Água Viva (New Directions Books)

By: Clarice Lispector

Narrated by: Elizabeth Liang

Lispector at her most philosophically radical.

A meditation on the nature of life and time, Água Viva (1973) shows Lispector discovering a new means of writing about herself, more deeply transforming her individual experience into a universal poetry. In a body of work as emotionally powerful, formally innovative, and philosophically profound as Clarice Lispector’s, Água Viva stands out as a particular triumph.

©1973 The Heirs of Clarice Lispector, Stefan Tobler (translation), Benjamin Moser (introduction) (P)2022 New Directions Publishing Corp.

Amazing read!

Incredibly unique style of writing, i loved it. Takes you to another dimension. So happy I discovered Clarice Lispector.

Occasionally sublime, frequently not her best

The most erratic of her works I've studied. Clarice is a shaman, a visionary writer, and this brief work does transport us to a different reality on occasion, but it also gets bogged down in the pedestrian details that make life so much of an ordeal.
This one is for those who are driven to study every single one of her works.
Her best is "The Passion According to G. H.".

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"porque uno puede ser lo que sea, ser muy estudiado, rezar todos los dias pero no hay nada tan tenaz como esa bola negra que se instala en la barriga cuando el miedo no quiere salir. Se puede pensar en otra cosa, obligar a la cabeza a irse a otra parte pero siempre uno acaba volviendo sobre el miedo, rebotando sobre el, con un golpe que levanta todos los pelos del cuerpo."

Surprisingly Hypnotic

Beautiful narration. Liang clarifies and elevates what otherwise might be Lispector at her most inscrutable.

Could not get hooked

I really wanted to like this book but it honestly felt like a waste of time. It could have been half of the length and still communicated the same message.