Andrew Andrew

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 wh...

Maris Luisa Bombal's "The Shrouded Woman" blurs the line between life and death as it starts off with the protagonist, Ana Maria, narrating her own funeral. It follows her reflecting about her memories, her relationships of friends, family and lovers while lying on her deathbed surrounded by the people she knew she was alive.  I felt a bit empathetic and found myself slightly cheering for Ana Maria when she was pursuing her love for her first love, Ricardo. Despite the potential consequences she might face , she still decided to embrace her desires and pursue a romance with him. Her boldness went against the societal norms and expectations set in the mid 20th century which offered her a glimpse to what life could've been. For Ricardo, he was described as a man who was charismatic and alluring, drawing Ana Maria into a deep romance in the beginning, but it was suddenly cut short, leaving her with a sense of longing and loss. Ricardo's departure, driven by his pursu...