Rio de Janeiro (Writer and the City) [Hardcover]

Ruy Castro (Author)

Book Description

Series: Writer and the City | Publication Date: August 7, 2004

Ruy Castro delves into the past and present of Rio, where even in periods of comparative calm there has always been a palpable excitement in the air - the feeling of a city on fire.

In this spellbinding fifth entry in Bloomsbury's The Writer and the City series, Rio de Janeiro's vibrant history unfolds. While stiff-collared poets flirted with prim young ladies in coffeehouses during the belle époque, revolts were being plotted that almost destroyed the city. We learn how the iconic wave-patterned mosaics of Copacabana pavements were baptized with blood, and how more than a hundred years before the girl from Ipanema passed by, the girls from Ouvidor Street adopted French chic - and never really gave it up. From what is arguably the most breathtakingly beautiful city in the world, the people of Rio - the Cariocas - tell their stories: of cannibals charming European intellectuals; of elegant slaves and their shabby masters; of how a casual chat between two people drinking coffee on Avenida Rio Branco could affect world coffee markets; of an awe-inspiring beach life; of favelas, drugs, police, carnival, football, and music. With his own Carioca good humor and great storytelling gifts, Ruy Castro brings the reader thrillingly close to the flames.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The fifth book in Bloomsbury's the Writer and the City series is no dry travelogue, dutifully reciting the requisite tourist attractions and eating and drinking establishments. Castro (Bossa Nova), a notable Brazilian essayist, meanders through Rio the way a long-time resident might take a visitor through favorite neighborhoods, telling charming anecdotes as they occur to him: a French viscount's lunatic plan to knock down the Sugar Loaf mountain that rises in the midst of Guanabara Bay; the quixotic efforts to move Carnival to the cooler month of June; the playboy Porfirio Rubirosa's loss of his wife in the middle of a dance floor. Historical fables are woven in with an account of contemporary Brazil and a strong dose of the legendary carioca humor. Castro takes us from Amerigo Vespucci's arrival in Brazil in 1502 to the 17th- and 18th-century battles for control of Rio, recounting colonial-era maneuvering with an ear for irony. His musical chronicles follow the Belle Époque and the first hit samba in the 1960s Carnival, "The Girl from Ipanema." He also recounts the drug wars and the growth of the hillside favela slums. He conveys Rio's jeito, or indefinable spirit, in a way that no traditional travel book could ever do.
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From Booklist

Often resembling "heaven and hell at the same time," Rio de Janeiro has served as a haven for pirates, fugitives, and rebels, and until 1888 it was one of the world's largest slave markets. But despite its checkered past and troubled present, Rio refuses to take itself seriously. When Portuguese explorer Amerigo Vespucci first arrived in 1502, he discovered natives who "spent all their time singing and dancing in the sun, everybody naked, cheerfully fornicating in the woods"--that is, when they weren't eating each other. Today, Rio celebrates Carnival as its cultural centerpiece, and its inhabitants fill Copacabana's sex- and samba-fueled nightclubs, even while the thriving local drug trade routinely erupts in car chase and police shoot-outs. The beach, meanwhile, serves as a pseudo-town square: the places to meet friends, get gossip, and talk business. A worthy entry in Bloomsbury's Writer and the City series, this small, compact book teems with detail and offers an exciting take on Rio's topsy-turvy social history. Andy Boynton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; First Edition edition (August 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582341907
• ISBN-13: 978-1582341903
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #979,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspired view of the carioca soul, September 26, 2004

By 

Rafael Pertusier (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rio de Janeiro (Writer and the City) (Hardcover)

Rio is every carioca's mistress.

As a true lover of the city, I was amazed by Ruy Castro's profound and inspired view of Rio. He makes this book as interesting for someone just looking for a travel guide as for the most serious and passionate student of the city's soul.

Rio is more than just a beautiful accident of geography and history. This one place that, so stubbornly and yet, so rightfully calls itself "the wonderful city", like a being greater than its buildings, streets, beaches and mountains, is a major character of our lives.

This is no trivial book about Rio. Ruy Castro writes, in a good-humored and elegant style, a guide to the carioca soul: a fresh, original and colorful view of the city and the people that make it the best place to live in the world.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it. Looking for more Ruy Castro (in english.), January 12, 2006

By 

S. Bennet - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rio de Janeiro (Writer and the City) (Hardcover)

I first read Ruy Castro's 'Bossa Nova' and wanted more! Then I found this book, and loved it. I also went on to read Ruy Castro's next book (translated into English) Garrincha which is about a Futebol star. I am not into soccer but I loved the book.
I recommend this book.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, not great, March 29, 2007

By 

Reid W. Wyatt (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rio de Janeiro (Writer and the City) (Hardcover)

Castro is a fair writer, presenting an honest view of the city. I've never been, so I cannot base this on my own experiences. The book presents a little bit of everything which seems to be central to Rio: the nightlife, Carnival, the cuisine and, most importantly for me, the history. The problem with small books such as this one, which in a standard layout would maybe top 130 pages, is that the writer is prohibited from straying from the main path of introducing the city to the reader. I would say this book is the equivalent of spending two days in a major city - seeing the major sights, creating opinions and generalizations without really getting to know any citizen or neighborhood too well. However, the book did succeed in what I took as its major goal: to get the reader to go to Rio. Brazil is now definitely near the top of my travel list.