Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos by Jorge AmadoMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Great story, a delicious slice-of-life of Brazil in the 60’s, and surprisingly still relevant to today’s Brazilian society. I am now convinced Jorge Amado is one of the top 3 chroniclers of Brazilian life (at least during his time)! I was surprised to see so many similarities to my favorite (Brazilian) author, Luiz Fernando Veríssimo, in Amado’s writing - looks like Amado was a very strong influence of Veríssimo’s.
The book is very non-linear, with stories within stories, and “parenthesis” that lasts for pages and pages, telling the backstory of this and that character, or this custom or that legend. It makes for a very layered and complex read. In fact, it almost feels like the main story is secondary, just an excuse to weave together a lot of other stories, tales, anecdotes, and footnotes. But still, the main story is great!
There is, perhaps not surprisingly, a lot of talk about sex (although it's not a "romance" novel), so I imagine this was quite scandalous when it first came out in 1966; and given the language sometimes used, I bet it can still be quite scandalous today! On the other hand, it is overall very conservative - after the death of the first husband, the only solution is marriage again. It all revolves around marriages. Sex outside the marriage is taboo - I mean, it happens a lot in the book, but it's just not *right*, not something good people do. So it's both scandalous and very conservative - in typical Brazilian fashion!
One negative comment - the part between the two marriages of Dona Flor is somewhat boring - there is a lot of talking and proselytizing about desire and marriage and morality, with not much happening, no good tales woven in. It's feels like a different book.
The final of the book part does a quick dive into the world of Macumba, the African-Brazilian religion that is usually depicted as black magic. It doesn't go very deep into it, but still fascinating!
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