G.H., a wealthy sculptor in Rio de Janeiro, goes into her maid's room expecting dirt and finds it clean and empty. Inside the wardrobe is a cockroach. She crushes its body with the door, sees its white insides ooze out, and has an experience that dissolves her sense of self. The rest of the book is a monologue in which she tries to reconstruct what she lived through, from a first sentence that begins with a dash and ends with one.
It will interest readers of philosophical fiction, mysticism, and radical first-person writing. It is a demanding, slow book, best for those who want a text that treats language, matter, and the sacred in extreme terms.
Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a demanding read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1964
- Language
- EN
