The Hour of the Star - Clarice Lispector, Giovanni Pontiero
So she protected herself from death by living less, consuming so little of her life that she’d never run out.
(p. 24).



What a strange, short book. I'm not entirely sure if I enjoyed the story or not, but I did really enjoy the prose. There are many hauntingly beautiful sentences; I had to take a moment to savor them. 

You end up feeling for Macabéa and her rather pathetic life. The narration style is bizarre but it sort of works well? It jumps a lot between perspectives and offers a lot of commentaries that can be distracting. You have to be in a certain mood to enjoy it.

Quotes I enjoyed
"Thinking is an act. Feeling is a fact." (p. 3).

"Those who wonder are incomplete." (p. 7). 

"I am well aware that each day is a day stolen from death." (p. 8). 

"She thought she’d incur serious punishment and even risk dying if she took too much pleasure in life." (p. 24).