Synopses & Reviews
Combining travel, history, culture, and his own memories of twenty years of Brazilian life, the author of Midnight in Sicily delves into the past and present of a country that affects our imagination like few other places on earth
From his own near murder in Rio at the hands of an intruder twenty years ago and continuing through the recent slaying of a former president's bagman who looted the country of more than a billion dollars, violent death poses a steady threat in Peter Robb's brilliant travelogue through modern-day Brazil. It's not death, however, that leaves a lasting impression but the exuberant life force that emanates from the country and its people.
Seeking to understand how extreme danger and passion can coexist in a nation for centuries, Robb travels from the cobalt blue shores of southern Brazil to the arid mountains of the northeast recounting four centuries of Brazilian history from the days of slavery to the recent election of the country's first working-class president. Much more than a journey through history, Robb renders in vivid detail the intoxicating pleasures of the food, music, and climate of the country and references the work of Brazil's greatest writers to depict a culture unlike any other.
With a stunning prose style and an endlessly inquisitive intellect, Robb builds layer upon layer of history, culture, and personal reminiscence into a deeply personal, impressionistic portrait of a nation. The reader emerges from A Death in Brazil not just with more knowledge about the country but with a sense of having experienced it and with a deep understanding of its turbulent soul.
Review
"[F]ascinating....Similar in approach to At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig, about Paraguay, but with considerably more art and decorum." Booklist
Review
"[A] glittering chiaroscuro portrait....It is the Brazil that Mr. Robb sees beyond the sensations that gives his book its great traveling dimension." Richard Eder, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"An affectionate, probing cultural portrait, as stark as it is entertaining." Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Robb's chronicle flashes from intimate present day Brazil to a richly detailed and often dangerous past, enhanced by the gorgeous climate, lush landscapes and cobalt-blue waters.
Synopsis
Deliciously sensuous and fascinating, Robb renders in vivid detail the intoxicating pleasures of Brazils food, music, literature, and landscape as he travels not only cross country but also back in time—from the days of slavery to modern day political intrigue and murder. Spellbinding and revelatory, Peter Robb paints a multi-layered portrait of Brazil as a country of intoxicating and passionate extremes.
About the Author
Peter Robb has divided his time among Brazil, southern Italy, and Australia for the last quarter century. He is the author of
Midnight in Sicily, a New York Public Library Best Book and a
Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year; and M
: The Man Who Became Caravaggio, which was a
New York Times Notable Book of 2000.
The Economist described
Midnight in Sicily as “quite simply, the best book about Italy in English” and
The Times Literary Supplement called it “a classic.”Deliciously sensuous and fascinating, Robb renders in vivid detail the intoxicating pleasures of Brazils food, music, literature, and landscape as he travels not only cross country but also back in time—from the days of slavery to modern day political intrigue and murder. Spellbinding and revelatory, Peter Robb paints a multi-layered portrait of Brazil as a country of intoxicating and passionate extremes.