Reviews

Água Viva by Clarice Lispector

southpawsammy's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

amandajwampler's review against another edition

4.0

“So the basis of existence turns up to wash over and erase the traces of the thought. The sea erases the traces of waves on the sand. Oh God, how happy I’m feeling. What ruins happiness is fear.

I get scared. But my heart’s beating. The inexplicable love makes the heart beat faster.”

Poetic & philosophical ramblings about fleeting instants—living water! There isn’t any plot but I enjoyed the ideas considered in this novella and the journal-like fragments (this comparison is not meant to reduce the book, but rather frame it as one that ebbs and flows with the worries and ideas of the narrator)

“I cut the pain of which I write to you and give you my restless joy.”

I will be revisiting these 88 pages.

aferntale's review against another edition

“I am making myself. I make myself until I reach the pit “

I immensely enjoy Lispector’s writing style. I’m in awe at the fluidity of the prose and its lyrical feel. Bewitched is the word, I am bewitched.

With this one, however, I felt a lot more repetition. The beginning and ending were the strongest for me. I didn’t enjoy the flowers part, and the placenta talk was my favorite lol

Definitely something I would like to look into again in another headspace, as some things I didn’t completely grasp. There was a lot of reading between the lines, as intended by the author, and the more I think on them the more I find myself liking it.

claramccord's review against another edition

4.0

This is the definitive all vibes no plot book. 

malustedile's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

sebdime's review against another edition

4.5

felt like i was meditating tryna understand this lmao,, lyrical tho

czhilary's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

jiscoo's review against another edition

5.0

An utterly synchronic, orgasmic, phantasmagoric trance of a novel. Lispector's prose is otherworldly and impressionistic in the same way one lets their vision unfocus before a Monet canvas. This is a book to be read in one sitting, drawn almost physically into the text, gliding across the surface rather than trying to understand each word. This is a book to be read from within it.

aidengershwhatsit's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5

danimichala's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0