Quimet dies, who else cheered?

I enjoyed the time of the doves. I thought the writing was nice and although I don’t typically enjoy stream of consciousness, Natalia’s narration was wonderful and incredible. I felt like I was there, along with her to witness her life.

For the entire first half of the book, I spent the entire time being pissed off at Quimet's behaviour and general existence. I can’t stand this guy, everything he says and does annoys me. I hate this guy so much. When he got mad at Natalia because he THOUGHT he saw her hanging out with her ex, genuinely made me question his sanity. Is he ok? Is he having hallucinations? He was never concerned with whether Natalia was okay or not, just always looking out for his own selfish interests, being the doves of course. LIKE MATE YOUR WIFE IS MISERABLE, SHE’S GOING INSANE BECAUSE OF THESE DOVES BRO. LOCK IN. Like honestly I’m surprised Natalia stayed with this buffoon, even after the story his mum told her about when he was a kid ruining the mum’s garden (I think, I don’t remember the details). It was so frustrating, girl you are married to the literal devil. Truly number 1 empathetic guy of all times. He never cleaned up after himself, and he made his friend and wife do all the work when they were fixing the house up??? Also made his wife who gave birth paint the dovecote???

The scene where she bumps into Pere and he actually calls her by her name made me incredibly upset. No one was calling her by her given name but by the nickname her husband gave her after the doves he mistreats must have felt so dehumanising to her. She barely even felt like a person, but like a husk of her former self. It was so 🙁. I’m glad he died, but that left her and the kids in such a difficult situation.

At night when she contemplated and even decided on taking her kids lives along with her own, it was genuinely heartbreaking. The descriptions of how thin the kids were and how she had to send Toni away for a bit. It served as a reminder of how cruel war truly is, and how she had gotten to the point of stealing chlorine to kill her kids. I’m glad she was able to get out of that situation with the help of Antoni. He was so sweet, he truly cared for her and her kids. I was so glad he stepped in!!! He’s also the father that stepped up😭!! Shout out goat!! He also didn’t treat her like a maid or like an object, fuck you Quimet.

I also want to briefly mention Mateu because I really liked him, he was nice to Natalia and they were quite close. He was quite sensitive, and he was also a real yearner!!!

Discussion: with all the things Toni did as a kid, did anyone else think he’d be a little fucked up when he grew up or are all babies evil like that?

Black Shack Alley

There were many aspects of this book that made me extremely sad. The discussion regarding colonialism and segregation was important, it was used to paint a picture to show what growing up under a setting like that was rather than to make a point (?). I mean there was obviously still a point being made.

In the very first part of the book we are introduced to M’man Tine and Jose’s relationship. It’s very sweet, we see just how much M’man Tine cares for Jose and how tirelessly she works to be able to provide Jose with a good life or rather to provide him the tools he will need to get ahead in life. Jose’s guilt he feels when it comes to M’man Tine’s workload and sacrifice is something I can understand. Obviously I am extremely privileged to even have the opportunity to be here, but my parents have worked their entire lives for me to even get to this point and sometimes I wonder if I can ever truly pay them back. Filial piety has always been important in my culture and has always been the ultimate goal of my life in many ways. The work that I am doing makes me feel like I am not doing nearly enough as I could be. I’m sure this is a common sentiment for people.

The chapter that dealt with Medouze’s death was also interesting. Being a kid at that age not knowing or rather not fully understanding and seeing the wildly differing reactions from other people, not knowing how to react or which is the appropriate reaction was also something that was relatable. I’ve had the gift of never having to experience when I was young enough to not understand what was going on. I think after this point Jose was at the point where his situation forced him to grow up. Especially because after this M’man Tine falls ill and he realises just how much her presence in his life meant to him. 

 Another topic I wanted to talk about was discipline and love, and beatings as a form of punishment. Discipline is different culturally but beatings being used as discipline never sat right with me, even though it was engrained into my culture. However recently I saw a video of a white guy talking about how it was the only thing that white people did right which was like I guess just not taking it and cutting off your family, which struck a cord with me? I don’t know, it made me feel a certain way. While reading this book and reading about all the injuries and beatings Jose took was really heartbreaking.