Lispector - The Hour of The Star

At first, Lispector's The Hour of the Star confused me a little bit because the "author" was writing as he was thinking which tripped me out. But as I read more of it, it became normal that there was an author that acted as another character in the story, while Lispector is the real author. I could tell it was written as the author was going because sometimes the author would just ramble on and then abruptly goes back to the girl's story. However, this made me even more curious of the story -- because of the unique writing style. 

The narrator, Rodrigo S. M., described Macabea as an "infant-girl" (74) near the end of the book, which, looking back now previously to how she thought and acted, it made sense. Because her parents passed away when she was young, she was not truly taught basic principles in life. For instance, she easily believes in anything, especially the radio (29). She learned most of her random "facts" from the radio and ads like "there were seven billion people in the world" (49). She is also "childish" (infant-girl) in a way that if she believed something, that thing must be true. For instance, "she believed in angels, and because she believed in them, they existed" (31). Additionally, she didn't believe in death simply because she was alive (28). I found this interesting because I'm not sure how she came to that conclusion. Did she believe that because she simply did not know? Or maybe because her brain was so underdeveloped that she truly is clueless about most things in the world. (Please comment what you think). She collected all these fun facts and the first time she told anyone in the book about them is when she met Olimpico.

I think Macabea was truly in love with Olimpico since she thought they were alike. Also, maybe because it was the first time she actually liked a guy. However, Olimpico actually pissed me off because why was he so mean to Macabea. Whenever she told him facts she learned from the radio he would just say, "I don't believe you." Or when she was singing her favourite song, he said, "you sound like a mute trying to sing. You’ve got a voice like a split cane" (43). I felt so bad for her because she genuinely liked him. He also talked so much about himself and how great he was/will be every single time which annoyed me.

One thing I found interesting was Macabea's diet consisting of hotdogs and Coca-cola. I would think she would drink a lot of water since coke seems like almost a delicacy which would cost a lot. It really surprised me how water was not in her diet.

Lastly, the ending was so tragic. I already knew she was going to pass away, but that was so sudden. When she went to the fortune teller, I had a suspicion that Gloria told the teller about Macabea's life which is why it was accurate. Though, when she kept going about how she was going to be successful, I felt hopeful for Macabea. (Explosion) Then she got hit by that damn Mercedes. I was genuinely shocked when this happened. I'm curious, did you think Macabea's death truly saved her (from life?) as the narrator stated?

Side note: I think Macabea's name is so pretty despite Olimpico saying it sounded like a disease.

Discussion Question: Why do you think Macabea was so "gullible?" For instance, believing everything on the radio, and believing angels exist simply because she believed they did. Another one is believing death is not real simply because she is alive.