clara ♡’s Reviews > Near to the Wild Heart > Status Update

”Fleetingly, she saw that figure again which she had so feared and detested, nearly always silent, the face aloof and imperious. And, despite the revulsion that other woman still aroused in her, in a moment of reminiscence Joana had discovered to her surprise that not only then, but perhaps always, she had felt herself united to her, as if both of them had something secret and wicked in common.”

This is going to be slower to read than I expected. Reading some of her later works before this one highlights how her style was still a little bit clumsy in some places here, but to be fair she was only 19!!! seeing her evolution is almost a little endearing, mostly because the essence is still there

“If I were to see myself in the land of stars, I would remain only for myself” ugh🤍
Either Lispector doesn’t give a fuck about grammar (I know she doesn’t) or the translation worsens it but the dialogues are a little confusing since the character’s voice and the narrator’s voice merge into one. With that being said, her prose is so dreamlike and achingly beautiful I can’t really complain.

i fear i’ve fallen in love with ms. lispector and i won’t be moving on any time soon <3 i have high expectations for this one!!