Study With Wouters

     Hey everyone! Hope all is well. I read "The Hour of the Star" by Clarice Lispector this week. I initially wanted to read this because of its shorter length. It was refreshing and made me less overwhelmed compared to some of the other books we have read. The narrative is different as it dives into the rich thoughts and emotions of the characters, allowing the reader to really get into the inner workings of their minds. "This story has no technique, nor style, it lives from hand to mouth (pg. 28)." This novel explores the themes of social inequality, isolation, identity, poverty, and sexism. I felt as if the author planted herself in Macabea. Lispector writes about Macabea in an empathetic way, writing about her inner thoughts, struggles, and emotions. On the other hand, she distances herself from Macabea by referring to her as "the typist," emphasizing how she's nothing but that.       Macabea's journey reflects the realities of social inequal

  Hey everyone! I hope you all had a good and enjoyable week amidst all the chaos. As for myself, over the past few days, I read the book Mad Toy by Roberto Arlt. This book was a refreshing change from last week's Combray book by Marcel Proust. Arlt's writing style was refreshing and straightforward, missing the intricate layers of Proust's writing and instead delivering an easy and concise story to navigate. I liked how Arlt was able to convey the character's struggles without resorting to hidden meanings or messages. I found myself enjoying the narrative of a young man living a hard life, on a journey of self-discovery and trying to make sense of the vast unknown world around him. This novel is presented through a first-person narrative, which is the style I favour. Through the perspective of the main character, a young boy, I was taken through a book filled with skepticism, profound observations of society around him, and his participation in wrongdoings and unfulfil