Unlike the other stories we have read throughout this class such as Time of the Doves, Nada, or Bonjour Tristesse, I found this one much more light-hearted and not as heavy as the others. Not to say there wasn’t any significance in this book, but the events that took place were not as dark as some of the other stories.
I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did, as it is not like any stories that I usually read. Although, I felt that book really captured and sustained my attention as it included many different writing styles. The story also seems to incorporate not just the idea or dreams, but also politics and relationships as well. This also brought many different levels of the story together nicely. It was interesting to see different perspectives throughout the story, with the letters, journal entries, and descriptions of past dreams. I felt that it gave it many depths, and levels.
In saying that, it is a good way to portray the story, especially having such a heavy focus towards dreams, as dreams themselves often come with many layers. Sometimes dreams have a deeper meaning to them that can be unpacked, but also sometimes dreams are just dreams and don’t mean anything. It was interesting to see how the author incorporated the idea of dreams into the story, as I often try to analyse my own dreams in search for a deeper meaning. In addition, I often found myself searching for the meaning of the characters’ dreams throughout the story. The details the author incorporated also made it feel very dream-like, for instance, the rainbow hotel, or the girl with the cotton-candy hair, both sounding like something that only comes from dreams. Those little, yet key details, really accentuated the story and made it feel like I was reading a detailed description of someone’s dream. One of the lines that really stuck out to me was “glass jars filled with anxious little hearts, still alive and palpitating,” (p.364). Again, it showcases how these little details really brought the dream-like aspect of the story to life. I think some of the events that took place like Daniel’s daughter getting arrested, or the discovery of a technological device that captures images of peoples dreams, are also representative of the theme as some may wish that those things were only a dream, and not real events.
Questions:
Did you feel that the different writing styles were easy to follow, or were you often confused on how the story shifted?
Do you feel that dreams always have deeper meanings?
“Unlike the other stories we have read throughout this class such as Time of the Doves, Nada, or Bonjour Tristesse, I found this one much more light-hearted and not as heavy as the others. Not to say there wasn’t any significance in this book, but the events that took place were not as dark as some of the other stories.”
I see why you say this, but wonder if it’s not more a matter of style (as you later point out). We do, after all, have a war-torn country, shaken by past trauma and by an authoritarian government in the present. In this it’s quite like Nada, after all! Or even perhaps like The Trenchcoat (about Communist Romania). And yet all this is treated with a certain lightness of touch, by the “Bantu flâneur” (a link to Aragon?) as Benchimol calls himself.
Hi Sophia! I enjoyed reading your post! For me, the journal entries, letters, etc that Agualusa used helped me understand the characters better (perhaps seeing a character from someone elses perspective offers a more genuine description). I also felt that they made the story feel more like reality. Great post!!
Hi Sophia, I enjoyed reading your post this week! To answer your first question, at first, I found it a little confusing to figure out whether I was reading something that was in the present or in a dream or in the past. Then I started to get more comfortable with the narrative as the story progressed and it was pretty easy to follow along.