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jeanned_arc's review against another edition
challenging
lighthearted
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
2.75
casparb's review
MORE Clarice this is a new one to me it’s not fireworks like AV or GH but I’m developing the sense that this is a novel incredibly central to her approaches to the material world, the collective, and Seeing. Three threads. Apparently City was one of the most tortured compositions for her & this is rare sometimes they’d just spin out. One can sense the consideration here but it’s difficult to say how - there’s a slight sense she’s clipping herself, resisting the fireworks for the overarching aesthetic, the precise articulation of objects and the elucidation of something terrifyingly close to A Normal Novel-ish form.
OBJECTS are particular here I was reminded of The Rape of the Lock’s approach and to a great extent Stein in Tender Buttons. These are aspects of looking there’s a passage about the shadow side of objects which if I recall chimes with Heideggerian views (ha) of Looking. These themes interweave very nicely because with OBJECTS and SEEING we have Mirrors there’s a Cocteauism to it but the book pre-dates Orphée.
Generation of city, collective & perspective. Delicious and so instructive for her other works this isn’t something she details elsewhere there are no skeleton keys in literature but we get gleams & I think City is one of those. also her most horsey book
OBJECTS are particular here I was reminded of The Rape of the Lock’s approach and to a great extent Stein in Tender Buttons. These are aspects of looking there’s a passage about the shadow side of objects which if I recall chimes with Heideggerian views (ha) of Looking. These themes interweave very nicely because with OBJECTS and SEEING we have Mirrors there’s a Cocteauism to it but the book pre-dates Orphée.
Generation of city, collective & perspective. Delicious and so instructive for her other works this isn’t something she details elsewhere there are no skeleton keys in literature but we get gleams & I think City is one of those. also her most horsey book
444ndromeda's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25
pensé que no me iba a pasar, y me pasó: no me atrapó una obra de lispector.
supongo que el conflicto interno de lispector se vió demasiado reflejado dentro del libro, atándolo demasiado a nuestro plano y dejándome con una insatisfacción que me gustaría remover. nuestra protagonista está llena de sueños e intentos de complejidades (¡que tal vez yo no entendí!) y el final de su historia me hizo sentir que fue todo para… ¿nada? no sé, tendré que releerlo.
supongo que el conflicto interno de lispector se vió demasiado reflejado dentro del libro, atándolo demasiado a nuestro plano y dejándome con una insatisfacción que me gustaría remover. nuestra protagonista está llena de sueños e intentos de complejidades (¡que tal vez yo no entendí!) y el final de su historia me hizo sentir que fue todo para… ¿nada? no sé, tendré que releerlo.
madsreb's review against another edition
I really wish I’d read some background on this book before I picked it up. It nearly thwarted me!!! I wanted to throw it out but persevered thinking it could turn out to be an elaborate and very boring literary hoax. But in the second half something clicked and some shimmering little thread of narrative appeared, all those horses began to make a little bit of sense, and I warmed to Lucrécia just a little.
After reading the brief letter where Clarice Lispector (kind of) explains herself I’m looking forward to trying this book again in future. Just maybe not right now.
*shoves back into depths of TBR pile*
After reading the brief letter where Clarice Lispector (kind of) explains herself I’m looking forward to trying this book again in future. Just maybe not right now.
*shoves back into depths of TBR pile*
dameguillotine's review against another edition
3.0
El concepto desde un punto de vista literario es interesante y digamos que es ambiciosa la elección de la personalidad de la protagonista. Es un libro que está escrito de una forma muy bella, pero que finalmente resulta aburrido, por contar una historia bastante sosa.
kirinmccrory's review against another edition
5.0
"And soon the street was ending up full of concrete points: countless seeds spread out in an arrangement that had a blatant meaning—except it was incomprehensible. Like the houses arranged along the street. It was in his nature to be able to possess an idea and not know how to think it: obfuscated, persistent, tossing seeds, that's how he would explain it."
wildgurl's review against another edition
4.0
The Besieged City
by Clarice Lispector
Translated from Portugese by Johnny Lorenz
1949 / 2019
New Directions
4.0 / 5.0
In a world of seeing vs. being seen, Lucrecia Neves, attempts to force the reader to see the innate life within the lifeless. Even inanimate objects - a porcelain figures or a doll, as well as fields of lavender-all hold a magnetism that brings them to life, for her. Lucrecia lives with her widowed mother in the small undeveloped area called Sao Geraldo. Of three very different suitors, Lucrecia attempts to re-create the city she is in to a place of distinction, with one who does not understand her imagination.
This is rich and beautiful, the prose at times challenging, but so brilliantly done you simply can not stop. Recommended.
by Clarice Lispector
Translated from Portugese by Johnny Lorenz
1949 / 2019
New Directions
4.0 / 5.0
In a world of seeing vs. being seen, Lucrecia Neves, attempts to force the reader to see the innate life within the lifeless. Even inanimate objects - a porcelain figures or a doll, as well as fields of lavender-all hold a magnetism that brings them to life, for her. Lucrecia lives with her widowed mother in the small undeveloped area called Sao Geraldo. Of three very different suitors, Lucrecia attempts to re-create the city she is in to a place of distinction, with one who does not understand her imagination.
This is rich and beautiful, the prose at times challenging, but so brilliantly done you simply can not stop. Recommended.
socorrobaptista's review against another edition
4.0
Sempre é bom ler Clarice Lispector. Ler em português também.
jessicaacurry's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25