some books I read in February
Forbidden Notebook, Alba De Céspedes
This should definitely be called a feminist classic. set in 1950s Italy, Valeria begins to keep a 'forbidden' diary and quickly discovers the incredible power of discovering her own voice, her own perspectives on the life she leads, during a time of unquestionably stringent gender norms and expectations.
Her black notebook is a place of truth and self-discovery, but also a place of confusion, pain and shame, as she struggles between her expected duties as a mother and 'woman of the house, and her wish to feel free from the patriarchal burden upon her. It’s empowering, and I enjoyed analysing this as I read it (taking me back to my masters research days looking into women's literature as a challenge against patriarchal norms).
The Wonders, Elena Medel
A novel exploring the idea of womanhood and what breaking from patriarchal expectations can look like. We follow the separate lives of grandmother and granddaughter María and Alicia, as they navigate standing up for their own freedoms as they both make lives for themselves in Madrid, spanning across the late 70s, late 90s and late 2010s.
They both realise the perversive power of their opinions and thoughts, and they challenge their positions in society. This novel keeps you guessing, but shows the importance and sacrifice that comes with 'breaking the rules the game!
All Men Want To Know, Nina Bouraoui
A very intriguing and lyrically written novel exploring nationality, sexuality, self-acceptance and growing up amidst both public and private unrest. Nina's autobiographical story, set between her childhood in Algeria and late teens in Paris, moves between chapters named 'remembering, 'knowing', 'becoming' and 'being'.
Moving between memories of the past and struggles of the present with very short chapters, the two become intertwined and deeply connected with lucidity and care. It made for very interesting reading.
Alphabetical Diaries, Sheila Heti
When I say I’ve never read a book like this before, it couldn’t be more true. Heti takes a decade of journal writing and orders every sentence alphabetically, placing the sentences starting with A in chapter ‘A’ and so on, creating a new version of her thoughtstream and reflections on life.
We don’t know when sentences were written in relation to their neighbours, or who she’s talking about when a sentence only refers to ‘she’ or ‘we’ without a qualifier (which may be somewhere else in the book), and there’s no sense of narrative (or rather, it’s been restitched together) - but it contains so many beautiful and incredibly astute pieces of wisdom on life, relationships, writing and creativity.
It made me think about all the small moments and lessons and phases that make up a life, and a person (and writer’s) sense of self, amidst life’s constant ebb and flow of difficulties and joys and new meanings of things - seen here with such stark lucidity.
Heti creates a new narrative from pieces of her life, and even though there wasn’t a clear chronological thread, it allows you to create your own narrative from it, and attribute your own meanings to the events that occur and thoughts expressed, with varying degrees of context given. Without a temporal order, we subconsciously create our own as we read - I had to keep catching myself and stopping myself reading sections as if they were written together, all at once.
It explores both the profundity and mundanity of life, and it has left a real impression on me as it questions how pieces of writing may be written, and still be meaningful, albeit in unique ways. I absolutely loved it, from A-Z.
