1. It糖心传媒檚 a book about someone trying to write a book.

From Mulligan Stew to At Swim-Two-Birds to The Journalist, this is a set-up that runs through a lot of Dalkey糖心传媒檚 titles. In this case, Cadu, a former photographer is constructing a memoir about his life in Bras铆lia out of some of his old photos. The text alternates from his personal 糖心传媒渃urrent moment糖心传媒� experiences (which mostly revolve around trying to set up his goddaughter while sexually crushing on the girl helping him organize his photo files) and the text of his book, entitled 糖心传媒淭he Book of Emotions.糖心传媒�

2. The main character糖心传媒檚 life didn糖心传媒檛 turn out the way he had hoped.

If you糖心传媒檝e never read the 糖心传媒淟etters to the Editor糖心传媒� from the back of the Review of Contemporary Fiction, you really should. A good number of them are quite hysterical, generally featuring a decrepit old man whose life has unraveled. In the case of The Book of Emotions, the aforementioned photographer is still pining away for Joana, the woman he loved who left him for a corrupt politician. Not that our protagonist doesn糖心传媒檛 have his share of women糖心传媒攊t seems like he糖心传媒檚 slept with everyone糖心传媒攂ut that never seems to work out either: the boy he fathered doesn糖心传媒檛 know him and is in prison, the woman he marries dies tragically young, etc.

3. The protagonist has mental or health issues.

This is true of most every book in the world, but in keeping with the sad sack people who write into RCF with their problems, Cadu is blind and pretty much bed ridden. His best days are behind him, and he糖心传媒檚 trapped with just the memories of his life, loves, and pictures. Which brings up the fourth key aspect to a 糖心传媒渢ypical糖心传媒� Dalkey book . . .

4. The narrative works by illustrating the strangenesses of the character糖心传媒檚 way of thinking.

A perfect example of this is Iceland by Jim Krusoe. Or any of the Toussaint books that Dalkey has published. Actually, to be honest, you could throw a dart at a wall of Dalkey titles and whatever you hit will likely feature a quirky narrator whose prose illuminates all the bizarreness of his mind. And The Book of Emotions falls into that general grouping, with the one difference that, although the entire text consists of Cadu糖心传媒檚 thoughts and reactions to what goes on around him, the book doesn糖心传媒檛 quite come together with the panache and humor that is evident in the examples above. There is something intriguing about The Book of Emotions, but unfortunately, it糖心传媒檚 not the narrator糖心传媒檚 voice.

What I like about this book is its overall structure糖心传媒攖he parallel times, the numbered sections each centered around a particular (unseen) photograph糖心传媒攁nd the fact that it糖心传媒檚 set in 2022 in Bras铆lia and is part of Almino糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒淏ras铆lia Quintet.糖心传媒� (Five Seasons of Love, which is available from Host Publications features one of the characters from this novel, and the forthcoming Free City is part of this series as well.) There are some moving moments in this book, but on the whole it糖心传媒檚 a relatively sterile, exacting depiction of a man糖心传媒檚 life and missed opportunities.

Unfortunately, I feel like Almino糖心传媒檚 prose in Elizabeth Jackson糖心传媒檚 translation falls a bit flat. There糖心传媒檚 something too precise or rote . . . too straightforward in a way that is lacking and fails to really replicate the inner workings of the narrator糖心传媒檚 mind:

When Joana and I discovered that we couldn糖心传媒檛 have children, we didn糖心传媒檛 undergo the tests to determine whose problem it was. That impossibility was a blessing: we didn糖心传媒檛 want to have children. However, it was unlikely the infertility was mine because many years before in Bras铆lia another woman had conceived my child.

That 糖心传媒渁nother woman had conceived my child糖心传媒� is just so stiff . . . One other example of where I think the voice in this book falls short from one of the sex scenes:

We traded the most crude and vulgar exchanges, I used the foulest profanities I knew and yelled whatever else I could to shock her. Marcela wasn糖心传媒檛 to be outdone. She dominated that rich vocabulary better than I did and she wasn糖心传媒檛 intimidated, as if she糖心传媒檇 had experience with phone sex.

This isn糖心传媒檛 to write off Almino糖心传媒擨 think he糖心传媒檚 one of the most interesting Brazilian writers working today, and I糖心传媒檓 looking forward to reading more of his titles. (Especially Where to Spent the End of the World.) I just went into this with high hopes糖心传媒攕ee list above and my belief that this would be a very Dalkeyish Dalkey book糖心传媒攁nd came to see the prose as something I had to trudge through, more out of a sense of duty and abstract interest in the plot than because I really enjoyed it.

Here’s the beginning of the review:

Jo茫o Almino糖心传媒檚 The Book of Emotions is the prototypical Dalkey Archive book. Not that all of Dalkey糖心传媒檚 books are the same, but there is a certain set of criteria that a lot of their titles have糖心传媒攁nd which Almino糖心传媒檚 novel has in spades:

1. It糖心传媒檚 a book about someone trying to write a book.

bq. From Mulligan Stew to At Swim-Two-Birds to The Journalist, this is a set-up that runs through a lot of Dalkey糖心传媒檚 titles. In this case, Cadu, a former photographer is constructing a memoir about his life in Bras铆lia out of some of his old photos. The text alternates from his personal 糖心传媒渃urrent moment糖心传媒� experiences (which mostly revolve around trying to set up his goddaughter while sexually crushing on the girl helping him organize his photo files) and the text of his book, entitled 糖心传媒淭he Book of Emotions.糖心传媒�

2. The main character糖心传媒檚 life didn糖心传媒檛 turn out the way he had hoped.

bq. If you糖心传媒檝e never read the 糖心传媒淟etters to the Editor糖心传媒� from the back of the Review of Contemporary Fiction, you really should. A good number of them are quite hysterical, generally featuring a decrepit old man whose life has unraveled. In the case of The Book of Emotions, the aforementioned photographer is still pining away for Joana, the woman he loved who left him for a corrupt politician. Not that our protagonist doesn糖心传媒檛 have his share of women糖心传媒攊t seems like he糖心传媒檚 slept with everyone糖心传媒攂ut that never seems to work out either: the boy he fathered doesn糖心传媒檛 know him and is in prison, the woman he marries dies tragically young, etc.

3. The protagonist has mental or health issues.

This is true of most every book in the world, but in keeping with the sad sack people who write into RCF with their problems, Cadu is blind and pretty much bed ridden. His best days are behind him, and he糖心传媒檚 trapped with just the memories of his life, loves, and pictures. Which brings up the fourth key aspect to a 糖心传媒渢ypical糖心传媒� Dalkey book . . .

For the rest of the review, go here

When Clarice Lispector, one of Brazil糖心传媒檚 most famous writers, visited the new capital in the early seventies, she was struck by how large Bras铆lia loomed over its residents, how its infinite spaces could conjure such unbearable loneliness, how everyone who lived there was from somewhere else. 糖心传媒淏ras铆lia,糖心传媒� she wrote 糖心传媒渉as no inhabitants as of yet who are typical of Bras铆lia.” The oldest citizens born in Bras铆lia are only fifty-two years old today.

Jo茫o Almino, the novelist and diplomat, is—like the narrator of The Book of Emotions—a photographer and an outsider to Bras铆lia. He was born in Mossor贸, in the Brazilian Northeast. This is a poor region that has, much like the American South, produced a long list of influential writers such as Jorge Amado, Graciliano Ramos, Jo茫o Cabral de Melo Neto, and Guimar茫es Rosa. In the beginning of Almino糖心传媒檚 career, one of his biggest dilemmas was whether to set his fiction in the Northeast or in Bras铆lia, where he had lived for ten years. He decided on Bras铆lia because it offered him the freedom to 糖心传媒渢race a path that had not yet been followed, to try and create the sort of literature that had little to do with the picturesque, with clich茅s, with what was already so well know.糖心传媒� In an online interview for Saraiva Conte煤do, the portal for one of Brazil糖心传媒檚 largest bookstore, he says, 糖心传媒淏ras铆lia is a place with an open, erratic, multiple identity that can assimilate what comes from the outside.糖心传媒�

Almino has published several previous books, all of which have been set in Bras铆lia, including The Five Seasons of Love (translated by Elizabeth Jackson and published by Host Publications in 2008), and the to date untranslated Id茅ias para Onde Passar o Fim do Mundo [Ideas for Where to Spend the End of the World], Samba-Enredo [Samba Story], and Cidade Livre [Free City]. The Book of Emotions, Almino糖心传媒檚 second novel published in English, by Dalkey Archive Press was also translated by Elizabeth Jackson.

In The Book of Emotions, set in the year 2022, Almino depicts a Bras铆lia that goes far beyond the Three Powers Square, the cluster of massive residential blocks known as superquadras, or the capital糖心传媒檚 legendary sunsets. The city serves as a backdrop and also as a reflection of inner turmoil, failure, and loss. The book糖心传媒檚 narrator, Cadu, is living alone in Bras铆lia, blind and nearing the end of his life. One of his friends suggests that Cadu return to working on a photographic memoir he had kept in 2002, when he left Rio de Janeiro and moved to Bras铆lia. Even though Cadu cannot see, he is able to reconstruct his photographic chronicles from memory with the help of a young assistant. 糖心传媒淭hose photographs reveal themselves in rich detail in my memory, even more than if it were possible to see them. They糖心传媒檙e like Stieglitz clouds; each one equals an emotion. My blindness reveals their essence, for in the end, to best see a photograph, you have to close your eyes.糖心传媒�

The Book of Emotions is an attempt to follow the contours of memory. Almino sets up the novel as a memoir within a diary. The italicized diary entries describe Cadu糖心传媒檚 day-to-day life in 2022. Interspersed with these entries is his memoir-in-progress, also entitled 糖心传媒淭he Book of Emotions.糖心传媒� Each entry from Cadu糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒淭he Book of Emotions糖心传媒� is based upon a photograph taken during his first years in Bras铆lia, before he went blind. It is through this memoir that we learn of the important facts of Cadu糖心传媒檚 life: his unemployment, the jailed son whom he has never met, an unsuccessful exhibit of his photographs, and his obsession with women, especially with his ex-lover, Joana. Through the fragments of his memories, Cadu tries to piece together his life, a life that for no apparent reason simply ruptured into a million pieces.

Memory is non-linear, sporadic, and self-selecting, and so are Cadu糖心传媒檚 recollections of his past. The novel functions as a dialogue between an older Cadu and a younger Cadu, much as in the Borges story, The Other. 糖心传媒淭he idea for 糖心传媒楾he Book of Emotions,糖心传媒櫶切拇綕 the narrator explains in one of his first entries, 糖心传媒渋s that the person speaking will not be me but rather another Cadu, someone twenty years younger who can see and who composes a photographic diary.糖心传媒�

Elizabeth Jackson糖心传媒檚 translation clearly sets and strives to preserve the original flavor of the Portuguese throughout the novel. She is most successful in her translations of Cadu糖心传媒檚 descriptions of Bras铆lia, capturing Almino糖心传媒檚 lush Portuguese beautifully:

The night covered us with its dense, long blankets and carried us to the bottom of its black precipices. We decided to stretch it between silent stars and gusts of truth, and we heard the applause of the angels at the end of time. We were bathed more in certainty than in hope.

A good translation takes its readers to a different world, one which they have not experienced first-hand. The only way for many of us to experience what it糖心传媒檚 like to live in distant places is through words:

The efficiency of the waiters was measured by the speed with which they brought another draft beer as soon as the glass was empty. Mine emptied five or six times, and Mauricio began to play with the cork coasters printed in red with the beer logo that came with every glass.

There are moments, however, when Jackson糖心传媒檚 translation becomes clumsy as she strains to capture the book糖心传媒檚 Brazilian flavor. In a passage in which Cadu describes how he experiences Bras铆lia, he refers to 糖心传媒渢he rot of the power dungeons, the spilt tears and laughs heard in the corridors of Congress.糖心传媒� The phrase 糖心传媒渢he rot of the power dungeons糖心传媒� fails to convey Almino糖心传媒檚 reference to the constant corruption scandals, past and present, that Bras铆lia has faced. A more elegant and accessible phrase might have referenced, say, power糖心传媒檚 dirty underbelly.

There are in fact quite a few culturally specific references in Almino糖心传媒檚 novel: religion, Bras铆lia糖心传媒檚 architecture, literary references, and nicknames. General explanations for the reader might have been offered unobtrusively on occasion. For instance, when Cadu and his girlfriend visit a religious temple whose followers believe in the healing power of spirits, the bishop gives them a blessing and a bottle of water that the bishop claims was magnetized by the temple糖心传媒檚 spirits. This spiritually blessed water has been translated as 糖心传媒渇luidized water,糖心传媒� a choice that might not make much sense for a reader who is not aware of the hybrid form of Catholicism, Evangelical cult and Spiritism practiced in Brazil. Simply describing the water as 糖心传媒渨ater magnetized by the temple糖心传媒檚 spirits, through its mediums糖心传媒� might have made more sense.

It is through photography that Cadu attempts to make peace with his ghosts: past lovers, family, past failures, the myth of Bras铆lia, the beauty of youth. As he recalls each photograph, Cadu simultaneously recreates and shatters the image he had of himself. 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 no longer sure that I糖心传媒檓 the handsome Brasiliarian of Clarice糖心传媒檚 [Lispector] stories, which I listened to again.糖心传媒� In this novel of sensations and desires, Almino糖心传媒檚 narrative is like a photograph that mesmerizes his readers as Cadu filters his past through 糖心传媒渢he camera糖心传媒檚 objective eye, an eye that sometimes surprises by seeing more than the human eye.糖心传媒�

The Book of Emotions is Almino’s second novel translated into English, the first being The Five Seasons of Love (also translated by Elizabeth Jackson), published by Host Publications.

Here is a bit of the review:

Jo茫o Almino, the novelist and diplomat, is—like the narrator of The Book of Emotions—a photographer and an outsider to Bras铆lia. He was born in Mossor贸, in the Brazilian Northeast. This is a poor region that has, much like the American South, produced a long list of influential writers such as Jorge Amado, Graciliano Ramos, Jo茫o Cabral de Melo Neto, and Guimar茫es Rosa. In the beginning of Almino糖心传媒檚 career, one of his biggest dilemmas was whether to set his fiction in the Northeast or in Bras铆lia, where he had lived for ten years. He decided on Bras铆lia because it offered him the freedom to 糖心传媒渢race a path that had not yet been followed, to try and create the sort of literature that had little to do with the picturesque, with clich茅s, with what was already so well know.糖心传媒� In an online interview for Saraiva Conte煤do, the portal for one of Brazil糖心传媒檚 largest bookstore, he says, 糖心传媒淏ras铆lia is a place with an open, erratic, multiple identity that can assimilate what comes from the outside.糖心传媒�

To read the whole review, click here.