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?
2 replies on “Feeling stuck :(”
I was also waiting for something big to happen, but I guess that was the point of the book, that it was just a little piece of his life. A progression of his relationships.
I agree about how nothing ‘big’ or ‘dramatic’ happens and instead we found a child trying to enter in adulthood.
We are going to discuss this during the class.
See you tomorrow.
Julián.