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katherinevarga's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
4.0
These stories are bonkers!
At first I enjoyed them because it doesn't matter if Lispector is describing a man dying, or a chicken dying, or a woman giving away roses - the level of devastation is equal.
Some stories I enjoyed for the same reason I enjoy Virginia Woolf: they take a mundane event (a child seeing a dog on the street; a woman going for a morning swim; a family gathering for a birthday) and turn it into a deeply emotional philosophical contemplation where you start to wonder if you're even reading the story correctly but it doesn't matter much, the vibes are palpable. I'm pretty sure I got a contact high from trying to read "The Egg and the Chicken".
Her later stories I enjoyed because she just Stops Caring. In one sketch, an 81-year-old woman asks her doctor if she should masturbate.
These stories - bizarre and full of death, loneliness, everyday life and occasional joy, provided me with some catharsis this pandemic. And it was very cool to experience decades of a writer's short fiction in one volume, from a story she wrote as a teen to the pieces she died before finishing. That being said, I don't think I'll pick up more of her work for light reading-- her apparent attitude towards weight, disability, and people from Africa is deeply off-putting.
At first I enjoyed them because it doesn't matter if Lispector is describing a man dying, or a chicken dying, or a woman giving away roses - the level of devastation is equal.
Some stories I enjoyed for the same reason I enjoy Virginia Woolf: they take a mundane event (a child seeing a dog on the street; a woman going for a morning swim; a family gathering for a birthday) and turn it into a deeply emotional philosophical contemplation where you start to wonder if you're even reading the story correctly but it doesn't matter much, the vibes are palpable. I'm pretty sure I got a contact high from trying to read "The Egg and the Chicken".
Her later stories I enjoyed because she just Stops Caring. In one sketch, an 81-year-old woman asks her doctor if she should masturbate.
These stories - bizarre and full of death, loneliness, everyday life and occasional joy, provided me with some catharsis this pandemic. And it was very cool to experience decades of a writer's short fiction in one volume, from a story she wrote as a teen to the pieces she died before finishing. That being said, I don't think I'll pick up more of her work for light reading-- her apparent attitude towards weight, disability, and people from Africa is deeply off-putting.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Death, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, and Murder