spanish but not really

 I want to start this post by saying that The Madwomen by Gabriela Mistral was the first of the books we've read that I actually really liked. As in, I want to buy my own copy and reread it until I feel I understand it. I'm not sure exactly what it is about this collection of poems that really resonated with me, but something about it did.  It's interesting to me how this is a collection of poems as opposed to a novel; I don't remember if the restriction to solely novels/novellas carried over to this course from RMST 202 last year, but it was something I noticed. I'm glad it's this way though because I think poetry can be just as, if not more, hard-hitting than novels, and are certainly an important part of literature. Poetry in translation can always be a tricky thing to navigate because inevitable you'll lose some of the layers and nuances behind each word selection and intentional rhythm when you change the language. That said, I find Latin American poetr...

 Mariano Azuela's "Underdogs" was an interesting novel. Touted as "the" novel of the Mexican Revolution, I can kinda see why. Personally, I'm not too familiar with the specifics of the Mexican Revolution, but I do know about other revolutions so I'll assume similar threads between them all. This novel offers an unconventional presentation of a revolutionary drive; while the traditional story that is often mythologised and taught in schools and media posits that revolutionaries are firstly and foremostly passionate about "the cause" - whatever that might mean - this isn't always the case. I actually really liked seeing the growing unbotheredness over the course of the novel. I personally am a touch cynical and have never believed that all revolutionaries were as dedicated as history classes tell us and honestly, I feel slightly validated by seeing that this was indeed the case sometimes.  I thought the nicknames were a fun part of the novel,...

 Mama Blanca's Memoirs by Teresa de la Parra was an interesting book, and I'm glad it was the first one we read. It's a novel written as a memoir - published without permission - of the young Blanca Nieves (meaning Snow White) who eventually becomes the titular Mama Blanca. It tells about life as a well-cared for daughter of a wealthy plantation, now living in a very humble house, and shame to her daughters-in-law. Two parts of the novel that especially stuck out to me: the discussion of curly vs straight hair, and the girls' attitude toward Vicente Cochocho. First off, the curly and straight hair thing. Of the six daughters, Blanca Nieves is the only one that has straight hair. Her mum puts in hours of work to get Blanca's hair to be curly, especially in front of guests, and takes pride in her daughters' curly hair. This was very interesting to me, as someone with curly hair. I grew up in an environment where straight hair was deemed the beauty standard, and al...

 Hi everyone!! I'm Deeba, and I'm in 3rd year, studying International Relations. I'm taking this course because of the literature requirement primarily, but also because I took RMST 202 last year with some of you and it was fun enough for me to do it a second time. The contract grading in particular was something I really enjoyed because it completely removed the unpredictability that often comes with final grades. A bit of my background is that I live in White Rock, but I was born and raised in the UK (Manchester to be precise) and moved here a bit before the pandemic. I like drawing, ice skating, and trying out different coffee shops around Vancouver. I'm also an editor for the Journal of International Affairs here at UBC so hopefully there'll be a good overlap between the articles I read and the subject matter of some of these novels. I generally read a variety of genres, but I must confess that magical realism isn't one that I tend to enjoy... so I'm rea...