Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Capitães da Areia

Captains of the Sand was first published in 1937 and tells the lives of 100 street children living in the slums of Bahia, Brazil. Their gritty, harsh lives consists mainly by stealing and lying to get by under the leadership of Pedro Bala (Peter Bullet). The local authorities along with the Roman Catholic Church made it their mission to crack down on these street kids.

This could be a rather bleak tale (it is) but Jorge Amado builds the story with indelible personalities.

The Professor, who loves to read but also has a wonderful artistic talent. The priest, padre José Pedro who has a good heart and wants to save these “lost souls.� Gato (Cat) is the macho ladies� man and kind hearted, although threateningly large, João Grande. The liar Sem-Pernas, who tries to be adopted by rich families with the through of robbing them blind. A real mixture of characters and stories behind each of them. At the heart is the tragic love story of the leader Pedro Bala and the beautiful Dora.

Throw in the poverty, samba and smallpox outbreak and you have a very entertaining tale. Although my Portuguese was challenged at times, I truly was mesmerized by this book. The last 50 pages are real page turners.

Interestingly when the book was published, it was condemned as being communist and burned. That is odd but typical of the time period. The only reference I could find was the priest was charged as a communist by the committee who reviewed his errant actions. Today, the social realism paints a vibrant story of these children, many who were orphaned and the street life taught them to survive as best as they could.

I read Dona Flor and her Two Husbands a few years back and loved it (old enough to remember the movie with Sônia Braga and loved it). But what amazes me is that this is a classic in Brazil and one that I never knew about (typical me). So I was curious to know what other books were published in 1937? Brave New World, Of Mice and Men, As I Lay Dying to name a few under the social realism category. As I read it I thought of Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory (1940) about an outlawed priest in Mexico. Of course, when one thinks of gangs, think only of Clockwork Orange, published in 1962. Wow, this book was decades ahead.

This was the case of finding this book in a bookstore and just buying it. Glad I did.

4.5