Brasilien, Brasilien

Do you want to understand Brazil? Read this book! Do you want to know why the north-east is so rich in culture? Do you want to know how and why the African tribal religions met Catholicism and what kind of role play the caboclos or the cangeceiros? You want to know how Rio and São Paulo became the centre of Brazil? The Brazilian lifestyle is a mystery to you? Just read this book. It is an opus. It covers Brazilian history but does not replace a history book. Brazilian history is illustrated using over generations the small population of the Isle of Itaparica in the bay of Bahia (which means bay 😉 ). It is funny as well: One chapter starts like this: The caboclo Capiroba liked to eat Dutch. In the beginning he did not distinguish between Dutch and other foreigners. Read it when you have a lot of time in a raw and a hammock at hand like me in the family’s beach house of André Verçosa. Until this book Ribeiro wrote only novellas and essays but considering his father’s conviction, that a real book should stay on its own in the bookshelf, he filled more that 700 pages full of life.