Eszter, a successful actress, had a lousy childhood. Not only has she not gotten over it, but she can’t stop thinking about it, turning it over in herEszter, a successful actress, had a lousy childhood. Not only has she not gotten over it, but she can’t stop thinking about it, turning it over in her mind until it seems like it will consume her. We could sub-title this book “A Memoir of Unhappiness.”
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Eszter grew up in Budapest in the early 1950s, so we imagine things were indeed tough after WW II. She came from such poverty that as her feet grew she had to cut off the fronts of her shoes so they would fit her.
They were known as ‘the mad lawyer’s people.’ Her father made little money because he gave everyone free legal advice and the other lawyers made fun of him. Her mother gave piano lessons so, from a young age, Eszter felt like the family slave, doing all the cooking, shopping and cleaning.
She never felt loved by her parents and, perhaps because of that, could never love anyone else. Here are two quotes to illustrate that theme and show the style of writing:
“When my father died it was already something I suspected, but when my mother went I knew for certain how utterly insignificant I had been to them: the only important people in their lives were each other. I could sing and recite poems to them, but however desperately I tried to attract their attention I never succeeded for more than a moment: they were interested only in each other, they had no surplus feeling to share with anyone else, and certainly not with me.”
“…nobody loved me; it seemed the most natural thing in the world that no-one should, it never surprised me and I was never offended by the thought; instead I was rather amazed when anyone was drawn to me...”
Eszter hung out with a beautiful best female friend whose family owned a restaurant and had maids. A budding romance ends when a boy tells her “You love Angela.” Actually her relationship with Angela was filled with jealousy and envy of the other girl’s wealth. At times it seems that she hung out with Angela because Angela’s father took pity on her and let her get decent meals for free at his restaurant.
I liked the writing but not the story. Too much bitching and moaning. As she jumps around, in what I will call this memoir of unhappiness, I found the timeline confusing and I wasn’t sure when events had happened.
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This Hungarian author’s books (the four translated into English) all have very high ratings on GR (more than 4.0). But I’ll give this one a ‘3.’ This is my third book by Szabo and I much preferred The Door and Abigail.
This novel was first published in 1959 when post-WW II Hungary was under communist control. Although Szabo (1917-2007) won some Hungarian literary awards, her writings eventually ran afoul of ‘socialist realism.’ She ran into censorship problems, lost her day job, and her literary awards were retracted.
Top photo taken in Budapest in 1953. From pestbuda.hu The author from booksandcakes on wordpress.com ...more
Poor Macabéa, a girl who has been dealt such bad cards by life. There isn't a lot of traditional plot. It's simply the story of this young woman. She Poor Macabéa, a girl who has been dealt such bad cards by life. There isn't a lot of traditional plot. It's simply the story of this young woman. She never knew her parents who died of typhoid when she was two. She was raised by a stern aunt who had no real interest in her or affection for her. As a girl she would kiss the wall to get a kind of substitute affection.
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This is a typical book by Lispector in the sense that it consists of intense inner monologues and streams of consciousness by her characters, but in this book, a novella of 90 pages, these features are in fairly short passages.
The book is a meta-novel in the sense that the narrator is a supposed author (a male) who is writing the book about our anti-heroine and her hard nondescript life. The fictional author explains to the reader why he is writing the novel and discusses the literary choices he makes in this story as he goes along. In the afterword we are told that Lispector frequently explored her creative process during the narration as she does in this book. Since it’s a novella, I guess we can call it a ‘meta-novella.’
At various times we hear Macabéa called 'simple-witted' and 'inept for living.' “… she did not think about God, nor did God think about her.”
The girl works as a low-paid typist and lives in a rooming house with four other young women in the Rio slums. Her typing skills are poor and she is under threat of dismissal. She has no friends and hardly any interaction even with the women she lives with.
No one ever gave her a gift in her life. She owns no warm clothing and shivers in thin clothes in winter. She is often called ugly. She is skinny, perhaps anorexic. She doesn't bathe frequently and smells. She seldom eats anything besides hotdogs and Coca-Cola. She does not know what spaghetti is. She doesn't know how to use cosmetics and she can't afford them anyway.
“…and yet it was in her nature to be happy.” She is thrilled to borrow some instant coffee and boiling water from the landlord.
We are told several times that the girl is originally from northeast Brazil. People there live hardscrabble lives, and in the past, sometimes starved. That is the poorest part of Brazil and almost everyone from that region is of mixed race. All these things are mentioned several times in the novel. “Truly she seems to have been conceived from some vague notion in the minds of her starving parents.”
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The author (Lispector) was born in that region and when she wrote this book near the end of her life we are told she started making trips back to the area because she was overcome with nostalgia for where she grew up. (Not that her family was among those starving: her family sent her to college and law school.) Many of the young girls from that area became prostitutes in the big Brazilian cities.
The author’s brilliant writing shows throughout the book. You could take many philosophical nuggets that the author gives us as one-liners in the book and make them into wall posters or something that you might post on Facebook. Some examples:
“Happiness? I have never come across a more foolish word, invented by all those unfortunate girls from northeastern Brazil.”
“Everything in the world began with a yes.”
“I only achieve simplicity with enormous effort.”
“So long as I have questions to which there are no answers, I shall go on writing.”
“How does one start at the beginning, if things happen before they actually happen?”
In an afterword, the translator discusses various meanings we can ascribe to the book. I lean toward it being about the psychological consequences of poverty aggravated by perverse twists of fortune. Hour of the Star was good, but I liked her Near to the Wild Heart better, so I gave it a ‘4.’
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In 1943 the author burst onto the literary stage in Brazil at the age of 23 with the publication of her first novel, Near to the Wild Heart. It won Brazil’s most prestigious literary award. I reviewed that one and have it in my favorites.
Lispector was born in 1920 in Ukraine to Jewish parents but came to Brazil as an infant. One critic called her “the most important Jewish writer since Kafka.” She died from cancer in 1977 when she was only 57.
Top photo of favelas of Brazil from panoramas.pitt.edu Street Market, Rua do Lavradio, painting by Jader on novica.com The author from irishtimes.com
A celebration of life among the African and mulatto population of the favelas of northeast Brazil in the 1960s. These poverty-stricken folks somehow mA celebration of life among the African and mulatto population of the favelas of northeast Brazil in the 1960s. These poverty-stricken folks somehow manage to survive and to enjoy life while they are at it.
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Many of these folks are con men, thieves and prostitutes but they are good-hearted. You do whatever you can to get by even if it means running a crooked dice game or a scam.
There are three main episodes that structure the flow of the book. The first is the marriage of a playboy to a former prostitute. (view spoiler)[ The marriage is short and mistaken. (hide spoiler)]
The second event focuses on the complexities of a Catholic christening while the ostensible godparents are stand-ins for the African gods in northeast Brazil’s syncretic religious culture.
A third theme is the appropriation of private land and the subsequent battles with the police and government. The squatters fight to earn the right to stay in the shanties they constructed.
These pages are populated by well-developed, believable and lovable characters who remind us what life is all about.
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The author (1912-2001) was a famous Brazilian writer and several of his 30 novels, translated from Portuguese, are considered modern classics. He is best known for novels such as Dona Flora and Her Two Husbands and Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon. (In his picture, doesn’t Amado looks like a cross between Walter Cronkite and Albert Einstein?!) I’ve enjoyed and reviewed Gabriela and Home is the Sailor.
[Revised, pictures and shelves added 5/5/23]
Favelas of Bahia from correio24horas.com.br The author from Britannica.com ...more
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