Date sent:        Wed, 01 May 96 07:16:40 0800


The Lover
 Although I missed the group presentation, I really enjoyed the book. I had seen the movie
 years before, so while I read the book, I could picture the characters and the scenery. One
 thing I still do not know how I feel about is the idea of "love" in the story. I do not
 know if I should think this is a love story, but that is what makes the book so good. It is
 something that the reader has to figure on his or her own. There are so many things that
 bothered me in this book. The girl was only 15! She was completely taken advantage of, and
 granted she seemed more willing than her lover to have this sexual relationship, I think
 she would have accepted anyone and anything that made her forget her family and her
 hopeless life. Her lover was so weak and helpless, he could not decide what he wanted in
 his own life, but it did not really matter anyway. His father controlled him and he was too
 weak to stand up to the father. So his involvement with this young girl could not have been
 love, because I think before you can love someone, you have to be able to love yourself.
 This dysfunctional family was sad. It was sickening that the older brother did not care
 about anyone, but I could compare him to the lover. The older brother did not care for
 anyone else, and he certainly was not strong because he had to knock down other people and
 walk all over them to make himself strong. He took advantage of his sister too by using her
 for money and basically "pimping" her. He needed someone weak to control. and she was
 physically weak. And the mother could not show love for her youngest children. The mother
 had so many mental problems, she should not have had kids if she could not love them.
 Something I really liked about the book in comparison to the film is knowing the thoughts
 of the young girl. The book was so much more personal with the girl and her thoughts and
 feelings were such a big part of the relationship. The movie made her out to be a tramp,
 and it was not as obvious why she had to live the way she did. Knowing her feelings makes
 the story more about love, but the movie was more about sex and perhaps physical love. This
 book is really intense because the reader gets the inside the mind of the girl. Comparing
 the movie and the book confuses the whole concept of love. The true meaning of love is an
 issue in this book because there are so many personal, ethnic and psychological
 considerations. Is it a love story? I still do not know, and it is that uncertainty that
 makes the book so controversial. But I enjoyed it.
















Chronicle of a Death Foretold
 The group's presentation of this story was well organized. There was not much plot summary
 at all, so a lot of the class presentation and discussion was based more on the whys? and
 hows? and symbolism. The group may not have been too well rounded in actual presentation,
 but Juliana definitely had the most research and background in the story. One thing I
 really like about the presentation was that there was no definite answer for all the
 questions. No one knew for sure whether or not Santiago Nasar was the real "lover", and
 although there was not much debate, there was no sure answer. I think this was mainly
 because the author leaves the readers hanging. Marquez never gives a definite idea or
 thought to this question. It is this question though, that controls much of the personal
 feelings towards the characters. Whether or not Santiago slept with Angela Vicario
 determines how you feel about them and their morals and values. Basically, the presentation
 went well and it was a good flow of different ideas and perspectives from the group and the
 rest of the class. To hear other people's ideas about the plot and characters made me think
 more about the story, and not to draw only one conclusion to the book. There are so many
 ways the story ends, even if we all knew that Santiago dies. It could have been a good,
 bad, fateful, accidental, deserving or undeserving death, but the reader should keep an
 open mind and explore all the possibilities. I think that is what the group presentation
 focused on and it was definitely helpful for me to hear feedback on the book.