Book #44

Daydream and Drunkenness of a Young Lady by Clarice Lispector

'The morning became a long, drawn-out afternoon that became depthless night dawning innocently through the house'

Tales of desire and madness from this giant of Brazilian literature.

I have quite severe mixed feelings about this one. In places, I found the rhythm and felt myself flowing along with Lispector’s prose. In others, I was adrift in a jangly sea of oddly placed words and sentences; am I to blame, or is the translation? Many think the latter, but I honestly don’t know.

What’s clear is the sense conveyed of women living unsatisfying lives, the feeling of missing one’s purpose completely, the idea of wasted time. Some of it explained beautifully, some of it thrown at me in a confusing fashion.

A game of dodgeball amongst the poppy fields - possibly worth another try in a few years.