Quimet is banned from the cottage

 Hello all, and welcome back to the cottage.

First of all, I hope all of you had a restful reading break, and enjoyed reading The Time of the Doves. As per usual, I find myself sitting down to write a little before making it to the end of the novel, but at this point I'd like to put down my thoughts before I forget them reading the rest of the story. 

As some of you may have guessed from this week's title, I do not like Quimet. I think that he, alongside all the frustrating male characters we've encountered so far, make me even more uncomfortable because there is a good chance that one could encounter them in real life. There is no reassurance that they will remain fictional figures, any of us could meet a Quimet and that is truly terrifying to me. 

If Natalia represents a woman's life gone to ruin, Quimet represents the reason. 

My goodness, the things he does to marriage's good name--if I can even give it a good name after seeing what it's done to poor, poor Maria (oh dear). At first, I had been planning on discussing the shift in Rodoreda's narrative voice before and after Natalia's wedding to Quimet, but now all thoughts of analysis are out the window with the doves. Though I should still make an effort, shouldn't I? 

Initially my thoughts were complaints, because the way Rodoreda narrates the beginning of the story was far too deep in Natalia's stream of consciousness for my liking. All the repetition and aimless embellishment was just too much, and I was thoroughly deterred until--ironically--Natalia marries Quimet and I start to be able to read her voice more clearly. My guess is that this shift marks a maturing of Natalia's thoughts or character as her life undergoes a change--though I'm not sure why her voice becomes more organized when her life becomes more chaotic and (in her own words) hellish. 

Perhaps I am making a business out of a dovecote by obsessing with this detail, but I can't stop wondering about it. So that shall be my question for this week's discussion: what kind of change do you think the shift in narration represents? Why do you think this change occurred, and what does it mean? 

I'd like to see what other people think, maybe I will find clarity in discussion. 

Looking forward to seeing you all again. I'll leave you with this note: don't marry your Quimet--or any Quimet. 

Your local woodland witch,

June

Comments

  1. Daniel OrizagaFebruary 22, 2026 at 10:57 PM

    "Perhaps I am making a business out of a dovecote by obsessing with this detail, but I can't stop wondering about it." Ah, but it's the details that matter most! Otherwise, we miss what makes each novel unique; for example, the ones in this course, which, by the way, feature a gallery of detestable men. What is it about Rodoreda's writing style, what does she consider important to emphasize, that makes this novel particularly interesting? As you say, it's worth discussing in class!

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