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Where to start reading Clarice Lispector

Where to start reading Clarice Lispector

by Benjamin Moser and Lois Neville

18 December 2025

min read

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Photography credit: Paulo Gurgel Valente

Experimental novelist and short story writer Clarice Lispector was a Jewish girl born in a tiny town in western Ukraine in 1920, during a horrifying Russian attempt to reconquer the country. She and her family arrived in Brazil as penniless refugees yet, from her teenage years, Lispector’s genius made her one of the country's great mythic figures.

The once-obscure writer is now widely known by English-speaking readers, yet many feel guilty that they haven’t yet read her work. If you fall into that camp, there’s no judgement here: it can be daunting knowing where to start with such a prolific author.

That’s where we can help. For those brand-new to her work and looking for a place to start, here are our recommendations for where to begin with Clarice Lispector.

Which Clarice Lispector book should I read first?

The Hour of the Star (1977)

Although The Hour of the Star was the last book Lispector published in her lifetime, we recommend it as the best place to start. It’s short, first of all, at less than 100 pages, and can be read in an hour or two, making it one of the most accessible books to read first.

Exploring themes of social invisibility, loneliness, and self-awareness, The Hour of the Star is a deeply introspective story that is masterfully told. The novel follows Macabéa, a typist living in poverty in Rio de Janeiro, and is narrated by the character Rodrigo S.M., who interrupts his own narrative to question the ethics of telling someone else’s story.

At a glance: Considered the easiest Clarice Lispector book to start with, this short novel packs a punch with its devastating but thoughtful narrative. It’s a great introduction to Lispector that touches on common themes found throughout her work without feeling like you’ve been thrown in the deep end.

The best Clarice Lispector books to read next

The Complete Stories (2015)

If you enjoyed The Hour of the Star, we recommend reading The Complete Stories next as it’s more accessible than some of her more experimental writing but still explores complex themes. The short story collection illustrates many key aspects of Lispector’s work: her ceaseless meditations on God and life and death, alongside her humour, her linguistic experimentation, and her uncanny ability to capture every nuance of human feeling.

The Complete Stories collates Lispector’s writing from adolescence all the way through to the final sketches she left incomplete at her untimely death. What’s more, with over 80 stories to read, including from her celebrated collection Family Ties, you can dip in and out without losing the narrative thread.

At a glance: The Complete Stories is the comprehensive resource for Lispector’s short work. Throughout the collection, you can witness her skill progress and crystallise as she tackles the themes of consciousness, identity, and gender through lyrical language and deep introspection.

Near the Wild Heart (1943)

Lispector’s debut novel, Near the Wild Heart, illustrates how she was such a creative force from the get-go. This modernist work uses a stream-of-consciousness narrative to explore our protagonist, Joana’s, inner life. Not so much a coming-of-age story, Near the Wild Heart focuses on Joana’s feelings, thoughts, and desires as she moves into adulthood, rather than on external events that affect her path.

Written when Lispector was only 23, this novel is a nexus for the themes and style that she would hone throughout her writing career: identity, subjectivity, perception, and lyricism.

At a glance: Near the Wild Heart demonstrates Lispector’s skill from a relatively young age in exploring human subjectivity through language. The book remains thought-provoking over 80 years since it was published.

The Passion According to G.H. (1964)

Considered Lispector’s masterpiece, The Passion According to G.H. has a clear set-up: a wealthy woman, who we only know as G.H., goes into her maid’s room and finds a cockroach in the wardrobe. However, from here, her monologue tailspins as she becomes increasingly obsessed with the cockroach and subsequently experiences an existential crisis, as language and selfhood come apart at the seams.

Although many of us have had a big emotional reaction when surprised by a cockroach, the reaction of the narrator in The Passion According to G.H. takes the proverbial cake. The concept of one inconsequential event leading to the profound unravelling of a character is both captivating and terrifying, especially when paired with the existential thread that runs through this story.

At a glance: The Passion According to G.H. is often considered Lispector’s best work. It’s an experiment that pairs philosophy and mysticism together to create something deeply hypnotic. It asks what happens to us when the structures we use to understand ourselves are taken away. Put your thinking cap on for this one.

The Apple in the Dark (1961)

Next, we recommend delving deeper into Lispector’s experimentation by reading The Apple in the Dark, a mysterious and unforgettable description of — what? If you can call it a story, it’s the story of a man who, expelled from his previous life, ends up working on a farm. The theme, if you can call it a theme, is about how we are created and destroyed by language. The one thing we can say with absolute certainty is that it’s unlike any book you’ve ever read.

At a glance: The Apple in the Dark is one of Lispector’s most experimental works. What initially appears as a crime novel is actually a philosophical exercise in exploring the nature of humanity when language is a finite tool. Prepare for your brain to be warped and reshaped – but in a highly satisfying way.

Água Viva (1973)

Translating to ‘living water’ or ‘jellyfish’, Água Viva sees Lispector at the peak of her experimentation, making it the perfect follow-up read to The Apple in the Dark. The story sees an unnamed artist narrator attempt to capture the essence of the present, ‘the now’. There is no traditional structure. The writing here is a direct address to ‘you’. There are no chapters, no sections, just continuous paragraphs that meditate on the fluidity of experience, the failures of language to fully explain it, and the transcendent nature of time.

Written with her trademark lyricism and bursting with radical and abstract thought, Água Viva lives up to the fluidity of its title.

At a glance: Scratch that intellectual brain itch with Água Viva, which sees Lispector take an introspective dive into exploring time, consciousness, and the structures we use to try and make sense of it.

Too Much of Life (2018)

This is Clarice Lispector, Olympian. To hear the voice of the down-to-earth mother and housewife that she always insisted she was, read Too Much of Life, a collection of the short journalism she published every Saturday toward the end of her life in a Rio de Janeiro newspaper. This is the voice that made her something more than a great writer. For her readers, she was a confidant, a listening ear, a beloved friend.

At a glance: Too Much of Life is a fantastic way to put Lispector’s work into context as it gives us a glimpse into the writer behind the words. Reading her journalism after her fiction only adds further richness and depth to what you have already explored.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Clarice Lispector important?

A stalwart in modernist and experimental literature, Clarice Lispector is important in her exploration of abstract concepts, such as time, perception, subjectivity, and human feelings. Her use of literary techniques such as stream-of-consciousness narration, interior monologues, and fragmented prose, combined with deeply lyrical language, creates a captivating and intimate reading experience.

Why is Clarice Lispector considered a difficult writer?

Some of Lispector’s more experimental work is quite challenging, earning her a reputation as a difficult writer. However, this largely comes down to her writing in a style that doesn’t follow the typical structure many of us are used to. Her focus is less on plots and more on exploring the interior worlds of her characters. But don’t let this put you off. Just be prepared to read in a different way: slow down, and let the words and ideas resonate.

Is The Passion According to G.H. too difficult for a first read?

As one of Lispector’s more experimental works, we recommend saving The Passion According to G.H. until after you have read some of her more accessible work, like The Hour of the Star or Near the Wild Heart.

That being said, The Passion According to G.H. is widely considered her best work, due to its unique, looping structure, lyrical prose and existential questioning – so it’s definitely worth reading, albeit further down the line.

Should I read Clarice Lispector's short stories or novels first?

We recommend that you start with Lispector’s shorter work, namely her shortest novel The Hour of the Star and the short story collection The Complete Stories, ahead of anything longer. They’re a little more accessible for first-time readers, whilst still providing a sense of her style and key themes. Think of them as a litmus test!

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