A Portrait of Neglect, abuse and exploitation: "Hour of The Star"

This book is utter confusion. At the first half of the book, I was super confused about what I was even reading. I could barely make out the situations that were being described in the book in my head and just couldn't grasp what the book was even talking about. There were times where the author (Lispector) wrote herself into the story which made it difficult to understand who's perspective I was reading as she would just rant about Macabea and her thoughts and suddenly come back to the story. Reading it was pretty depressing but, I was trying to empathize why she became the way she did.

Macabea's life story felt like she was a side character to her own story. Her life is marked by a series of mundane routines and chance encounters, each seemingly devoid of significance. Both her parents passed away pretty early on in her life and her aunt raised her throughout her childhood. She became a symbol of oppression and abuse in Macabea's life shaping how she thought even when she was an adult. Despite the constant neglect and exploitation, she remained resilient, smiling and pushing through every obstacle she encountered even when those obstacles clearly were unfair. She internalizes her aunt's harsh judgements  and begins to see herself as inadequate and worthless. Her aunt as well realized the only thing that she enjoyed at that point of her life was guava with cheese as a snack and sometimes her aunt took that away just to mentally abuse her even more.

She later met this guy named Olimpico, who treated her horrendously. When she sang her favorite song, he told her to be quiet as she sounded like a mute trying to sing. He also manipulates her to support him financially exploiting her. I feel like this all traces back to how her auntie abused her and she just smiles through it, proven by how she just allows Olimpico to treat her like garbage and exploit her. The nail in the coffin was Olimpico just tossing her aside for her more beautiful and attractive coworker Gloria. Even after all that, she just accepted it as it is and just smiled thought all this torment and abuse.

One thing I found interesting, yet confusing, was how the writer gives her own comments and thoughts throughout the novel. Initially, it was very confusing but as I kept on reading, it felt pretty unique and brought a certain charm that kept me reading.

Discussion Question: How does Macabea's relationship with her abusive aunt shape her sense of self-worth and identity throughout the novel?