Near to the Wild Heart

By: Clarice Lispector

Narrated by: Rebecca Morris

Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

This new translation of Clarice Lispector's sensational first book tells the story of a middle class woman's life from childhood through an unhappy marriage and its dissolution to transcendence.

Near to the Wild Heart, published in Rio de Janeiro in 1943, introduced Brazil to what one writer called "Hurricane Clarice": a 23-year-old girl who wrote her first book in a tiny rented room and then baptized it with a title taken from Joyce - "He was alone, unheeded, near to the wild heart of life."

The book was an unprecedented sensation - the discovery of a genius. Narrative epiphanies and interior monologue frame the life of Joana, from her middle-class childhood through her unhappy marriage and its dissolution to transcendence, when she proclaims, "I shall arise as strong and comely as a young colt."

©2012 New Directions (P)2017 TalkingBook

The rawness of each word

Joanna's vulnerability and stillness resonated with me, and it made me eager to meet her. I enjoyed reading the book, however short, it was worth my time.

AMAZING!

Narrator did a great job with this work.Holy smokes, I want more of this.

Outstanding first effort by a genius

Her first novel written when she was 23 years old is spectacular at both the beginning and ending. Those sections concentrate on the narrator Joana, who is wonderous as a child and then as a young woman. The middle sections of the book were not up to the same standard as they described Joana's husband Octavio, and Octavio's first love. These two characters are ordinary people and their story is not compelling, whereas Joana is an extraordinary, poetic young artist on the cusp of greatness, like the author CL. Overall a remarkable first for a young Brazilian woman on her way to immortality.

Enchanting!

Any additional comments?

I would highly recommend this. Very excited to see Lispector's work finally being done in audio format. The narrator did a wonderful job with the text.

Masterpiece

Clarice Lispector is insane and wonderful, and Rebecca Morris is a great new talent. Hope to hear new book by her soon!

I love this book and the audio is great

Any additional comments?

Such a wonderful book from Clarice Lispector. Rebecca Morris sound amazing. More books by this narrator please!

Spectacular

Any additional comments?

Love it! So awesome to finally hear Lispector in audio form. the Narrator did a wonderful job as well. *****

An amazing and important first novel

"Eternity wasn't just time, but something like the deeply rooted certainty that she couldn't contain it in her body because of death; the impossibility of going beyond eternity was eternity; and a feeling in absolute almost abstract purity was also eternity."
- Clarice Lispector, Near to the Wild Heart

It is hard to put your finger on, wrap your brain around, this novel. In someways it reminds me of (and stands with) the stream of conscious writers like Joyce and Woolf. But the novel itself FEELS like Djuna Barnes' classic Nightwood. It is mysterious, lyrical, fragmented, dreamy. At heart, it feels like a brilliant, introspective girl/woman (Lispector was 23 when this book was published) working out what it means to be human, but more specifically, a woman; independent of her parents, relatives, teachers, husband, lovers, other women, motherhood, and even God.

Using philosophy, geometry, poetry, nature and intuition she examines herself from a period to a line to a triangle to a circle, and then back again. She explores the shape of herself and what it means to be alive.

Mental Onanism

Word salad about a young woman coming to believe literally that her solipsistic viewpoint is real. She waxes ecstatic describing the difference between things that exist, as opposed to things that just are. Didn't do anything for me.