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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
alectastic's review against another edition
3.0
The objects, the descriptions, the sentences, they seem to pile up. In this we experience interiority at its maximum. This work is dense, the slim plot elongated. I'll be impressed by anyone who has finished this book despite the struggle. And I understand anyone who didn't complete it. It only took me a few days, but I trudged through.
I'm not a quitter, and so I tried my best. I highlighted many portions, reached the end, but I don't think I understood many parts of it. I'll return to portions.
There were fractions that overwhelmed me with enjoyment that I then grew frustrated that those moments in this work were so rare. I needed more like that to cling to. Otherwise I was stuck swimming in Lispector's words as usual.
From a review in the book's own appendix: "The Besieged City is a grueling novel to read. It requires tremendous effort to get through it. And the worst thing is that, having finished it, we don’t feel the effort was worth it."
And this appendix also includes Lispector's response to the review:
"People speak, or rather, used to speak, so much about my 'words,' about my 'phrases.' As if they were verbal. Yet not one, not a single one, of the words in the book was — a game. Each of them essentially meant some thing. I still think of my words as being naked."
And somehow both these statements are true simultaneously. The book is absolutely impossible to me. Lispector remains elusive.
I hope that when people try Lispector they avoid this work until having read what else she has to offer.
I'm not a quitter, and so I tried my best. I highlighted many portions, reached the end, but I don't think I understood many parts of it. I'll return to portions.
There were fractions that overwhelmed me with enjoyment that I then grew frustrated that those moments in this work were so rare. I needed more like that to cling to. Otherwise I was stuck swimming in Lispector's words as usual.
From a review in the book's own appendix: "The Besieged City is a grueling novel to read. It requires tremendous effort to get through it. And the worst thing is that, having finished it, we don’t feel the effort was worth it."
And this appendix also includes Lispector's response to the review:
"People speak, or rather, used to speak, so much about my 'words,' about my 'phrases.' As if they were verbal. Yet not one, not a single one, of the words in the book was — a game. Each of them essentially meant some thing. I still think of my words as being naked."
And somehow both these statements are true simultaneously. The book is absolutely impossible to me. Lispector remains elusive.
I hope that when people try Lispector they avoid this work until having read what else she has to offer.
igormdemiranda's review against another edition
2.0
Nesse ano, diante da difícil tarefa de ler a obra de Clarice, a sua biografia serve como um excelente ponto de apoio. Por isso, cada vez que termino um de seus livros, volto à ela para reler os trechos que remetam ao livro recém terminado. Hoje foi o dia de 'A Cidade Sitiada'.
Escrito em 1948, o livro foi recusado por, pelo menos, duas casas editoriais antes de ser publicado pela 'A Noite', editora responsável pelo lançamento de 'Perto do Coração Selvagem'. As recusas já haviam entristecido Clarice, mas foi o fracasso de 'A Cidade Sitiada' (seguido de um prévio fracasso de 'O Lustre') que a colocaram em um estado de desânimo intenso. Sérgio Milliet, respeitado crítico da época, julgou o livro como: "um enleamento da escritora na própria teia de imagens preciosistas" — a minha exata percepção.
Parecia, ao meu ver, que Clarice havia se perdido em meio ao seu próprio fluxo de consciência, estética e estilo, algo que não senti em seus trabalhos anteriores. Por essas e outras, foi uma leitura árdua, forçada, com poucos pontos de prazer. Para mim, a clássica complexidade de Clarice se tornou, nesse contexto, difícil pelas próprias armadilhas montadas pela escritora. A monotonia de Berna, de onde Clarice escreveu o livro, se juntou a de Lucrécia Neves e de São Geraldo. Não sem razões, o próprio Benjamin Moser, seu biógrafo, definiu o livro como 'desanimadoramente difícil de ler'.
Escrito em 1948, o livro foi recusado por, pelo menos, duas casas editoriais antes de ser publicado pela 'A Noite', editora responsável pelo lançamento de 'Perto do Coração Selvagem'. As recusas já haviam entristecido Clarice, mas foi o fracasso de 'A Cidade Sitiada' (seguido de um prévio fracasso de 'O Lustre') que a colocaram em um estado de desânimo intenso. Sérgio Milliet, respeitado crítico da época, julgou o livro como: "um enleamento da escritora na própria teia de imagens preciosistas" — a minha exata percepção.
Parecia, ao meu ver, que Clarice havia se perdido em meio ao seu próprio fluxo de consciência, estética e estilo, algo que não senti em seus trabalhos anteriores. Por essas e outras, foi uma leitura árdua, forçada, com poucos pontos de prazer. Para mim, a clássica complexidade de Clarice se tornou, nesse contexto, difícil pelas próprias armadilhas montadas pela escritora. A monotonia de Berna, de onde Clarice escreveu o livro, se juntou a de Lucrécia Neves e de São Geraldo. Não sem razões, o próprio Benjamin Moser, seu biógrafo, definiu o livro como 'desanimadoramente difícil de ler'.
cielllo's review
fascinated by externalism, the relationship between the City and the Girl, her dreams, and woman-animal mutations but this fascination and joy remain very technical. on a technical level, enjoyable but i technically didn't enjoy that deeply?
eufoeria's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
brenommk's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
topfife's review against another edition
4.0
After picking at this a couple of times, 5 or 10 distracted pages here and there, I foolishly decided to clear the majority of Clarice’s City today. Exhausted now from the most unforgiving book of hers I have read: full of layered, dreams, narration of an internal life struggling to be real.
jake_'s review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
There are some interesting scenes expressing the importance of the gaze, of subjective reality, of the male gaze in particular, and moments of Woolf-esque modernist introspection, but I'm sorry to say that not only does it not come together, it is very far from coming together.
This was my first Lispector novel simply because the library had a copy. I won't abandon Lispector just yet - I think we got off on the wrong foot...
This was my first Lispector novel simply because the library had a copy. I won't abandon Lispector just yet - I think we got off on the wrong foot...
busco's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5