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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great story with richly drawn characters,
By Gamma (SF Bay Area) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Heliopolis (Paperback)
I first heard about this book when I read that it was on the long list for Man Booker prize. I can see why it was nominated, since it was an excellent read. There is much to enjoy here, starting with the exotic locale of São Paulo, where the divide between rich and poor is incredibly stark. This is a world where the ultra-rich fly (commute, really) in helicopters between their penthouses, their office buildings and their private villas outside of the city. But what makes this story so fun to read is the richly drawn character of Ludo, the central figure. I found that I felt I could understand him, and get to know him (and his inner struggles) throughout the course of the story. Overall, the author conveys a sense of realism that is unique and creates an immersive effect. This is one of those books that you are disappointed to finish because you could go on and on. Also - there is a mystery that builds throughout the tale, only revealed at the very end - and that also will pull you through the pages, as you seek to find out the answers. I really enjoyed this book by Mr. Scudamore, and I will now read his first novel - The Amnesia Clinic.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"How sure [other] living things were of their place in the world, while I was not.",
By
This review is from: Heliopolis (Paperback)
Raised in Brazil, Japan, and the UK, author James Scudamore sets this novel in Sao Paulo, a city he obviously knows well, revealing his youthful enthusiasm for life, his sharp eye for injustice, and his hope for the future in a tale which follows the life of Ludo dos Santos from his childhood till about age twenty-seven. Ludo and his mother, a cook, were plucked from Heliopolis, the largest favela (slum) in Sao Paulo, and established permanently at the weekend farm belonging to Zeno "Ze" Generoso, the fabulously wealthy owner of a chain of supermarkets, his British wife Rebecca, and their daughter Melissa. As we know from the opening pages, Ze eventually adopts Ludo, schools him, and makes him a part of the high life.
Telling Ludo's story through flashbacks and foreshadowings of things to come in the future, Scudamore quickly establishes the atmosphere and the dramatic contrasts between the lives of the poor and those of the rich in a city with virtually no middle class. In a touching and revealing scene at the opening of the novel, Ludo, in his twenties, is killing time during a traffic jam before work, exploring a neighborhood in the process of redevelopment. A fifteen-year-old boy, a grifter, is begging for money from two women in the square. Egged on by Ludo, the boy then approaches the wrong person to ask for money, and disaster strikes. Though Ludo blames himself for what happens, the event is ultimately "just one more frenzied city drama in a thousand, to be forgotten and absorbed into the oozing traffic, and perhaps mentioned in passing over lunch." Caught between the world of the favela, which he does not remember, and the world of the rich, to which he feels he does not really belong, Ludo is unsure of his place in the world. More sensitive than the bosses at the ad agency for which he works and infinitely more socially aware than Ze, his step-father, he admits that "Sometimes I want to run away from this life to which I have been promoted." A crisis erupts when Ze decides to create a whole new type of supermarket chain-MaxiBudget-to appeal to the poor in the favelas, taking the food to them for the first time. Ze, of course, will make a great deal of money selling to a huge new population, an effort which Ludo believes is made primarily to "stop [the poor] from staring hungrily through the windows of our own [regular] supermarkets," rather than it is from any sense of improving their welfare. Ludo is especially conflicted about his love for his step-sister Melissa, and he has spent numerous nights with her. Married to Ernesto, Ludo's only friend, Melissa returns Ludo's love-but she also loves Ernesto. As all these issues, both personal and social, come together, Ludo experiences a belated and unusual coming-of-age. The novel is filled with life, dramatic scenes, and revelations about individual and social responsibility, though it verges on melodrama in a number of places, and some coincidences are disappointingly unrealistic. Overall, the novel has direction and a strong sense of purpose, despite the somewhat enigmatic and "thin" ending. Even as people live and die in poverty, often seeing little change and less hope, the author, Ludo's alter-ego, refuses to accept the status quo-"Everything will be different tomorrow," he believes.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Edgy and energy filled novel about São Paulo,
By
This review is from: Heliopolis (Paperback)
The setting for this novel is 21st century São Paulo, a dual city defined by its massive skyscrapers and squalid favelas (shanty towns), personal helicopters overhead and horribly congested roads below, wealthy white and poor (mostly) black citizens, and its tightly packed center city surrounded by heavily guarded neighborhoods with European styled mansions and heliports for the country's elite.
Ludo is a boy who was born to a single mother in a favela, where the only opportunities available to escape soul crushing poverty are in the illegal drug trade or prostitution. He and his mother are discovered by a wealthy businessman, Zé Generoso, who controls his family, employees and associates with a ready smile and an iron will, and his philanthropic but detached wife Rebecca. The couple bring Ludo and his mother to their suburban mansion, which serves as their weekend getaway. Ludo is befriended by their beautiful daughter Melissa, and is provided with every opportunity to succeed by Zé, who recognizes his drive and intelligence. He "works" for one of his father's friends in a marketing firm during the day, spending much of his time sleeping off hangovers or thinking about Melissa, who shares her bed with him when her idealistic but neglectful husband is out of town. Despite his success Ludo is restless and unsatisfied, as he repeatedly takes personal and professional risks that threaten to unravel his playboy lifestyle -- or endanger his life. Heliopolis was a far better read than I originally expected it to be. It is taut and fast paced, but also lush and well written, with excellent character development, and there are enough twists and turns to keep the reader fully engaged. It deserves its place amongst this year's Booker Prize longlisted novels, and is highly recommended.
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