The Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector's consummate final novel, may well be
her masterpiece. Narrated by the cosmopolitan Rodrigo S.M., this brief, strange,
and haunting tale is the story of Macab a, one of life's unfortunates. Living in
the slums of Rio and eking out a poor living as a typist, Macab a loves movies,
Coca-Cola, and her rat of a boyfriend; she would like to be like Marilyn Monroe,
but she is ugly, underfed, sickly, and unloved. Rodrigo recoils from her
wretchedness, and yet he cannot avoid the realization that for all her outward
misery, Macab a is inwardly free. She doesn't seem to