Stephanie Jane reviewed Too Much of Life by Margaret Jull Costa
Quirky!
4 stars
At over 800 pages, Too Much Of Life is an almost complete collection of the weekly newspaper columns that Clarice Lispector wrote for the Jornal do Brasil during the 1960s and 1970s. Unlike British newspaper columnists who usually have a particular agenda to their columns, their Brazilian counterparts had a particular style known as the cronica, or chronicle. These columns could engage in any subject in any style and, to my mind, Lispector's writing felt more like engaging in a chat with a friend over coffee than reading a newspaper column.
She leaps from subject to subject each week, and sometimes within the same week, often prompted by readers' letters or people she met. I enjoyed being introduced to Brazilian poets, authors and artists of the day, gaining insights into the then-current political situation, and simply getting to know Lispector herself. She has a particularly vivid turn of phrase and …
At over 800 pages, Too Much Of Life is an almost complete collection of the weekly newspaper columns that Clarice Lispector wrote for the Jornal do Brasil during the 1960s and 1970s. Unlike British newspaper columnists who usually have a particular agenda to their columns, their Brazilian counterparts had a particular style known as the cronica, or chronicle. These columns could engage in any subject in any style and, to my mind, Lispector's writing felt more like engaging in a chat with a friend over coffee than reading a newspaper column.
She leaps from subject to subject each week, and sometimes within the same week, often prompted by readers' letters or people she met. I enjoyed being introduced to Brazilian poets, authors and artists of the day, gaining insights into the then-current political situation, and simply getting to know Lispector herself. She has a particularly vivid turn of phrase and is sharply observant though with occasional whimsical turns too.
Each cronica is just a few pages long and they were, of course, intended to be read one a week. I found reading just one or two of an evening was the perfect way to experience Too Much Of Life. In this, the book was ideal for a month-long slow read, except that it took me much longer than the intended single month I had originally allocated!