Customer Reviews

Cidade de Deus: Romance

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Seen the film? Shocked? Now read the book for the real lowdown of life in Brazilian shantytowns.
Shocked by scenes of young children being shot in the hand or foot (their choice) in the film. That's just the tip of the ice berg.
Paulo Lins lived in 'cidade de deus' and he paints us a frighteningly clear picture of its reality. He has since received death threats for all the unwanted attention he has brought to the favela.
A top read. Highly recommended.

There's a note by the author at the end of the book saying that his romance was based on interviews with people that actually live or have lived on Cidade de Deus, a very violent neighborhood in the western zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Even if this note was not posted, readers with minimum background on urban violence would recognize Paulo Lins' ability to transport real social problems to the pages of his novel. Lins does not invent anything. In fact, he was one of those people living in a violent urban sorrounding, so this book is a grouping of his past personal experiences mixed with stories he heard while researching his social thesis.

Paulo Lins doesn't try to elaborate on language, characters and settings and yet this book is so powerfully written in a colloquial (and realistic) manner that the reader is completely aware of places, people, negotiations and relationships existent in Cidade de Deus. Every sentence has a specific meaning; violence and reality drip off every word.

The story is about how crime and violence became the most important part of life in Cidade de Deus, from petty thieving in the beginning, escalating to a globalized war between drug-dealer factions in the end. Colorful characters, addicteds, dealers, thieves, murderers, transsexuals, populate the pages. No character will be good, everybody is a delinquent, but the reader will not stop reading. That's the power behind Cidade de Deus. It's a fiction so full of truth and, to some of the readers, set in such an alien environment, that you just keep turning the pages, faster than alliances and shootings are depicted in the pages.

I read this book in its original language, portuguese. It's a very resourceful and complex language, even more so when in colloquial slang, and translators will have to be very careful in order to mantain the books' best parts, such as dialogue, names of the characters, etc.

If you have seen the acclaimed movie, the novel is as graphic and as fast-paced. I'm aware that there's a french translation. I hope there soon will be a spanish and an english translation, so people in other countries will be able to know this very good piece of urban literature and social study.

Grade 9.0/10

O livro Cidade de Deus é um depoimento sobre o cotidiano de um setor social diante do processo de urbanização e o crescimento da violência urbana no Rio de Janeiro. Os depoimentos que foram transformados num romance (e a partir dele em filme) traçam didaticamente a exclusão e os caminhos diferentes e possíveis dos membros dessa comunidade carioca. A rotatividade da mão-de-obra no tráfico de drogas e a mortalidade de seus membros é impressionante e nota-se claramente que a engrenagem de exploração deixa no morro (favela) a parte mais pobre, com a conivência da polícia e de investidores até os cartéis. Disputas de teritórios e a criação de muros "invisíveis" mas mortíferos para que os atravessa nos mostra como a ausência do poder público e a desconfiança com o que ainda sobra dele não deixa escolha diante da "lei" da violência. Impressionante e envolvente este romance.

From an interview with Paulo Lins, published today in the NY Times: "Though Mr. Lins now lives a middle-class life, he still visits the City of God, 'where I still have family and friends and am treated as if I were a celebrity, like Michael Jackson.'" (I'm sure no irony was intended.)

The reporter adds, "Thanks in part to the enthusiastic international response to the movie, the book has been translated into English, Spanish, French, Italian and German, among other languages."

Great book and movie. I will add this to my collectiion. I hope the DVD will have more info on the characters this movie was based on. The truth was bound to come out sooner or later.