Near to the Wild Heart opens with a scene of the child Joana playing in the garden, making up poems for her father. Joana's wildness and barely suppressed violence, along with her linguistic creativity, are her most notable features. She is frequently compared to animals: over the course of the book Lispector compares her to a bird, a snake, a wildcat, a horse, and a dog. She commits transgressive acts—as a child she throws a book at an old man's head, for example, and as a married woman she leaves her husband, Otávio, and greets the news of his adultery—he has made another woman, his
A Woman, Her Men, and Her Futon of a gnat who wavers between kindness and ruthless self-interest; she's not all that smart but she's capable of shrewdness. Now in [Michael] Sibay's thoughtful, engaging "A Woman, Her Men and Her Futon" . . Rubin plays Helen, a far more intelligent and complex young woman. When we meet Helen, two months have passed since she left her husband. She's found a new place, a new job (at a music video company) and started dating. She wants a chance to discover herself, weigh her options personally and professionally, but the men in her life tend to want to be possessive