Blogs

This week we read “Papi” by Indiana. I really enjoyed this story and found the full storyline and approach to the book really interesting. More specifically, one aspect of the story that I found was really well depicted in this story was the approach of using a child narrator. I interact with a lot of […] read full post >>

When I was contemplating which books to choose between earlier this semester I was conflicted between this one and Papi. Ultimately, I made my choice somewhat vacuously based on name. More precisely, the difference in name between the Spanish and English version of the text listed on the UBC Library website. The English My Tender Matador sounds […] read full post >>

 This week's novel felt like perhaps the most personal we have read so far this term. It is about a girl and her father, among a litany of other children, and a bunch of other people who see him as a sort of father figure. While reading it, I thou... read full post >>

 This week's novel felt like perhaps the most personal we have read so far this term. It is about a girl and her father, among a litany of other children, and a bunch of other people who see him as a sort of father figure. While reading it, I thou... read full post >>

Well, this week’s reading was certainly interesting. Most of the time I felt as if I was questioning whether or not the unnamed narrator was dreaming or not, and by the end, I was wondering if Jesus could have been some sort of first-century version of Tony Soprano or Avon Barksdale. Dr.Beasley-Murray aptly described the […] read full post >>

What an interesting read! Indiana’s imaginative prose is colourful and inimitable; I sailed through this novel. Something that really stood out to me is the grief palpable throughout the narrative; it is as if the young narrator is mourning her Papi’s death before she even learns of it, creating these elaborate scenarios of a life […] read full post >>

I enjoyed reading this week’s book “Papi” by Rita Indiana, not only because of the themes it explores, but especially because of how the writer adapted the story of the novel to the perspective of a kid, who is the narrator. The narrator is a young girl from the Dominican Republic who talks about her […] read full post >>

I really enjoyed this week’s reading by Indiana, and I definitely agree with what Dr. Beasely-Murray said last week: that all the troublesome prose is officially behind us now! For such a short novel, I was surprised at the breadth of topics and places that Indiana writes about throughout Acilde’s life. It was interesting to […] read full post >>

Hi all, This week I discuss Papi, mainly focusing on psychological projection, fantasy, what is real, and the role of dullness in life. Question: Is there a marked ‘truth’ to this story? Where does fact stop and fiction begin? Or rather, how should we read this book – as a fantasy-driven metaphor about a child’s … read full post >>

To me, this book seemed to intentionally contain stereotypes on steroids. Through the gangster attitudes of her father, to the parental neglect, to the idea that America is the land of the rich, to the vast number of girlfriends, Indiana got me thinkin... read full post >>