From Publishers Weekly
The lowly toad ( Bufo marinus , in the Latin) is the leitmotif loosely holding together this second work by Brazilian writer Fonseca ( High Art ) to be translated into English. If hodgepodge were a literary genre, it might best describe the alternately amusing, stomach-turning, erudite adventure, laced with literary asides, entertaining tidbits and barely relevant anecdotes. The plot incorporates a mystery, yet suspense isn't its strongest suit. Narrator Gustavo Flavio is a popular Brazilian author who becomes a suspect in the murder of a beautiful socialite who was his lover. But the plot digresses rather than develops as Gustavo recounts episodes from the past, including a scam performed with a toad and a stint in an insane asylum. Cut back to the present, when Flavio decides to get out of town. More toads and another murder enter the picture. Meanwhile, readers finally understand references to a character named Spallanzani: he is the hero of a book Flavio is writing, and in fact an 18th-century biologist whose brief appearance here occurs as he's burning the leg off a copulating toad. Fonseca's voice is rich with irony, subtle humor and intelligence--there is ample potential for his next concoction to be a piece de resistance.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Superlative private eye Ivan Canabrava flees town when he finds that the trail of the insurance fraud he is investigating leads right back to his boss's office. Enter novelist Gustav Flavio (Canabrava incognito), self-proclaimed satyr wanted for the murder of his ex-lover Dona Delfina, wife of the town's bigwig. A clever churning of clinical sleuthing and hard-boiled violence and sex create a romping, sometimes entertaining pastiche. But the galvanized action of the first half soon looses its grip, and the novel limps to a pointless, gory finale. "Every novel suffers from a curse, . . . among others that of ending weakly." These words of warning from our writer-protagonist come many pages too late; and not even his humorous diatribe on the art of writing nor the skewed characters around him can sustain interest. Not recommended.
- Bibi S. Thompson, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Bibi S. Thompson, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
