Ok, so this week I've been reading Clarice Lispector's Near to the Wild Heart. I'm reading it alongside Catcher in the Rye which I'm re-reading for my essay on Friday. I wouldn't usually write reviews on books I've read at Uni, or ones that aren't contemporary, but this one I felt like I really should. To me, it is one of those novels that has just completely slipped from under peoples noses and should be celebrated and considered a classic!
This isn't so much a review, as me just sharing my thoughts on this incredibly well-written novel.
Here we go.
Near to the Wild Heart is told from the perspective of Joana and skips back and forth between various moments in her life: in particular, her childhood, where she lives with her father, until she is sent to her Aunt's when he dies, and when she steals a book from a shop and is sent to a boarding school, and also her adulthood, stuck in a dead-end marriage to a man who cheats on her and gets another woman pregnant while battling with her amorality and thoughts of what life truly is.
It is not that the story is mind-blowingly good, but the language Lispector uses that really is worthy of more acclaim. Every line was quotable, truly something else. The language was beautiful at times and gave Joana a really eccentric, quirky character (who you seriously would not want to mess with!)
Lispector claimed that she intentionally wrote a bad book. A lot of other people in my seminar agreed with her. But, I don't see it. I think that the book is the complete opposite. It is difficult to understand at times and Joana's character seems completely inhuman throughout, but their can be no denying the fact that this novel isn't badly written at all. For me, I love words, and so, reading something like this is just brilliant.
The novel reminded me very much of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath which is one of my faves and it should be up their with names like Plath, Joyce and Kafka.
The novel is not for everyone. I'm not suggesting you go out of your way to buy it either. Of course, I'd prefer reading The Catcher in the Rye to this - its far simpler and Holden Caulfield is far more relatable. However, if you are looking for something a bit different, with language that is just incredible, I'd say to grab a copy.
****
"She wanted even more: to be reborn always...where every tiny act had a meaning, where the air was breathed as if for the first time."
"The globe moved and she was standing on it."
"She remembered: I am the light wave that has no other field but the sea."
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