PENGUIN Near to the Wild Heart

It was a gift for a friend who said he loved it!!

O livro é lindo, mas 0 pra entrega e pra qualidade da capa. É aquelas que se vc passar a unha, arranha. Não vale a pena comprar, pq com o tempo a capa vai se desfazer inteira. E veio parecendo livro usado. Terrível. Com certeza não vale a pena o preço.

A slim novel, it is nevertheless challenging, beautifully written – the perspective changes throughout, and is impressionistic, dreamlike and introspective. I was reminded particularly of Virginia Woolf – it being a very long time since I attempted James Joyce (one novel was enough). The central character; Joana continually asking herself philosophical questions – questioning her relationship with everything including objects around her. Much, I think is therefore required of the reader, and I’m certain some of it went over my head. Lispector’s prose is glorious, and even those more difficult sections are a joy to read. The novel tells the story of Joana, from her childhood, alone with her father, writing him poetry, through the changes that come to her childhood and adolescence, to her marriage to Otávio, through to her decision to make her own way in the world. Even as a child Joana is free thinking and unusual. Lispector’s descriptions of Joana’s thought processes and interactions with the world around her are quite wonderful.

As a first time reader of Clarice Lispector, I found it very difficult to understand where this book comes from. The book offers no context or insight about the author (at least for the Indian audience, who have no clue about Brazil's history, leave alone a writer who became famous only after she left Brazil). It painfully took me months to continue reading a book which only delves into the inner thoughts of the protagonist Joanna, with very little information on the background or the surroundings.I had to stop reading the book and figure out more about the writer, Brazilian literature, the Jews in the country and after going through many reviews I realised that I wasn't the only one to find this book difficult. It is said that the meaning was lost in the English translated text, so perhaps I am missing out on a lot of things.Brilliant book for those who'd like to go deep into introspection about morality, their own thoughts and the ones with existential crises.

kann so bereichernd sein.Clarice Lispector war ungewöhnlich schön, besaß eine ganz besondere Anziehungskraft und führte ein außergewöhnliches Leben.Der Text ist so modern geschrieben, nicht zu fassen, dass dies schon vor einem halben Jahrhundert in Südamerika geschehen ist.Warum nur, war sie mir so lange völlig unbekannt? Wäre sie ein Mann gewesen, glaube ich gern, hätte das nicht passieren können. Dieses Mädchen war mindesten so ungebändigt wie ein junger Hemingway.