Reviews - An Apprenticeship, or the Book of Pleasures

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806 reviews for:

An Apprenticeship, or the Book of Pleasures

Clarice Lispector

4.23 AVERAGE

star_girl02's review

4.0

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

All about wanting to be understood and loved. It feels fulfilling in the end, not because Lori and Ulisses fall in love, but because Lori accepts herself as a human being. All the unusual experiences and thoughts bring life to her writing. Sometimes I wish the writing style was a bit more literal, but I was still able to appreciate the picture Lispector was trying to make.

meowyam's review

4.0

3.5/5. i'm torn. a part of me feels like i didn't fully understand it, which very well might be the case because lispector's writing is so layered. her writing is still some of the most beautiful i've ever read, you just want it to savor forever

lupitagonzalez's review

4.75

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

tycovey's review

4.5

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lbhreads's review against another edition

3.0

beautifully-written, philosophical meditations on love: a woman opening herself up to love, and learning to find love for herself. a very episodic, stream of consciousness novel. enjoyed the afterword by sheila heti too.

lachiemorris's review against another edition

3.0

hopeful reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

an enjoyable read for its prose and its philosophical implications, not really for the characters sadly. lori i found to be odd and hard to read character wise, but towards the end she was good. ulisses was a man of confusion, his dialogue was decent, but as a character he was odd. overall it’s average, not lispsctor’s best imo, just average.

also the speed running of the relationship in the last 15 pages? like from revelation, to sex, to ‘oh hey pregnancy and marriage’. such a whiplash of character progression

8little_paws's review

Done! I've read all her novels. I liked this one a lot. It's supposed to be her most accessible and I would agree. It's still certainly in her unique style but I felt like I could understand this book better than most of her other ones.