Weighty moral questions of good and evil buttress this brooding narrative set in contemporary Brazil. A letter to the Washington Post protesting the treatment of that country's Indians sets in motion a complex, somewhat disjointed series of events in which a lone woman's starched integrity is illuminated against a background of cynical compromise and pervasive corruption. The admonitory epistle is written by Rosa Van Meurs, freethinking daughter of an esteemed anthropologist, who teaches an inspired brand of history in backwater Florianopolis. Her act angers a greasy politician who prefers that his interest in a gold mine near Indian land go unexamined. While barbs are flung at Rosa from this direction, more danger comes when her spineless cousin Fabio, a consummate liar fleeing the service of a violent racketeer, washes up at her apartment. Mason ( The Illusionist ) imaginatively paints such fantastical scenes as Fabio's cataloguing of a museum of grisly votive offerings. Evocative detail immerses the reader in the decaying social fabric of Brazil. Yet the narrative unevenly slows and speeds, catching, then losing the reader's interest, and the subtle shades of the moral code propounded here are simplistically resolved in the denouement.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Rosa, a likable, idealistic history teacher in Florianopolis, Brazil, writes a letter to the editor of an American newspaper, protesting a mining company's illegal road across a Brazilian Indian reserve. The international Indian rights community takes notice, as does Roberto Bandeira, an owner of the mining company and a powerful force in Florianopolis. Meanwhile, Rosa's cousin Fabio, a drifter and poet, seeks refuge with her from an underworld boss. Rosa, in fear for her job, and Fabio, in fear for his life, each face a wrenching moral decision. British author Mason, whose novel The Illusion ist ( LJ 7/84) was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1983, has written an intelligent, beautifully crafted novel. Her cool, restrained style carries conviction as she reveals a world of almost unimaginable corruption. Highly recommended.
- Patricia Ross, Westerville P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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