Customer Reviews

The Violent Land

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This is a must read for Amado fans. The book can be compared to a cowboy story because it is a book about tough men who call themselves colonel. The colonels harvest cacao, the golden fruit. The two most powerful Colonels, Horacio and Zinho struggle for the rich Sequiro Grande forest, with armed gunmen and lawyers. You will root for one of the Colonels and be transported to a land where men are macho and life is cheap. A must read is the continuation, the Golden Harvest. If you like this book or Amado, please email me.

I had this book recommended to me by several people, but honestly, I found it a bit of a letdown. The story takes its merry time to reach an obvious conclusion. Also, the characters are often hard to keep apart as they intermingle in various ways. As well, Amado keeps an objective viewpoint throughout and sometimes seems to be condoning the actions of the "Colonels" and the inequities of the whole social structure he is describing, which is unusual considering his leftist past.

Not to be underestimated, however, is the sensuous atmosphere which pervades the book, the beautiful descriptions, and the sometimes (though not often enough) biting irony.