It's time to move on Jake

At the beginning of Chapters 15, Jake and the crew seem to be having a great time, dancing and drinking to their hearts content. The following morning the group decides to watch a bull-fight where they meet a fighter named Romero who is the "best-looking boy" Jake has ever seen. Its around here I got worried because if Jake is thinking this, it's only a matter of time before Brett gets hold of him. I wonder who'd win in a fight, the middleweight boxing champion of Princeton or an upcoming bullfighter, because it looks like this may be some set up for a possible confrontation between the two.

Jake in this reading really shows us his love for bullfighting, going into detail about Remero's skill and telling Montoya not to deliver the message from the American Ambassador which may end up being a distraction from his bullfighting. I think Jake messed up tho when he went on and on about how attractive and skilled Romero is to a girl who has a history of going from relationship to relationship without a second thought. Brett later on asks if he still loves her and like every other time she's asked, he says yes. But the next words that come out of her mouth is Brett saying that she loves Romero. She's only seen him for like three days for crying out loud! The next part really confuses me because it goes against his love for bullfighting and Brett when he sets her on a date with Romero. This is what he tried to avoid earlier with American ambassador and setting up your love on a date with someone else isn't helping your chances. During that date he's acting as a translator for their drunk flirting and when he leaves for 20 minutes they're no where to be seen. Not the best choice of actions.

These two chapters seem to be setting up for some big conclusion with the addition of a super hot and talented Romero to an already complex group. I don't think Jake really has any chance if its this easy to sway Brett to a new target but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Jake's going for the long con by allowing Brett to be with every attractive guy in Spain and France so she finally realizes she needs him or maybe Jake just doesn't care enough to stop her.

The Hours-Richard

              In The Hours, Richard displays multiple parallels to Septimus, such as as their death by jumping from a window and how they're aren't understood by the people around them. In addition to  parallel between the two characters, they also have key differences that make their stories different like their backgrounds and what exactly pushes them over the edge.

               I really sympathized with the Richard in the early timeline because he seemed like a happy child who just wanted to make a cake with his mom. It goes from that to her mom kissing Lilly which I think would be a really strange thing for someone to see when they're so young. But the thing is he doesn't even really ask what or why she did that, he just sits there silently not knowing what to make of what happened. I think childhood Richard was there to more or less represent the audience in these scenes. He's very quiet in the car ride except when he tries to tell his mom he loves her. Then he gets extremely vocal trying to stop his mom from driving away, because he knew and we knew that something was wrong and she shouldn't be left alone. Overall I feel childhood Richard is such a good character in how he gets me to feel like I'm in the movie because he reacts to a lot of things the same way I probably would.

              Lastly we have present day Richard which is a lot like Septimus. They're background experiences cause them to perceive the world differently from others and have the ones they love for seek outside help. Septimus was in a war and is dealing with PTSD while Richards mother turns out to have left him and he became fatally ill, both of which has lasting effects that is too much for Lucrezia/Clarissa to help fix. The spectacle (thanks Film Studies) would definitely be Richard's suicide. It was a really shocking event, even though we read about a similar event in Mrs. Dalloway, reading  it doesn't have the same feel as watching someone take the leap.

               If you haven't seen this film, I'd highly recommend it. It really depicts the novel Mrs. Dalloway amazingly and leaves the audience thinking about what they just experienced.

Footnotes: The Novel

           The Mezzanine is a very different book. In my opinion it is a book without much of a plot but even without one the book comes off as interesting in its own way. The narration is written by Baker,  so we know every last thing that is running through Howie's mind as the story progresses. At some points it made me kinda want to walk through my house and just start thinking about the small histories of everything from shoes to what's in my pantry. But on the other hand, he did talk about stuff that I couldn't care less about like his internal debates between paper vs. plastic straws.
   
           I believe that the most important and obnoxious part of the book was the footnotes. These things added little backstories to everything in the book and more times than not I felt like I could've kept going ahead in the book without stopping to read page-long footnotes regarding his thoughts on the practicality of doorknob. But at the same time while I was reading these I was thinking "There is someone out there who finds these random topics interesting and would love to know more about Jiffy Pop." and found that hilarious. Howie is just an average joe that likes to think about everything that is going on around him and I think its pretty funny when someone puts these thoughts into writing. If I were to put all the thoughts I had while just sitting down in the lounge eating lunch I bet someone else reading them would be laughing about how much I wish I packed more cookies.

         Overall I enjoyed this novel. It took the idea of having no plot and preceded to make a book on it, which I found to be very impressive. The book made me think about things in detail that I normally wouldn't like bookshelves or my worn out shoelaces. Would I recommend this book to someone else? Probably, but then I'd add a footnote telling them why they should only read it in small doses or they'll wind up feeling sorta lost.