charlotteregan's review against another edition
3.75
This book just talked to me & my emotions & why I am I & why I have an unhealthy relationship with my own self. That’s great.
wynter's review against another edition
2.0
- The book is obviously written by a dying person as reflection of life, which makes it hard for a reader like me, who lacks worldly experience to relate to it.
- The book has no plot, it is a book about nothing. instead, the narrative is pure stream of consciousness about feelings and associations.
- There is some interesting gender confusion when it comes to narrator. The "author" is implied to be a man, but Lispector's own voice sometimes breaks through and occasional feminine pronouns are used.
- I really liked "The Jewel" part, where Angela draws associations between precious stones and emotions.
- The author states in the beginning, quite straight-forward, that the book is not for everyone to enjoy. In fact it was specifically written very confusing and full of personal references to weed out curious onlookers. Only selected few are supposed to really "get it".
- I'm gonna be honest about it - I didn't get it.
- I wonder why the New Directions editors elected to publish this book second in the series, since logically it should come forth and last.
- The book has no plot, it is a book about nothing. instead, the narrative is pure stream of consciousness about feelings and associations.
- There is some interesting gender confusion when it comes to narrator. The "author" is implied to be a man, but Lispector's own voice sometimes breaks through and occasional feminine pronouns are used.
- I really liked "The Jewel" part, where Angela draws associations between precious stones and emotions.
- The author states in the beginning, quite straight-forward, that the book is not for everyone to enjoy. In fact it was specifically written very confusing and full of personal references to weed out curious onlookers. Only selected few are supposed to really "get it".
- I'm gonna be honest about it - I didn't get it.
- I wonder why the New Directions editors elected to publish this book second in the series, since logically it should come forth and last.
ekeenan27's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
nathansnook's review against another edition
4.0
READING VLOG
A conversation without connection between the creator and its creation.
In the final days of Lispector, you see grief and, still, this urgency to find profundity and wonder in the banalities of life, even amongst so much end. To look at objects and gloss them over like a slow-moving camera from Russian Ark or Journey into the Night. Like a Terrance Malick film that doesn’t look at wonder, but finds wonder in common objects. A trash can. An elevator. Butterfly.
Man becomes mother, and a mother’s worry is forever. Worried to be too close to subject. Worried to be too far from subject.
But Angela Pralini, an undead non-existing figment of female imagination, an object of desire, is but the subject of these pages that breed beginnings and ends, of the very reason why art exists and why we exist for art.
Best read in companionship with The Hour of the Star, to see man becoming in the form of Lispector, her brute masculinity, her force majeure.
A conversation without connection between the creator and its creation.
In the final days of Lispector, you see grief and, still, this urgency to find profundity and wonder in the banalities of life, even amongst so much end. To look at objects and gloss them over like a slow-moving camera from Russian Ark or Journey into the Night. Like a Terrance Malick film that doesn’t look at wonder, but finds wonder in common objects. A trash can. An elevator. Butterfly.
Man becomes mother, and a mother’s worry is forever. Worried to be too close to subject. Worried to be too far from subject.
But Angela Pralini, an undead non-existing figment of female imagination, an object of desire, is but the subject of these pages that breed beginnings and ends, of the very reason why art exists and why we exist for art.
Best read in companionship with The Hour of the Star, to see man becoming in the form of Lispector, her brute masculinity, her force majeure.
maragtzrbooks's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
sarahgamal666's review against another edition
5.0
"At first I couldn’t associate me with myself. Where am I? I wondered. And the one who answered was a stranger who told me coldly and categorically: you are yourself"
"I take refuge in madness because the boring middle ground of the state of ordinary things is no longer left for me. I want to see new things — and I’ll only manage to do that if I lose my fear of madness"
this book is exactly like taking a walk because you can't stand to wonder about everything in your isolated room and you need to find some answers anywhere or else madness will envelop you.
i am absolutely in love with Clarice's works and how moving yet comforting her words are. once you enter into one of her books you're fully immersed. the world around you looks differently and relief grasps you. I really cannot exactly explain her work but my goal is someday to be able to describe it
this will definitely be a reread in the future cause this is a book every soul needs especially in times of existential or identity crisis
"I take refuge in madness because the boring middle ground of the state of ordinary things is no longer left for me. I want to see new things — and I’ll only manage to do that if I lose my fear of madness"
this book is exactly like taking a walk because you can't stand to wonder about everything in your isolated room and you need to find some answers anywhere or else madness will envelop you.
i am absolutely in love with Clarice's works and how moving yet comforting her words are. once you enter into one of her books you're fully immersed. the world around you looks differently and relief grasps you. I really cannot exactly explain her work but my goal is someday to be able to describe it
this will definitely be a reread in the future cause this is a book every soul needs especially in times of existential or identity crisis