Here we are, week 8. Wow, wow, wow. For this week, I chose to read The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector (who, I can’t lie, has a sick-sounding) and, if I’m very honest, I’m not sure if I have that much to say about it. Maybe I still have a very juvenile taste, but I generally tend to gravitate towards books in which the story is very clear and more obvious. Although I understand the appeal of a novel where the story is a little bit more abstract and unique, but for me, it always has made it harder for me to really be able to connect and immerse myself into the book and its story.

The Hour of the Star starts off quite slow, with a pretty lengthy build-up to the actual introduction of the main character, Macabéa, whose name took even longer to figure out. All from the narrator’s point-of-view, Rodrigo S.M., Macabéa is introduced as a 19 year old girl originating from the poor neighbour of Alagoas who was now staying in Rio de Janeiro. The more is revealed about Macabéa’s life, the more you realize how dull and mundane a lot of it is, despite her lingering tooth-ache of course In a lot of ways, I felt like I related to Macabéa, as she is often described as someone who is easily pleased and that she does not have crazy huge aspirations compared to her peers. I’m sure I’m not alone in this but I’ve always had the tendency to describe myself as someone who does not have huge goals or milestones i wish to reach in life and that small little things or experiences are often what makes me happy and satisfied with life. Although I live a very experience-focused life, I’m pleased with them whether their big or small and I feel like Macabéa might view life in a very similar way. Her mind-set might be a result of her socio-economic status growing up where-as, for me, I was very  fortunate my upbringing and I still am situation now. In addition, I thought even smaller details, like her diet of hot-dogs and Coca Cola,brought up closer together as well. Although I’m a vegetarian, a hot-dog and coke combo is crazy good; Macabéa, girl, you were onto something.

Jokes aside, I truly did enjoy this slightly different style of writing in which the power of the narrator was so obviously shown while still being bound by not being to cross a “hidden fatal line”, showing that even he doesn’t have full control of the story. His vocalized nervousness and excitement for the future of Macabéa’s life almost made me feel like Rodrigo was watching this play out instead of writing it himself.

Anyways, my question for this week is what role did Macabéa’s short and abrupt ending have in telling her story? What about the context of her death tells us more about her and of her life within the story being told by Rodrigo?