G.
H., a well-to-do Rio sculptress, enters the room of her maid, which is as clear and white as in an insane asylum from which dangerous objects have been removed . There she sees a cockroach crawling out of the wardrobe and, panicking, slams the door on it. Her irresistible fascination with the dying insect provokes a spiritual crisis, in which she questions her place in the universe and her very identity, propelling her towards an act of shocking transgression.
Review: Brilliant ... Lispector should be on the shelf with Kafka and Joyce Los Angeles Times One of the twentieth century s most mysterious writers -- Orhan Pamuk The premier Latin American woman prose writer of this century The New York Times Book Review