Hello all, this week I read “Hour of the Star” by Clarice Lispector. To be honest I had my reservations about the novel before I even began reading it, it just seemed like such a short book and didn’t have much faith that there would be a lot of development on both the character or the plot and the book would either feel a bit rushed or unfinished, however I was glad to find out that this wasn’t necessarily the case, for a book with not that many pages, they were filled with emotions and even philosophical takes on life that surprised me and kept me interested in the book as it went along.
I believe part of what made this book stand out to me were the characters, for starters Macabéa, I found her circumstances to be similar to other characters in books we have read in this course, however her take on life was different, it was kind of refreshing to get that change in perspective, but even with that difference she was still a character with a lot of depth, particularly given the harsh circumstances of her life, overall that felt like a nice balance to me. The next “character isn’t really a character at all, it is the narrator, because even if the story is about Macabéaand her life and experiences, they are narrated by a male, I though Lispector’s choice to have this narrator made the book more unique and provided us with his perspective on both Macabéa and her experiences, although I will admit sometimes it seemed a bit harsh. I believed him to be the most important male presence in the book, which to be honest I also have my reservations about. Although we also have Olímpico, but after the discussion we had last week on Quimet I won’t get into the fact that he is terrible.
Macabéa’s death in the book came as a total surprise to me, which I can only assume was the goal of the author, and if so, good job, it made for an interesting twist on the book. Especially after her interaction with the fortuneteller which gave me some hope for Macabéa that her situation would change, only for her to be hit by a car and die.
Lastly, I found it really interesting that the book did not end right after Macabéa’s death, but instead went on a few more pages without her, almost as if this whole thing wasn’t about her at all and the narrator became the center of attention in the book for a moment. We got to see the narrator’s thoughts, conflicts and emotions after the event, realizing the impact she had on him.
My question for everyone is, Do you think the way Macabéa’s story was told and the perspective we are presented with would be different if the author was a woman?
Thank you for the post I really enjoyed reading it. To answer your question I don’t think that there would be major changes to the perspective we are presented other than the erasure of a few misogynistic lines. However, I actually think it’s really cool that Lispector cosplays a guy writing a girl within this novel I think it was super believable and a fun twist on Lispector’s part.
– Vibha Jayaprakash
Very cool takes on the book, I enjoyed reading a lot! To answer your question, I think that the book would not have changed too much if the Narrator was a woman.
“almost as if this whole thing wasn’t about her at all and the narrator became the center of attention in the book for a moment”
Yeah, I think the narrator gets distracted often, and perhaps he even thinks it’s all about him. Who indeed is the more important character (of any gender)? I think a case could be made either way.
I loved reading your take on the book. I do agree that the narration is what made the book so much more interesting. Although I did find it confusing at times. I think the idea of a book written by a woman from the perspective of a man on a woman’s story gave me lots of mixed feelings just like you pointed out!