Synopses & Reviews
A Brazilian Lord of the Flies, about a group of boys who live by their wits and daring in the slums of Bahia They call themselves “Captains of the Sands,” a gang of orphans and runaways who live by their wits and daring in the torrid slums and sleazy back alleys of Bahia. Led by fifteen-year-old “Bullet,” the band—including a crafty liar named “Legless,” the intellectual “Professor,” and the sexually precocious “Cat”—pulls off heists and escapades against the right and privileged of Brazil. But when a public outcry demands the capture of the “little criminals,” the fate of these children becomes a poignant, intensely moving drama of love and freedom in a shackled land.
Captains of the Sands captures the rich culture, vivid emotions, and wild landscape of Bahia with penetrating authenticity and brilliantly displays the genius of Brazil’s most acclaimed author.
Review
“Swift, funny, and occasionally even slapstick.” —Rivka Galchen, from the Introduction
Review
“Delightful . . . A wonder of the art of narration [by] the voice, the feeling, and the joy of Brazil.” —José Saramago, from the Foreword
Review
"Raucous . . . Rowdy . . . Outrageous!" —The New York Times
Review
“[A] comic masterpiece . . . Darkly hilarious . . . With brilliant sleight of hand and deceptive simplicity, Amado’s defiance of death in this frothy, heartfelt tale reveals the Brazilian master at his earthy, big-hearted best.” —Shelf Awareness
Review
“Cause for rejoicing . . . Irresistible . . . Thoroughly satisfying. There’s more packed into the slender
The Discovery of America by the Turks than many a novel five times its length, delivered with zest and spice and an unashamed love of physical pleasure. Perhaps more than any other author, Jorge Amado can capture in words the simple, radiant joys of living.” —
Shelf Awareness“Delightful . . . A wonder of the art of narration [by] the voice, the feeling, and the joy of Brazil.” —José Saramago, from the Foreword
Review
“Amado was writing to save his countrys soul. . . . The scenes where the captains of the sands manage to fool the rich of the city and get away with it would have made Henry Fielding or Charles Dickens proud.” —
Colm Tóibín, from the Introduction
"Amado is Brazil's most illustrious and venerable novelist."—The New York Times
“Brazils leading man of letters . . . Amado is adored around the world!” —Newsweek
Review
“Amado is Brazil’s most illustrious and venerable novelist.” —
The New York TimesReview
“Brazil’s leading man of letters . . . Amado is adored around the world!” —
NewsweekReview
"Raucous . . . Rowdy . . . Outrageous!" —
The New York Times
“Swift, funny, and occasionally even slapstick.” —Rivka Galchen, from the Introduction
“Part Virginia Woolf, part Weekend at Bernies . . . [An] excellent example of the particular mixture of folkloric elements and high-literary storytelling for which Amado is often paired with Gabriel García Márquez.” —The Wall Street Journal
"Hilarious... Deftly constructed... Hugely entertaining... Amado, like Quincas, is a hoaxer who loves to trick his readers.... [His] version of Brazil is seductive." —The Times Literary Supplement
“[A] comic masterpiece . . . Darkly hilarious . . . With brilliant sleight of hand and deceptive simplicity, Amados defiance of death in this frothy, heartfelt tale reveals the Brazilian master at his earthy, big-hearted best.” —Shelf Awareness
Review
“Funny, intelligent, often tender, not infrequently raunchy . . . The tale unfolds with twists worthy of a Shakespearean comedy, but what is truly memorable are Amado's character portraits and his vibrant comic scenes of Brazilian life. . . . [An] excellent example of the particular mixture of folkloric elements and high-literary storytelling for which Amado is often paired with Gabriel García Márquez.” —
The Wall Street Journal
“Delightful . . . A wonder of the art of narration [by] the voice, the feeling, and the joy of Brazil.” —José Saramago, from the Foreword
“Hugely entertaining . . . Amados version of Brazil is seductive.” —The Times Literary Supplement
“Cause for rejoicing . . . Irresistible . . . Thoroughly satisfying. Theres more packed into the slender The Discovery of America by the Turks than many a novel five times its length, delivered with zest and spice and an unashamed love of physical pleasure. Perhaps more than any other author, Jorge Amado can capture in words the simple, radiant joys of living.” —Shelf Awareness
Synopsis
A Brazilian Lord of the Flies, about a group of boys who live by their wits and daring in the slums of Bahia
They call themselves Captains of the Sands, a gang of orphans and runaways who live by their wits and daring in the torrid slums and sleazy back alleys of Bahia. Led by fifteen-year-old Bullet, the band including a crafty liar named Legless, the intellectual Professor, and the sexually precocious Cat pulls off heists and escapades against the right and privileged of Brazil. But when a public outcry demands the capture of the little criminals, the fate of these children becomes a poignant, intensely moving drama of love and freedom in a shackled land.
Captains of the Sands captures the rich culture, vivid emotions, and wild landscape of Bahia with penetrating authenticity and brilliantly displays the genius of Brazil s most acclaimed author.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators."
Synopsis
Along with The Discovery of America by the Turks, two masterworks by the greatest Brazilian novelist of the twentieth century, published for the centennial of his birth
Widely considered the greatest work by the foremost Brazilian author of the twentieth century, The Double Death of Quincas Water-Bray comes to Penguin Classics in a new translation by the dean of Portuguese-language translators, Gregory Rabassa. It tells the story of Joaquim Soares da Cunha, who drops dead after he abandons his life of upstanding citizenship to assume the identity of Quincas Water-Bray, a "champion drunk" and bum who is whisked along on a postmortem journey that climaxes in his loss at sea.
Synopsis
Along with The Double Death of Quincas Water-Bray, two masterworks by the greatest Brazilian novelist of the twentieth century, published for the centennial of his birth
Published here for the first time in English in a brilliant translation by the peerless Gregory Rabassa, The Discovery of America by the Turks is a whimsical Brazilian take on The Taming of the Shrew that will remind readers why Jorge Amado is to Portuguese-American literature what Jorge Luis Borges is to Spanish-American literature. It follows the adventures of two Arab immigrants—‘Turks,’ as Brazilians call them—who arrive in the rough Brazilian frontier in 1903 and become involved in a merchant’s farcical attempt to marry off his shrew of a daughter.
Synopsis
Along with The Discovery of America by the Turks, two masterworks by the greatest Brazilian novelist of the twentieth century, published for the centennial of his birth
Widely considered the greatest work by the foremost Brazilian author of the twentieth century, The Double Death of Quincas Water-Bray comes to Penguin Classics in a new translation by the dean of Portuguese-language translators, Gregory Rabassa. It tells the story of Joaquim Soares da Cunha, who drops dead after he abandons his life of upstanding citizenship to assume the identity of Quincas Water-Bray, a "champion drunk" and bum who is whisked along on a postmortem journey that climaxes in his loss at sea.
Synopsis
Along with The Double Death of Quincas Water-Bray, two masterworks by the greatest Brazilian novelist of the twentieth century, published for the centennial of his birth
Published here for the first time in English in a brilliant translation by the peerless Gregory Rabassa, The Discovery of America by the Turks is a whimsical Brazilian take on The Taming of the Shrew that will remind readers why Jorge Amado is to Portuguese-American literature what Jorge Luis Borges is to Spanish-American literature. It follows the adventures of two Arab immigrants—‘Turks,’ as Brazilians call them—who arrive in the rough Brazilian frontier in 1903 and become involved in a merchant’s farcical attempt to marry off his shrew of a daughter.
Synopsis
A Brazilian
Lord of the Flies, about a gang of orphans and runaways who live by their wits and daring in the slums of Bahia,
Captains of the Sands is a favorite among Jorge Amado’s novels. The boys—including the leader, fifteen-year-old “Bullet”; the crafty liar, “Legless”; the intellectual “Professor”; and the sexually precocious “Cat”—dodge and dupe the rich and privileged of Brazil. But when a public outcry demands their capture, thisvivid portrait of a divided culture becomes a poignant, intensely moving drama of love and freedom.
Synopsis
The great Brazilian novelist's comic masterpiece—published in a new translation for the centennial of Jorge Amado's birth
Here is the story of Joaquim Soares da Cunha, a Falstaff-like character who abandons his life of upstanding citizenship to assume the identity of Quincas Water-Bray, king of the Bahia lowlife and a "champion drunk." After a decade of revelry among bums, pimps, and prostitutes, he drops dead, and his prim family gathers for a proper burial. But when Quincas's unsavory friends show up with a bottle of rum, they whisk him along on a postmortem journey to enjoy one last party—his own wake.
Synopsis
For the first time in English: legendary Brazilian author Jorge Amado's spirited novella about Arab immigrants to South America—published for the centennial of Amado's birth
Two Arab immigrants—"Turks" as Brazilians call them—arrive in the rough Brazilian frontier on the same ship in 1903, hoping to find a future. They rub shoulders with gunslingers and plantation owners, and also tangle with merchants, one of whom is desperate to marry off his impossible daughter. Thus ensues a farcical drama that produces, in a humorous twist, the unlikeliest of suitors in this whimsical Brazilian take on The Taming of the Shrew.
Synopsis
A deftly satirical masterpiece about a man and a country caught in a violent clash between sanity and madness Policarpo Quaresmafastidious civil servant, dedicated patriot, self-styled visionaryis a defender of all things Brazilian, full of schemes to improve his beloved homeland. Yet somehow each of his ventures results in ridicule and disaster. Quixotic and hapless, Quaresmas dreams will eventually be his undoing.
About the Author
Jorge Amado (1912–2001) was born in the state of Bahia, Brazil, whose society he portrays in such acclaimed novels as Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon, and Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands.
Gregory Rabassa is a National Book Award–winning translator whose English-language versions of works by Julio Cortázar, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Gabriel García Márquez have become classics in their own right. He lives in New York City.
Rivka Galchen is one of the New Yorker’s "20 Under 40" fiction writers and the author of the award-winning novel Atmospheric Disturbances. A contributing editor at Harper’s Magazine, she lives in New York City.