Reviews for Brazil

The average rating for Brazil based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-07-25 00:00:00 Elaine Buff Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Amazon || Pinterest Before I get into the meat of this review (or perhaps I should say, the "yam" of this review) I want to share two funny stories about this book. First, I got this book secondhand in Japan and it's a bit of a curiosity because the book is in English but the price tag is in Chinese and I couldn't find the edition that I have on Goodreads, so I'm assuming that it's an out of print paperback edition. What a weird thing to find in a foreign country, right? (I was kind of hoping that they'd have some bodice rippers. They did not.) Second, the sex scenes in this book are really weird. How weird, do you ask? Well, the author likes to refer to peens as "yams." Yes, that stuff that you buy by the can every Thanksgiving if you live in the U.S. of A. Crazy, right? I was telling my mother about this book and she rolled her eyes and said, "Is this one of your stupid bodice rippers, Nenia?" And I said, no, it's actually John Updike. And she looked utterly stricken: "Not Witches of Eastwick John Updike?" And I was like, "Yup. That one." I think she's still traumatized by that revelation. The story, as far as stories go, is pretty basic. It's the typical rich girl/poor boy story line that you've probably seen a million times. The twist is that it's a retelling of Tristan and Iseult (Tristao and Isabel) set in Brazil that attempts to make social commentary on race, class, and socioeconomics. While a worthy goal in and of itself, BRAZIL fails to do so, in my opinion, and comes off as dated, silly, trashy, porny, and even outright offensive at times. Also, something it did that really puzzled me is that for the vast majority of the book, it's told as a straightforward tale that can sometimes be ridiculous but follows the rules of reality. However about 70% of the way in, Isabel and Tristao are captured by people who enslave Tristao and keep her on as a concubine. In revenge, Isabel meets with an indigenous dude who practices something like voodoo and actually flips their ethnicities, so Isabel goes from being white to being black, and Tristao goes from being black to being white. And this totally comes out of nowhere. I'm still not over it. And I just read a vampire "romance" about incest and neck teabagging, so that really says something. Here are some of this book's greatest hits: [H]e felt his cashew become a banana, and then a rippled yam, bursting with weight (17). His penis, so little when limp, a baby in its bonnet of foreskin, frightened her when it became a yam, stiff and thick with a lavender knob and purple-black ripples of gristle and veins (54-55). Her cunt was to him like cream poured upon two years of aching (128). He inhaled, with those round apprehensive nostrils she had freshly admired tonight, the basic mystery of her shit... (130). [S]he ewanted to toy with his yam, and trace its swollen veins with the tip of her tongue, and sip the little transparent drop of nectar from its single small slit (188). The smell of extremely stale cheese arose from his genitals (232). [N]ow that she was no longer the color of clouds and crystal but that of earth, of wet smooth wood, of glistening dung (244). ^I thought this felt particularly offensive, as this is following Isabel's transformation from white to black. She goes from being crystalline and cloud-like to shitty and earthy? LOL, what even. #nope Here's a picture of my edition. Yes, it was published in the 90s. Can you tell from the clashing primary colors and serif-heavy font? (1994, as a matter of fact, by Fawcett Crest.) I can't say I recommend it - to anyone - but it was pretty hilariously awful, especially when riding on the heels of that aforementioned vampire book. 1 to 1.5 stars

Review # 2 was written on 2011-01-16 00:00:00 Michael Lyons I just finished reading "Brazil" by Updike. I don't like how I feel about it. in all honesty, I can't sit here and say it wasn't well written. I think that the story's pace, plot development and overall structure (while obviously being a transposed Tristan & Isolde) was well done. Additionally, Updike does a decent job of making his elite, upper class characters sound remarkably similar to what many individuals in other western countries sounded like at the time, and perhaps even now. Namely, that open racism wasn't the way for a society to move towards modernity, yet maintaining a safe distance between the lower class, presumably darker people and upper class individuals was of the uttermost importance in maintaining proper social decorum. Perhaps what bothered me most was how in the west of the country, slavery was a way still maintained and revered because of it's ability to ensure a steady source of labor from a group of people most physiologically suited to do it (the common argument for the beginnings of the slave trade in the first place). Now I know that slavery did exist in Brazil long after it's official abolishment in the 1880's, yet it still doesn't make me feel anymore comfortable about it being around as late (presumably) as the 1970's. I understand that this is fiction, but the idea that slavery could continue to exist in a country as complicated and hypocritical as Brazil (our own country not withstanding) still makes me uncomfortable. I suppose that this is the sign of a good work because of it's ability to draw you in. It just introduced me to a sensation that I wasn't use to. To his credit, I do appreciate his ability to associate slavery with savagery. It would have been utterly unrealistic for him to create a father figure who, despite being distant, was openly accepting of her relationship with Tristao. This realism, while quite uncomfortable for me, is appreciated because it's reflective of reality in that country and many others where young couples dating patterns go against the grain. Now to the actual story of these two lovers. While I make no qualms about my life as someone who's dated interracially his entire life, it still presents me with a bit of discomfort that Isabel wants him to make her his slave when they do it. When at first I read this, I thought to myself "oh goody, there's some BDSM in this one" and genuinely meant it. As the story went along, it seemed that her desire for him to do this was her desire to placate her guilt at being an upper class, privileged, white young lady. As noble as the intention of trying to put oneself on par with those who had a several century head start on being oppressed, I found it a little crude that she was trying to do this in the above mentioned way. Her personal submission to his sexual prowess, while obviously enticing for someone like me, is a little disappointing in a literary sense. Her love for him was clear, but her desire to be this abused slave just to make him happy seemed over the top. I haven't read anything else by Updike, outside of an excerpt from "Rabbit is Rich", but it seems as if he's attempting to assuage any white guilt that he may have experienced living through the Civil Rights Era through having his main female character submit herself physically, emotionally, etc. to her strapping black beau. My major problem with this philosophy is that It seems like a half assed way for black folks to get back at the establishment. It's like he's saying to us, "Hey, white man, yeah, you guys still run everything, but at least the black boys of the favelas will seduce your women with their fabled sexual prowess." I'm obviously cynical, but i cannot help get this vibe from this story. What saves this alleghory from completely being off-putting is that the main character, although timidly, doesn't completely buy into this image of brutality in exchange for a pass on judgment from the lower class. I waffle with these perceived images because, although it bothers me that black men are only seen as ways to get back at "the man" for so many years of oppression by fucking their women, i cannot helped being aroused at the prospect of reading about a young, nubile white lady submitting herself and enjoying her submission to a strapping black beau! As you can see, it makes me laugh and be frustrated with myself simultaneously. Anyways, overall this is a good book. It will make you uncomfortable, it may turn you on and/or off, but I believe it will make you feel something. If that's the kind of story that you're looking for, then you have it right here.