EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT FUCKING ONCE FOR REAL

Hey everyone!

First of all, I literally cant believe we’re almost done and this is our last book. In a way it feels like it has been so long and challenging but the fact we have read SO MANY BOOKS in such a short time is crazy to me. Personally, I had to really dedicate a lot of time to reading as I don’t usually read this much and I honestly was only able to do it because I had only 2 other classes so my work load wasn’t the worst LOL, but REGARDLESS I really enjoyed the course and it in a way got me back into reading and I hope I can continue reading a lot more even after the course is done. 

Our last book, “Faces in the Crowd” by Valeria Luiselli was wild. Literally all over the place and very confusing while reading as well. My immediate first thought was how much this book reminded me of the movie “Everything Everywhere All At Once”. I love how both were broken up into chunks with similar aspects revolving around identity and genuine confusion of what is real and what isn’t and considering it is a PHENOMENAL (but also confusing) movie, i think speaks to the book as well. 

The book revolves around the life of this writer in Mexico City but while she is fixated on her past life in New York while ALSO obsessed with the poet Gilberto Owen. There really was such a blur of lines and it was narrated as if she was living in two places at once while ALSO telling her story through Owen’s life? Honestly still confusing to me. It really is like this whole multiverse of lives thing the movie has going on in a way except its more surrounding memory and reflection rather than an ACTUAL multiverse LOL. 

Speaking more on this aspect of identity I really liked to reflect on how the book (and also the movie) speak to our identity being represented through our memories and experiences. Last week I talked about how Agualusa and Proust both convey the importance of memory in different ways and I think Luiselli also does as well. In a way, the storytelling is kind of representative of how we recall memories and is similar to this reflection of memories Proust wrote about. Her writing style, while confusing, I think in itself really shows how impactful he different experiences of our past, AND MAYBE EVEN THE PAST OF OTHERS, impacts us and our identity in the present. Do we choose to let it define us, would we rather not think about it in an attempt to change our present and not be reflective of our past? I do think people can change but I also think you are always a product of all of your memories and experiences and these little “lives” you live throughout your lifetime. For example, I consider my life back home in my hometown and my life living out at university to be totally distinct and honestly feel like they are completely separate parts of MY STORY. In a way this chapter of university is the way it is BECAUSE of my past chapter back home and would not be as significant if I wasn’t able to reflect on my “previous life” in my hometown. But at the same time this chapter feels completely separate and I feel at times like I can’t even remember who I used to be because im so comfortable with who I am now.

Wow I just word vomited everywhere. My brain fully just went adhd tangent mode but this is what happens when a book confuses me and makes me think HAHAHAHA. Overall i just really liked how unique this storytelling was even if it was challenging to understand. Maybe that is representative of how it is challenging to understand yourself at times, but I think thats why I enjoyed the book and other books in the course that have allowed me to reflect in a personal way. 

A more general (but deep) question to end off this one:

How has reading the novels over the course of the semester changed your perspective of yourself? 

Or

How has reading the novels over the course of the semester allowed you to reflect on your own identity through the MANY characters we have seen? 

Feel free to give specific examples if you desire 😛