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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I mildly recommend the story because of the narrator discussing the subject, then the subject's sad life which you really expected to see something change, but it never did. I kept thinking something would happen and it was more engaging than other books I've read from the "1000 Books" list.
The Hour of the Star was my first time reading anything by Clarice Lispector and it certainly won't be my last.
I enjoyed this but I also struggled with it. is that because of Lispector's writing style or something specific to do with this story? I won't know until I read another of her works.
I thought that using a male writer (Rodrigo) as the means to tell Macabéa's story was quite interesting. Rodrigo struggled to start writing Macabéa's story, he couldn't figure out how to go about it. and even once he did start his struggle continued. it's almost as if the struggle that Macabéa should have felt in her life due to her extreme poverty was instead felt by Rodrigo.
I imagine I would get a lot more out of this if I re-read it, which I probably will at some point since it's so short.
I enjoyed this but I also struggled with it. is that because of Lispector's writing style or something specific to do with this story? I won't know until I read another of her works.
I thought that using a male writer (Rodrigo) as the means to tell Macabéa's story was quite interesting. Rodrigo struggled to start writing Macabéa's story, he couldn't figure out how to go about it. and even once he did start his struggle continued. it's almost as if the struggle that Macabéa should have felt in her life due to her extreme poverty was instead felt by Rodrigo.
I imagine I would get a lot more out of this if I re-read it, which I probably will at some point since it's so short.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-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
Macabea is a woman without decorations. Lacking in education, her language is a simpleton's. Looking at her DNA through a microscope no coherent structures will reflect beauty nor sophistication but a stair of everyday words. Her treasured joys include watching the sailors on the port passing by, doing nothing on her Sundays, and a hunger for facts of life as she routinely listens to the Hour Clock radio. A scurvy affliction, she walks on her gaudy feet. Even the diagnoses of Tuberculosis doesn't bewilder her. Poor woman. The affliction goes bone deep - poverty the systemic illness. Her demure countenance in spite of the absence of education and class reminds me of Mary Magdalene, always having the merry disposition in life.
In the narrative lies three voices - Macabea, our heroine, the narrator named Rodrigo S.M, and a projection of Clarice Lispector through this man himself. Her life is splattered across the lines of her childhood, and a unity of her heritage as Jewish immigrant into Brazil. Combined is the harrowing reality of the class disparity and its generational disruption. Is it the only reality we can face? Macabea grows into an awkward woman. mute even when she speaks, and an unclear vision of herself. Her lineage is ultimately a guava preserve with cheese that she is being deprived of, the only passion of her short life. No one finds her remarkable, a flat nose, a Northeastern accent, and a body that cannot accommodate new life. Instead I can admire her hunger – a curiosity of the world's mysteries, the novelty of purely being alive by oneself. Knowledge can satiate the hunger, if given the chance to do so.
I have been yearning to be complete in the know with the Universe for as long as I have consciousness. In one of my earliest memories, an aunt let me choose what to buy for me as a gift and I instinctively run into the Stationery corner in the department store, looking for the bugtong-bugtong, putting it on her comforting hands. This rush for a taste of knowing is still intrinsic now. Accumulate too many Wikipedia entries and you will find yourself constipated. Macabea's ignorance I envy today. All the pages read and the human suffering never ceases. This living thing in the left of the middle of my chest doesn't want to leave me alone!
In the narrative lies three voices - Macabea, our heroine, the narrator named Rodrigo S.M, and a projection of Clarice Lispector through this man himself. Her life is splattered across the lines of her childhood, and a unity of her heritage as Jewish immigrant into Brazil. Combined is the harrowing reality of the class disparity and its generational disruption. Is it the only reality we can face? Macabea grows into an awkward woman. mute even when she speaks, and an unclear vision of herself. Her lineage is ultimately a guava preserve with cheese that she is being deprived of, the only passion of her short life. No one finds her remarkable, a flat nose, a Northeastern accent, and a body that cannot accommodate new life. Instead I can admire her hunger – a curiosity of the world's mysteries, the novelty of purely being alive by oneself. Knowledge can satiate the hunger, if given the chance to do so.
I have been yearning to be complete in the know with the Universe for as long as I have consciousness. In one of my earliest memories, an aunt let me choose what to buy for me as a gift and I instinctively run into the Stationery corner in the department store, looking for the bugtong-bugtong, putting it on her comforting hands. This rush for a taste of knowing is still intrinsic now. Accumulate too many Wikipedia entries and you will find yourself constipated. Macabea's ignorance I envy today. All the pages read and the human suffering never ceases. This living thing in the left of the middle of my chest doesn't want to leave me alone!
challenging
This is the kind of book you will want to share with good friends, and then beg them to give it back so you can read it over and over again.
You quickly learn in the first few pages that this slim novel will be no painless read. Lispector challenges your spirit with a heartbreaking, sarcastic story of a naïve and pure-hearted, poor woman whose life is narrated by a dejected writer whose only mission appears to be to make this woman sound pathetic and gross.
My heart poured and poured for her. I wanted to help her, I wanted to be there to tell her “he’s not right for you” and “yes! You can and may experience joy!”. Macabéa will live with me forever, for without her I would “die symbolically every day”.
My heart poured and poured for her. I wanted to help her, I wanted to be there to tell her “he’s not right for you” and “yes! You can and may experience joy!”. Macabéa will live with me forever, for without her I would “die symbolically every day”.
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes