that age, every problem for him probably seems like the end of the world. I lowkey felt bad since looking back I’ve definitely over-reacted on certain issues when it honestly didn’t warrant that big of a reaction. Another thing I noticed was how slow the book progressed -> which I know the author probably did on purpose. But we spent so much time reading about sleeping, waking up, being super confused, and about childhood rooms. But after I think about it I guess he’s showing us how memories are very abstract with no logical or chronological structure. On top of this I also had a hard time reading the sentences. They were so long to read and grammatically ambiguous. Like I finished a sentence and forgot what the start was talking about. When I for sure thought the sentence would end here, it just kept going. But enough about me complaining. Lets start with Combray, a central part of the book. I understood that the author was trying to emphasize not so much on what happened there, but how the place made him feel. The routine, meals and other more subtle details he remembers tells us how it’s a warmer place that makes him feel safe. There was also the Madeline part which honestly made sense, where a specific taste or smell can unlock memories. I’ve definitely had instances where I smelled something familiar scents such as laundry detergent or a specific perfume which brought me back to my childhood when life was good. Where the biggest worry I had during that time was what food was gonna be at dinner and when the next album for my favourite artist was going to release. Overall, I would say that this was kind of a harder read since I’m getting back into the rhythm of reading but I think as the course progresses I’ll have an easier time concentrating on the pages.

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