Family Ties

Clarice Lispector is today considered the best Brazilian woman writer and FAMILY TIES is her most famous story collection. She has a very special way of showing the hidden side of every day experience, or the uncommon experience a seemingly commonplace situation may bring. Her characters are usually,children, animals and women specially houseviwes.The monotony of the every day routine of clarician women is suddenly interrupted by a very comon event, which however illuminates their perception of themselves and of life. In the short story "Love" the ephiphany happens, when the main character Ana sees a blind man chewing gum. The title story "Family Ties" tells the story of a family, where the menbers are suddenly faced with a feling of the emptiness of family ties."The Bufallo" is about a love frustrated woman, who goes to the zoo,in search of an animal, able to be a counterpart to her intense hatred. In short, the stories of FAMILY TIES,reverse the idea of cosyness and security the word "ties" may suggest,exploring rather its darker meaning, the feeling of boundage and the issuing conflicts produced not only by family ties but by human ties in general.I suggest the book to be added to the special list of recomended short stories for the participants of the PEN AWARD.