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ericbrasiln's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
chillcox15's review
5.0
Some of the best books read like horny Dr. Bronner's containers. This is one of them.
sloatsj's review
3.0
Very interesting book, wonderful writing with some exceptional passages of depth and confusion.
alectastic's review
4.0
"One day I was told: your metaphysical obsessions are of no interest to us, Madame D, let's speak of man here and now. how intelligent these people are, how modern, obscene, their big excited asses in front of their television sets, avid for fresh news, two or three modernists controlling the world, gold pouring out through deodorized holes, a vibrant modernist logorrhea, the beautiful relaxation, legs crossed oh so relaxedly in front of the video, the soul shhhh! death shhhh! Let us speak of the hear and now."
Madame D is biting back, but at what, I can't say. The book is dizzying, the words torrential. I finished it in one sitting, which seems the best way to read it. Hilst has a wild relationship with words and the sentence, as well as the formation of characters and their thoughts. The book illuminates dark corners of the mind's world. The book reads like thoughts.
Madame D is biting back, but at what, I can't say. The book is dizzying, the words torrential. I finished it in one sitting, which seems the best way to read it. Hilst has a wild relationship with words and the sentence, as well as the formation of characters and their thoughts. The book illuminates dark corners of the mind's world. The book reads like thoughts.
klimts15thchild's review
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
cais's review
5.0
“I looked for you, Without-End and Enduring, in so many gestures words steps, I lingered in a mouth, sinuous curve, thickness, savor, what soul does this mouth have?"
A succinct description of this book would be to call it a brief glimpse into a woman's increasingly unhinged mind. This is not inaccurate. It's essential to mention the wild grief at the heart of this book, a confrontation of love and sex mixed up with God, our animal nature, our inevitable decay.
For such a slim book there are many layers here. Hilst's writing is incredible, visceral, our human flesh and blood and filth as a way to seek out or understand the divine.
A succinct description of this book would be to call it a brief glimpse into a woman's increasingly unhinged mind. This is not inaccurate. It's essential to mention the wild grief at the heart of this book, a confrontation of love and sex mixed up with God, our animal nature, our inevitable decay.
For such a slim book there are many layers here. Hilst's writing is incredible, visceral, our human flesh and blood and filth as a way to seek out or understand the divine.
greeniezona's review
challenging
5.0
Someone I follow on Instagram posted about one of the books in this trilogy, calling it "horny chaotic homosexual amoral mayhem" and I was on the publisher's website putting together an order minutes later. That description did a lot of the work, but also I'd been meaning to read more Hilda Hilst since I read and loved With My Dog Eyes.
Like With My Dog Eyes, reading this book is bewildering, but it is intentionally bewildering. If you don't read this, thinking, "I, too, don't understand the eye, the body, the bloody logic of days, what are a house..." then you may be a little too well adjusted and this book is probably not for you.
Listen. There are plenty of books out there featuring "what even is life?" kinds of crises. But this is a crisis that is embodied. A crisis of sex, of blood, of excrement. It is also in community -- with a husband, with neighbors, with an entire community. Which is so much more interesting to me than the young man abroad with no tangible roots or serious responsibilities or meaningful ties pondering existence.
Reading this is bit like a fear dream -- it has a propulsive pace and a non-standard structure that will sometimes make you back up to try to parse out who is "speaking" and entangled strands of imagery and abrupt shifts in timeline and it is impossible to put down.
Absolutely captivating.
Like With My Dog Eyes, reading this book is bewildering, but it is intentionally bewildering. If you don't read this, thinking, "I, too, don't understand the eye, the body, the bloody logic of days, what are a house..." then you may be a little too well adjusted and this book is probably not for you.
Listen. There are plenty of books out there featuring "what even is life?" kinds of crises. But this is a crisis that is embodied. A crisis of sex, of blood, of excrement. It is also in community -- with a husband, with neighbors, with an entire community. Which is so much more interesting to me than the young man abroad with no tangible roots or serious responsibilities or meaningful ties pondering existence.
Reading this is bit like a fear dream -- it has a propulsive pace and a non-standard structure that will sometimes make you back up to try to parse out who is "speaking" and entangled strands of imagery and abrupt shifts in timeline and it is impossible to put down.
Absolutely captivating.
belwau's review
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0