An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasure by Clarice Lispector: A Review

What can I say? I'm a devoted worshipper of Clarice Lispector.

If you think that's a bit much... she definitely won't be the author for you. 

This novel was absolutely mesmerizing. She has a way with words that is unparalleled. I honestly feel like you either get her or you don't. 

Her writing DEMANDS to be reread while reading. The amount of sentences that I go back and read over and over until they settle right down into my spirit.

I realize that I need to start her novels when I have a long day or an uninterrupted night so that I can consume it from beginning to end in ONE sitting. 

Reading her works feel like a metaphysical experience and much like deep reading Proust, I am almost annoyed by the realization that I am still in the world existing and things actually make me leave the deep space and energy that is created when one reads her work.

whatever she was, was only a small part of herself. Her immeasurable soul. For she was the World and yet she was living so little. This was one of the sources of her humility and forced acceptance and also kept her weak in the face of any possibility of action.

In this novel, I found myself along this exploration of what it means to be a whole person, while thinking of how to combine your "self" with someone else.

Is this important to do? Is it necessary? Is a person capable of doing this? What does it mean to be "I"; therefore how can you entertain the thought of combining yourself or your life with someone else's?

The theme of love was pervasive throughout this novel, but it was about so so so much more than that. This quest we go on with Lorí into herself... this exploration of space and sea, and night, and rain, and loss, and love, and depression- only amalgamate into this gumbo pot of intense emotion that finalizes in a way that left me without breath.

I adore Clarice Lispector. I am a lifelong devoted fan and I will read and reread everything that she's written for the rest of my living days. Like an apprentice, I am always seeking to know more.

I suggest (if you haven't already), you pick up her entire ouvre and devour her page by page.

Happy deep reading my slow living friends.