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The Passion According to G.H.

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The Passion According to G.H.

By: Clarice Lispector
Narrated by: Sofia Willingham
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About this listen

Lispector’s most shocking novel.

The Passion According to G.H., Clarice Lispector’s mystical novel of 1964, concerns a well-to-do Rio sculptress, G.H., who enters her maid’s room, sees a cockroach crawling out of the wardrobe, and, panicking, slams the door - crushing the cockroach - and then watches it die. At the end of the novel, at the height of a spiritual crisis, comes the most famous and most genuinely shocking scene in Brazilian literature....

Lispector wrote that of all her works, this novel was the one that "best corresponded to her demands as a writer."

©2012 New Directions (P)2017 TalkingBook Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction
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This is a deeply reflective and introspective book by Brazilian author Clarice Lispector from the early 1960s.
The story takes the form of a monologue from a privileged woman we only know as GH. She decides to clear out the room which was previously occupied by her maid who has recently quit.
In doing so she crushes a cockroach in the door of a wardrobe. She is appalled but fascinated by the creature, which she has never seen before, and this sparks soul searching and self examination. She evaluates her life and the decisions she has taken, including her choice to have an abortion (she describes the insects eyes as ovaries).
Her 'sense of self' breaks down, she experiences an existential crisis while all the time matter is oozing from the cockroach's head. Finally, she does something disgusting with the cockroach which I won't reveal here.

Lispector ends each chapter with a sentence which starts the next. My only criticisms are it is overwritten (as most books are) and the intensity can make it a little tedious bordering on boring.
This is a great book for readers who are happy with books where nothing happens but all life is explored. It is pensive and filled with deep thought and self analysis. Lispector chronicles and depicts the inner most thoughts of the character perceptively and graphically. It is intense, sensual, vivid and philosophical.
Sofia Willingham's expressionless voice makes it a little difficult to follow.

Deeply reflective and introspective

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This is not a normal novel. It is a highly reflective, introspective work of prose that sounds like poetry, about a woman who enters the room of her housemaid and finds her world shaken apart. The trigger is the cockroach in the wardrobe, split in half by the door. If this intrigues you, give it a try. The novel is in first person narration and both translation and performance are quite good. Don’t buy this if you are looking for a standard novel with a linear plot.

Mental breakdown or mystical experience?

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