The Time of The Doves: The Most Irritating Character I’ve Ever Read

Hey Everyone,

I hope you all had a restful reading break. I spent the past week really taking my time to read The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda. This book has somehow taken the longest for me to read so far, possibly because I had the most time to read it. I found this novel incredibly irritating due to Quimet. My notes looked like this: 

• Pg 35
  • Again thinks his mother is lying about adding salt to dinner
  • Won’t shut up
  • Is annoying me. 

There were some parts that I struggled to understand, particularly Quimet’s obsession with ‘Maria’. Despite having raging jealousy issues, Quimet decided to make Natalia jealous. He knows how it feels to be jealous, (even though Natalia has never given him a reason to be and he was just insane,) and still decided to make his wife feel the same way. Quimet is incredibly possessive over Natalia, deciding not to tip the waiter for helping her with her nosebleed when he should have been the one to help his wife. He is also incredibly demanding, making a schedule for the two of them to have sex on Sundays. This part made me want to scream — I don’t know what this would be categorized under but I would assume that it would now be viewed as some form of sexual abuse. There is a lack of aftercare, shown when Natalia says Quimet gets out of bed on Mondays without any regard for her. Quimet is incredibly degrading towards Natalia, forcing her to get on her knees to apologize to him despite gaslighting her into thinking she saw Pere when she didn’t. Kneeling demonstrates respect and submission, and Natalia was forced to do this in front of the public. Quimet is incredibly disrespectful to not only Natalia but to his mother, when (as mentioned above,) he acts up about his mother not adding enough salt to the dinner that she so kindly cooked for him. Quimet behaves like a man-child, whining about leg pain any time he does not want to do something, as well as complaining about every little inconvenience (such as Natalia breaking the bedpost while going through labour,) without any regard for what others are feeling (such as labour). 

Quimet had this obsession with doves. The first one that he had found wounded, which he tied to the balcony, I interpreted as symbolism for Natalia. He took a dove, which symbolizes hope and peace, and was selfish by keeping it captive and removing its ability to fly freely. He took Natalia and forced her to become his slave  wife, removing her agency. When releasing the doves, Natalia says that they are cautious that it is a trap, similar to her doubts surrounding Quimet’s death after remarrying. 

My question for all of you is, what would you say to Quimet if you had the opportunity to tell him off? Would you insult him? What would you call him? Why?