The Hour of the Star
Ratings45
Average rating4
15
Ratings45
Average rating4
Narrated by the cosmopolitan Rodrigo S.M., this brief, strange, and haunting tale is the story of Macabéa, one of life's unfortunates. Living in the slums of Rio and eking out a poor living as a typist, Macabéa loves movies, Coca-Colas, and her rat of a boyfriend; she would like to be like Marilyn Monroe, but she is ugly, underfed, sickly and unloved. Rodrigo recoils from her wretchedness, and yet he cannot avoid the realization that for all her outward misery, Macabéa is inwardly free/She doesn't seem to know how unhappy she should be. Lispector employs her pathetic heroine against her urbane, empty narratoredge of despair to edge of despairand, working them like a pair of scissors, she cuts away the reader's preconceived notions about poverty, identity, love and the art of fiction. In her last book she takes readers close to the true mystery of life and leave us deep in Lispector territory indeed.
Reviews with the most likes.
The writing is absolutely stunning which is what made this book a favorite for me. The way Lispector creates this male narrator to tell the story of a girl who you can tell is doomed from the start is phenomenal. That being said I found myself not really caring for the narrator himself so his constant interruptions irked me a bit.
I read this book three times in 24 hours. The first reading frustrated me and the book seemed to me to be an unsuccessful work. Three stars. But it nagged at me, so I read it again. During my second reading, I began to understand how the words had been woven together into sentences and I glimpsed their secret meaning, just beyond. Four stars. Upon completing my third reading, I realized this little book contains the whole world. Five stars. Of course, the book didn't change at all from one reading to the next. But I did. Reading is such a gift.
A very sad character study on someone who was unfortunate enough to be dealt the worst set of cards without being able to realize it, and I love it for that. Sorry Macabéa.
I need to re-read this one. I struggled for a bit to grasp on as Lispector's writing style threw me through a loop for a few pages.
