Alex's RMST Blog

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante may be my favorite of the course. The main reason being that of my Italian roots, and how similar the storytelling resembles my grandparents' stories of their childhoods in Italy. My grandparents born and raised in small Italian villages, immigrated from Italy to Canada in the late 1960s, meaning they spent their childhoods in Italy at the same time Elena and Lila would have. I found a couple of correlations in Elena's upbringing to my grandfather, who grew up in a gang-controlled town in Central Italy. Both my grandfather and Elena realized that education was their way out of their town. I also found some personality similarities between Lila to my grandmother, in that they are very stubborn and strong ladies (in a good way). I found myself getting distracted and zoning out while reading this book as a lot of the terminology brought me back to listening to stories of my grandparents, and it often didn't take much, such as "neighbo...

When I started reading Death with Interruptions, I was thrown off by the lack of proper grammar   The style of the novel largely ignores traditional rules of grammar, discusses punctuation in most sentences and quotations for speech, and reads more as a stream-of-consciousness (super summary).  The story starts with the government of the unnamed country the story takes place, announcing zero deaths " for a whole day to go by, with its generous allowance of twenty-four hours, diurnal and nocturnal, matutinal and vespertine, without one death from an illness, a fatal fall, or a successful suicide, not one, not a single one." (P.1) The citizens of the country were left dumbfounded and confused, seemingly happy which is a reasonable response to finding out you can't die, then they get hit with reality and the problems that come with immortality. The Injured, sick, and old are left to suffer without being able to die. This causes a nationwide crisis as hospitals are overfl...

 Been a busy couple of weeks with midterms but I hope everyone doing good and enjoyed their St. Patrick's Day weekend. This week's read Money to Burn by Ricardo Piglia, tells a story of a group of robbers that attacked a bank in the heart of Buenos Aires. Six weeks after making their getaway with millions of dollars in cash, they discovered that 300 military police, reporters, and television cameras had surrounded the place where they were hiding.  While reading this book I noticed that "Money to Burn" by Ricardo Piglia and the TV show "Money Heist" share intriguing similarities despite one being a book written in 2003 and one being a worldwide hit of a show on Netflix. While both stories explore the same themes of crime, power, and human nature, they do so through distinct lenses that offer unique insights into the world of heists and deception. The two are very similar in that they both explore the complex details involved in organizing and carrying out a ...

Forbidden fruit =  The ancient phrase refers to something really enticing or unbearably desirable because it’s prohibited or not allowed. We often use the expression to describe something that’s beyond tempting or attractive but just isn’t attainable or forbidden for some reason (per grammatist).    The short novel, “The Lover” by Marguerite Duras, is about an unnamed 15-year-old girl and the social restrictions, and forbidden love between two lovers. The novel tells the tale of a young girl navigating a secret affair with a wealthy Chinese man in the 1930s while living in French Indochina. The main character of "The Lover" is a fifteen-year-old girl whose identity is kept a secret. Although her name stays secret, I read some articles based on the book on the web, and some readers theorize that the book is based on the author- Duras’ experiences as a teen. After doing some research it appears it could be true as that was a common narrative, she wrote the book when she was...

 From the very start of the book, the narrator tells us as readers to "relax, concentrate... Best to close the door; the TV is always on in the next room." (p.1)  I thought I was reading an "ASMR" relaxation book. I found this very cool and unique way to start off a novel by the narrator breaking the third wall, this is the first time I've read a book that started off this way and it definitely captured my attention. Calvino uses second-person narration throughout the novel and refers to the reader as "you" which makes you feel like you are almost in the story, this sets the stage for the boundary-less writing style to follow.  As the strange novel unfolds I find myself locked into the the plot. Getting immersed into the spy or a criminal, at a remote  train  station trying to secretly swap his suitcase with someone else’s and is afraid of being caught.. and then the story gets cut off short. Then take the book to the store and meet a girl named Ludmil...

 Hello to everyone reading this blog, I hope you all enjoyed your reading week. This week's mandatory class reading of "The Time of Doves" by Mercè Rodoreda. The novel is set in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, spanning from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s. The main character and narrator of the story Natalia, or Colometa  ( colom  is the Catalan for  dove ), is trying to support herself and her family.  At the beginning of the novel, Colometa is a naive and innocent girl working as a seamstress. She is engaged to a man named Pere who works as a cook, that is until she meets and falls in love with Quimet, a "handsome" (19) and ambitious young man. Quimet is a carpenter who has layers to his character. He comes off as reckless, a bit of a tyrant, and controlling, which is first seen on page 22 “To be his wife [she] had to start by liking everything he liked”. This was the start of a relationship that was heavily controlled by Quime...