Lispector’s final work is a ghostly spiral into the heart of urban Rio through the lens of a hollow, haunted narrator and the oddly complacent subject of his fascination and observation. His subject Macabéa has every reason to be unhappy, yet continues on, resolutely ignoring her circumstances. The Hour of the Star charts these two stories as they both burn out, asking her reader to face their own notion of happiness in the face of adverse circumstances. Best read in one sitting, perhaps while also people watching.