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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a writer at work who knows exactly what she´s doing. The storyline in itself is nothing extraordinary, but the style and way in which it is written, especially the writer reflecting on writing itself, make this book an interesting read.
clarice once again you’ve done minimal plot but maximum vibes and you’ve done it beautifully as always
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Stream of consciousness. Beautiful words. No plot really, just vibes. And so many feelings. Did I 100% understand everything that was going on at times? No. But I FELT it deeply. And I now love Clarice Lispector.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death of parent
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
God knows how to rate this one. I didn't always enjoy it, and several times I reread passages repeatedly in the hope they would make sense to me, but on the other hand this book was unlike anything I have previously read, and strange and distinctive to an extent which I found deeply impressive. Sentences and punctuation don't normally work like that!
Finished reading it 45 minutes ago, sat there thinking about it for a while, then went back and reread the opening few pages. So I guess that's five stars.
One interesting tension: you can see this as a 'political' novel, intended to draw attention to the suffering of the working class under the military dictatorship at the time. The author's son argues for this interpretation in the afterword. But I wonder if the sheer weirdness and abstraction of the writing style actually detracts from its effectiveness as a political text. The narrator wonders several times whether he's writing a melodrama, and perhaps a straightforward melodrama would have been more effective in communicating the plight of the poor. Instead, she chose to write an awkward, obtuse art piece.
In contrast, I read some Julio Cortazar recently, and he chose to move from writing well-regarded surrealist stories to writing straightforward realist literature about the suffering of the poor, which the critics didn't like. So in a sense he and Clarice made opposite choices in response to the same dilemma.
A final thing - this 100th Anniversary Edition is (and I say this as somebody who doesn't normally care about this sort of thing) strikingly well designed, with a great cover.
Finished reading it 45 minutes ago, sat there thinking about it for a while, then went back and reread the opening few pages. So I guess that's five stars.
One interesting tension: you can see this as a 'political' novel, intended to draw attention to the suffering of the working class under the military dictatorship at the time. The author's son argues for this interpretation in the afterword. But I wonder if the sheer weirdness and abstraction of the writing style actually detracts from its effectiveness as a political text. The narrator wonders several times whether he's writing a melodrama, and perhaps a straightforward melodrama would have been more effective in communicating the plight of the poor. Instead, she chose to write an awkward, obtuse art piece.
In contrast, I read some Julio Cortazar recently, and he chose to move from writing well-regarded surrealist stories to writing straightforward realist literature about the suffering of the poor, which the critics didn't like. So in a sense he and Clarice made opposite choices in response to the same dilemma.
A final thing - this 100th Anniversary Edition is (and I say this as somebody who doesn't normally care about this sort of thing) strikingly well designed, with a great cover.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes