When I first read the stories in Soulstorm, they shocked me. When a reader is young, a constant stream of discovery flows through one‘s reading life, but after one has “read everything” (an utter impossibility, but nonetheless a persistent literary feeling) the authors that constitute a major discovery flood one with a special kind of hopefulness I cannot explain who believes they will find a new best friend after fifty? But it happens. (Mar.I discovered the work of Clarice Lispector rather late in life. This is a haunting family fable, and will fascinate those seeking a glimpse at Lispector’s genius in development. Told mainly through Virginia’s associative, stream-of-consciousness thoughts, which are occasionally interrupted by dialogue and plot developments, the novel clearly precedes Lispector’s artistic breakthrough with books like 1964’s The Passion According to G.H. As a young adult, Virginia leaves the farm and attempts to fit in with a ravishing crew of aesthetes led by the vain Vicente, who becomes her lover-but her thoughts are always turning back to Daniel, whose engagement breaks Virginia’s heart, leading her to question her identity she wonders if she isn’t like the family’s chandelier, above everything and swinging first one way, then the other. They witness a drowning and form the Society of Shadows to explore the forest around their home and spy on their sister Esmeralda. As children, sensitive Daniel and precocious Virginia live at the parochial Quiet Farm in the principality of Upper Marsh Daniel keeps a collection of spiders, and Virginia spends her time making clay figurines. Never before translated into English, Lispector’s mysterious second novel tells the story of two siblings and the secrets that bind them together.
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