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?