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nikwui's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ohlhauc's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
neylane's review against another edition
4.0
Terminar um livro da Clarice é sempre um acontecimento, e aqui não foi diferente. A Cidade Sitiada quase destruiu a carreira da autora, na época não foi bem recebido pela crítica e leitores por ser considerado muito denso. A Clarice que escreveu esse livro estava em um momento complicado da vida, vivendo em outro país e com saudades de casa. Escrever A Cidade Sitiada salvou Clarice, tanto que essa é sua obra mais citada por ela mesma. O livro foi tão mal recebido que ela só conseguiu publicar o próximo, A maçã no escuro, 12 anos depois.
Sabendo disso, o estudioso de Clarice Benjamin Moser afirma que todo brasileiro instruído conhece G.H. e Macabéa, mas só o leitor clariceano devoto reconhecerá o nome Lucrécia Neves, a protagonista de A Cidade Sitiada. E fica a questão, o livro é mesmo tão complicado assim de ler? A resposta é sim, porque Clarice nunca é fácil, e também não, porque uma vez conectado com a obra, as páginas deslizam na mente do leitor.
E nessas 191 páginas nós seguimos duas transformações, a da protagonista e a da cidade de São Geraldo. Na medida que a cidade vai mudando e se modernizando, também Lucrécia vai crescendo, apesar de diferentemente das protagonistas prévias da autora (Joana e Virgínia), Lucrécia se mostra uma mulher rasa e até mesmo fútil. Não existe muito enredo, e o livro é basicamente a história da garota de São Geraldo, obviamente com várias implicações. A escrita é belíssima, e aqui eu destaco o capítulo 10, “O milho no campo” que eu grifei praticamente tudo!
“A mulher parecia mesmo viver na linha do horizonte. Era de lá que via cada pequena coisa com suas luzes, esse estranho mundo onde em tudo se poderia inutilmente tocar”.
Eu com certeza indico o livro, principalmente se você já leu alguma outra obra da Clarice antes. É uma leitura desafiadora, que exige do leitor em alguns pontos, mas você termina a leitura com um sorriso no rosto e uma sensação de dever cumprido, é quase como se a autora estivesse desafiando seus leitores, ela mesma disse em a um entrevistador que lesse A cidade sitiada — “se você conseguir”.
Sabendo disso, o estudioso de Clarice Benjamin Moser afirma que todo brasileiro instruído conhece G.H. e Macabéa, mas só o leitor clariceano devoto reconhecerá o nome Lucrécia Neves, a protagonista de A Cidade Sitiada. E fica a questão, o livro é mesmo tão complicado assim de ler? A resposta é sim, porque Clarice nunca é fácil, e também não, porque uma vez conectado com a obra, as páginas deslizam na mente do leitor.
E nessas 191 páginas nós seguimos duas transformações, a da protagonista e a da cidade de São Geraldo. Na medida que a cidade vai mudando e se modernizando, também Lucrécia vai crescendo, apesar de diferentemente das protagonistas prévias da autora (Joana e Virgínia), Lucrécia se mostra uma mulher rasa e até mesmo fútil. Não existe muito enredo, e o livro é basicamente a história da garota de São Geraldo, obviamente com várias implicações. A escrita é belíssima, e aqui eu destaco o capítulo 10, “O milho no campo” que eu grifei praticamente tudo!
“A mulher parecia mesmo viver na linha do horizonte. Era de lá que via cada pequena coisa com suas luzes, esse estranho mundo onde em tudo se poderia inutilmente tocar”.
Eu com certeza indico o livro, principalmente se você já leu alguma outra obra da Clarice antes. É uma leitura desafiadora, que exige do leitor em alguns pontos, mas você termina a leitura com um sorriso no rosto e uma sensação de dever cumprido, é quase como se a autora estivesse desafiando seus leitores, ela mesma disse em a um entrevistador que lesse A cidade sitiada — “se você conseguir”.
nathansnook's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
“𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯? 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵?”
My last Lispector. I didn’t expect to cry, but I did. Not because I was sad, but burdened. Burdened by bearing my body after coming out of something like this towards the continuation of my lifeline. How does one expect to continue living after leaving Lispector? How do you go through with the living of life?
Presentation. Represention. From the line between citizen to city. What draws the line? How do you cross it? What colors and sounds ring true from the outside within? Ultimately, it’s all the questioning on how you are made. How you are made beyond birth. The filling in. The fleshing out.
“𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 ‘𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺’ 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 ‘𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘸’ 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴..”
I’ve often thought who was in possession of my story. Because for so long everything happened to me. The worst of the worst and I thought I was going to end it all with pills or blades or even a big big jump. Because these were choices I thought for myself outside of the circumstances that corrupted my age in a way where I always felt much older than my peers. I’ve been to more funerals than weddings, more wakes than birthday parties. Working ever since I was 8. Never knowing the kind of freedom that breeds choice.
So I left a city like LA. Went to a city like SF. Still, I wanted an end. And it’s city to city that I realize that though they have created different strengths out of me, I am the same or at least the body is. How beautiful is that, to have different endurances depending on the tilt of a skyscraper, the way it blocks out a blindness that would have stilted days, lengthened them to an oblivion.
Now I am here so far away from a country that my parents escaped to, to find the freedom in the American dream, only for me to go near war-torn territory.
Cities continue to carve hard-headed endurances out of me. Testing me. Tease. To tell the great striptease that is the nakedness Lispector always writes towards. She is always writing towards purity, one so open you confuse it for both life and death. You confuse it for God. Or even hell. Purgatory. An angel’s face. Sea foam breath. A mist that defines and divides the outer limits of our rather simple means.
And so I cried. Texting Sophie. Telling her how beautiful she is, how life is, how for centuries and centuries people have always tried tried tried to make life be beautiful. In their meanings. In their loves. In their caresses. Even in their dreams. All of me is part of that. All of me is a cityscape only trying to reach the tip of sunlight, to singe God into me.
My last Lispector. I didn’t expect to cry, but I did. Not because I was sad, but burdened. Burdened by bearing my body after coming out of something like this towards the continuation of my lifeline. How does one expect to continue living after leaving Lispector? How do you go through with the living of life?
Presentation. Represention. From the line between citizen to city. What draws the line? How do you cross it? What colors and sounds ring true from the outside within? Ultimately, it’s all the questioning on how you are made. How you are made beyond birth. The filling in. The fleshing out.
“𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 ‘𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺’ 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 ‘𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘸’ 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴..”
I’ve often thought who was in possession of my story. Because for so long everything happened to me. The worst of the worst and I thought I was going to end it all with pills or blades or even a big big jump. Because these were choices I thought for myself outside of the circumstances that corrupted my age in a way where I always felt much older than my peers. I’ve been to more funerals than weddings, more wakes than birthday parties. Working ever since I was 8. Never knowing the kind of freedom that breeds choice.
So I left a city like LA. Went to a city like SF. Still, I wanted an end. And it’s city to city that I realize that though they have created different strengths out of me, I am the same or at least the body is. How beautiful is that, to have different endurances depending on the tilt of a skyscraper, the way it blocks out a blindness that would have stilted days, lengthened them to an oblivion.
Now I am here so far away from a country that my parents escaped to, to find the freedom in the American dream, only for me to go near war-torn territory.
Cities continue to carve hard-headed endurances out of me. Testing me. Tease. To tell the great striptease that is the nakedness Lispector always writes towards. She is always writing towards purity, one so open you confuse it for both life and death. You confuse it for God. Or even hell. Purgatory. An angel’s face. Sea foam breath. A mist that defines and divides the outer limits of our rather simple means.
And so I cried. Texting Sophie. Telling her how beautiful she is, how life is, how for centuries and centuries people have always tried tried tried to make life be beautiful. In their meanings. In their loves. In their caresses. Even in their dreams. All of me is part of that. All of me is a cityscape only trying to reach the tip of sunlight, to singe God into me.
slink's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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
3.5
tsmithers's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
nadijya's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
soapie33's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
The prose is beautiful but the story is a bit lacking. I like the overall idea of this vain and superficial, essentially empty girl seeking to simply drift through life and climb the societal ladder as a perfect, empty, object. But didn’t actually feel very engaged while reading.
crownofsage's review against another edition
my brain isn’t big enough for this right now