Week 2 | La Ciudad de las Bestias

image

Book Club Links :books:

Natively page
Spanish fiction bookclub
Homepage La Ciudad de las Bestias
Collaborative google sheets

Chapter Start date Title End page Pgs in Ch. Wk #
2 25 Mar La excéntrica abuela 34 14 2

Discussion Guidelines

  • Spoilers should always be hidden using spoiler blur.
  • When discussing a specific section, please mention where you are in the book so people reading different versions have a clear point of reference.
  • Feel free to read ahead if it’s exciting, but please refrain from spoiling ahead of the appropriate week.
  • If you have a question about grammar, vocab, cultural things, etc - ask! That’s a welcome part of the discussion too, and other readers will be happy to help.
  • Even if you don’t read the chapter(s) in time, you are still encouraged to post your thoughts.
  • The google sheets is here to help you with vocab, grammar and anything else you might need. Feel free to add to it!

Are you joining us for week 2?

  • I’m reading along
  • I’m reading along, but at my own pace
  • I’m just here for the discussion :popcorn:
0 voters
2 Likes

Finished week 2 just before week 3 hits. I’m still looking up a bunch of words and haven’t transferred anything to flashcards, which makes me nervous, but for whatever reason the reading does seem to be slowly getting easier (compared to week 1, at least).

This ended up being a really stressful chapter to read; Grandma Kate had better have a good reason for not showing up to the airport; l wanted to grab and shake her the entire time time I was reading. Alex is braver than I; I 100% wouldn’t have moved from that airport without her. He had a return ticket as well.

Morgana… I’m not surprised. I’m just hoping she’s not a recurring character, though I do want Alex to get his flute back. Maybe Grandma will show up in the nick of time and pile-drive her for me.

4 Likes

Read this a couple of days ago but haven’t had a chance to post til today. I agree it felt easier than last week. The language overall is a good level for me, I can read it at a reasonable pace and follow the story without having to look anything up. I did read it a second time and looked up some of the words I didn’t know.

So we kind of got to meet the grandma this week, at least through Alex’s memories of her. I liked the smoking story, she’s seems a fairly tough lady to be able to cope with smoking in the car like that. Looking forward to getting to know her more.

What to say about Alex? He seemed like he would be more streetwise than we expected, but it all seemed to be knowledge from what his dad had told him rather than proper street smart. Although I must say I was a bit taken in by Morgana too. At first I was quite suspicious of her but I let my guard down and was sad that she cleared off with his bag, and even worse his flute!

Enjoying some of the language from Morgana - me muero por un pito and me salvaste el pellejo.

4 Likes

I’m finally finished with week 2, after a week of focusing more on Korean. This chapter was really fun, but I was suspicious about Morgana from the beginning. Especially when she pulled the trick of her bus ticket having been stolen, at that point, it was only going to get worse. I really hope he gets his flute back, but we’ll see.

The grandma seems like a really fun character though. The prank with the Tabasco filled sweets was great, and I hope we get to see more of that. It’s still not a excuse for not showing up at the airport however. I’m sensing a life lesson, learn how to survive in a big city like she made him learn how to swim kind of thing.

I can’t wait to read the next chapter, and I might just do that today once I finish looking up the vocab.

3 Likes

I considered this. My big caveat with this is she better have eyes on him this whole time. It’s one thing to learn by experience, it’s another to just let a 15 yo from the middle of nowhere wander around NYC with about $30 to his name (or whatever he had).

3 Likes

I wondered that but I was more suspicious that she’s just a bit scatty and disorganised and genuinely just hadn’t turned up. But from her past behaviour I suspect you are right!

3 Likes

Finally got around to finishing chapter 2!

A funny side effect of listening to the chapter in full before reading it is that it was fun rereading the Morgana bits and watching her whole scam come together while knowing the eventual outcome. I understand Alex caving and paying for her bus fare, but he really should’ve known better to let her talk him into going out for food… I think that’s where I started to get suspicious when listening to the chapter initially, though in hindsight it’s obvious that he was getting played the whole time.

4 Likes