Books on Brazil

Before I left home, I purchased some books about Brazil to take with me. I haven't been able to do as much reading as I'd thought I might, but what I've read so far has enriched my understanding of where I am and what I'm seeing.

Little Star of Bela Lua, by Luana Monteiro (HarperCollins, 2006). The author was born in Recife and raised in Boa Viagem, the neighborhood where my hotel is. She now lives in Madison, Wisconsin, and writes in English. This book, her first, is a collection of connected short stories about the Pernambuco region. It combines realistic descriptions of the area with portrayals of the interior landscape of the people of this region, their history, spiritual lives, and the collision of rural and urban cultures.

A Death in Brazil, by Peter Robb (Picador, 2005). I'm still reading this one, but it turns out to be more locally relevant than I had realized. In the foreground is the story of Brazilian politics in the 20th century, including the rise of current president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. He was born and raised in a small town in the interior of Pernambuco, and his political rival, previous president Fernando Collor, came from Alagoas, the state just south of Pernambuco. But Robb also discusses the history, culture, and cuisine of Brazil, as well as his own experiences here. He calls Brazil "the oddest and most thrilling country in the Western Hemisphere" (p. 43).

Brazil, by John Updike (Random House, 1994). I haven't read any Updike in a while, and I found this adaptation of the Tristan story both intriguing and infuriating. Perhaps it was Updike's foray into a kind of magical realism that annoyed me (because it seemed too convenient for the plot), but the identity themes of rich and poor, black and white, male and female are certainly important to understanding this country. Here's a review from the New York Times, the year that it was published.

I also purchased, but have not had time to do more than glance at, The Brazilians, by Joseph A. Page (Da Capo Press, 1995), and The Brazil Reader: History, Culture, Politics, edited by Robert M. Levine and John J. Crocitti (Duke University Press, 1999). Well, I've got a fair amount of time in airplanes and airports coming up, so I should be well prepared.