Javier Cercas, Soldiers of Salamis

This week's reading, Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas, was a long but entertaining read. The three parts and the switch between fact and fiction made it stand out from the previous novels we have read. 

The fictional Cercas describes his growing fascination with the story in the first part when he learns about the night Sánchez Mazas is to be executed in the forest, and the Republican soldier who hunts for him amongst the trees finds in him yet turns away and lets him live. The second part tells the story of Mazas before his capture and intended execution. The third part is more fiction, where the journalist Cercas is determined to seek out the Republican solider who let Sánchez Mazas go free. These three parts and the switch between fact and fiction, although confusing, made me an attentive reader and helped me remain interested through this long read.

This book had a lot to do with history and took place during the Spanish Civil war. I don't read many books about war or know much history about the context of this book, so all the content was new. Still, with the book switching between fact and fiction, it had me at parts confused or searching things up to put them in the proper context of the book. However, after reading books that are so different from what I normally read during this class, I have been made more open as a reader and it has also become a learning experience.

Getting closer to the end of this term, it's hard not to create connections with the past readings. It was interesting to see Bolano make an appearance in the last section of the book, it definitely made reading his name more interesting after reading Amulet last week. Also, memory again was a huge theme in this novel and is a theme that has been brought to attention in most of the books we have read so far. From coming across this theme of memory quite a lot this term, it is interesting to compare and contrast how each author interprets memory in the novels. For W., we are told the memory of childhood can go on affecting life. For Amulet, we are shown the memories of how a single instance of trauma can affect memory and the future. Then in Soldiers of Salamis, we are seeing how memories can be formed by other people’s recollections.

My question for the class is: How do you think the authors in our previous readings interpret memory in comparison to Cercas?

Roberto Bolaño, Amulet

I found this week's reading Amulet by Roberto Bolaño a captivating read. I personally don't read a lot of books about war or know much history about this context in the book, but Bolaño made it enjoyable with the narrator Auxilio. I was quickly grasped by the book because of her captivating narration. Throughout this class, I was surprised by how much these books made me more aware of the history and the brutality of war and revolutions. The writing in this book and its details made it easy for me to visualize her thoughts and these different scenarios in my head.

The narrator Auxilio hides in the lavatories of her university, fearing that soldiers will come and discover her there. She begins to recall memories of her friends, literature, and life. She is seen as unsure about her purpose and roots, trying to re-imagine herself as she says, "one day I arrived in Mexico without really knowing why or how or when.” These memories and reflections of her friends seem like she is a sideline character in her own life. Auxilio does not fit into any of the Mexican cultural roles, so she finds herself taking on a nurturing role to the young poets. She seems to find her purpose in life and lives through her friends and their experiences and this is what she holds onto while stuck in the lavatories, along with the visions of the future. I found it surprising that Auxilio remained calm despite her fear in the lavatories. As a reader, I was distracted and somewhat stressed out by this scenario as I was worried about what was going to happen to her. 

As we have talked about in our class lectures a concept that is a reoccurring theme in every book we have read is memories. These memories that we follow from these characters show a pattern that we can start to connect and compare each of them with each other. The shrouded woman was one that stuck out to me as they both revolve around a woman who is reaching and guessing about what possibilities could have come from their lives. Also comparing Amulet to W, both main characters are experiencing displacement due to the impacts of their respective traumatic events.

My question for the class is: How do you think her memory and the event of the occupation impact her visions about the future.

Carlos Fuentes, The Old Gringo

For this week, I read The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes. I was excited to read this book because when I was examining the notes for which texts to read it was stated this book was "the closest we have here to a romance if that's your thing." Romance is definitely my thing when it comes to the novels I choose to read. However, although The Old Gringo did have a love story it also had other themes that overshadowed the romance, like the concepts of power, war, revolution and so on. Overall, I did enjoy the story. It was an easy read by how few words were on each page, but that could just be the PDF I used to read the book. But even with that, I felt Fuentes had put a lot of repetition to add importance to the dialogue to get us readers thinking throughout the novel.

The book's narrative is framed as a collection of memories belonging to Harriet, who "sits alone and remembers." The Old Gringo and Arroyo are shown in a complicated love triangle with Harriet Winslow, an American who had come to Mexico as a teacher for the children. I did not like Arroyo's intentions with Harriet for all the wrong reasons instead of connection like she and the old gringo had. He was only trying to pursue Harriet to get back at the old gringo for betraying him and was the only way to hurt him instead of killing the man. After all that, the two men inevitably die as they cross the frontier of their differences, the old gringo killed by Arroyo, who was also shot by Villa for overstepping his boundaries of power.

The relationship between Harriet and the old gringo is confusing for me because for the old gringo Harriet was his love interest. Then with Harriet, I was unsure how she viewed the old gringo. Harriet agrees to the relationship with Arroyo so she could protect him. And she buries him under her father's name, so I was unclear on how Harriet viewed the old gringo if she saw him as someone, she could pursue a love relationship with or saw him as she cared about him as an older guardian relationship. 

My question for the Class is: How did you view the relationship between The Old Gringo and Harriet? Did you view it as more paternal or romantic?

Mercè Rodoreda, The Time of the Doves

For this week's reading, I read The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda. It was an easy read to get lost in. It felt like an emotional rollercoaster as I read the book. The past tense narrative of Natalia made it seem like she was reliving these moments, and as a reader, I felt the unprocessed anxiety and trauma.

Her husband Quimet was introduced and right from the start I could not stand him. There was a lot of toxic masculinity, and I was getting so frustrated reading the relationship between Quimet and Natalia. From the very beginning, Quimet is so possessive over Natalia, telling her that one day she will be his wife. Even giving her the nickname Colometa is an attempt to show ownership. Quimet is an insecure and manipulative man. His jealously accuses Natalia of taking a walk with her ex-boyfriend. He attempts to quit her job by grabbing her neck and shaking her head. He is shown easily threatened, and if he doesn't get enough attention or if Natalia complains about being tired, he would start complaining about his leg. He always wants attention and sympathy from others. After being sick with a tapeworm, he declared, "now we are even because [she] had the kids and he had a worm fifteen yards long" (78). In order to stop Quimet from getting angry with her, she had to realize "if I wanted to be his wife, I had to start by liking everyone he liked'' (22).

I really enjoyed reading the parts of Quimet's friend, Mateo. Throughout the novel, I was livid with all the toxic masculinity and the abusive nature of Quimet. Mateo was not afraid to show his emotions and that he was madly in love with Griselda even when Quimet and Cintent would say, "he was sick in the head because love was weakening his brain" (71). The relationship Mateo had with Natalia was genuine. Mateo knew he could go to her without being judged, and when Mateo said Quimet didn't realize how lucky he was to have a wife like Natalia, it’s sad that Quimet would never say such a thing to her.

When Natalia decided to kill her children, it was shocking, but I understood that she was helpless and could not see her children suffer anymore. She did so much to try to feed them as a mother. It would be so hard even to think such a thing or even leave your young children alone locked in a room for several hours to make a little bit of money to help. But the family was rescued in time by a kind elderly grocer, who marries Natalia and raises her children as his own. Even though Natalia left Pere for Quimet, she stayed a loyal, hardworking, empathetic mother and wife. I believe that good things happen to good people, that people like the grocer see how she had become and gave her and her children a chance to live again.

My question for the class is: Do you agree with Natalia's idea of trying to kill her children? Do you think there was another way to solve her problem?