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Loading... My German Brother (2014)by Chico Buarque
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"An uproarious novel about a Brazilian man's often sordid, lifelong search for a possibly imaginary half-brother, born in Germany just before the Second World War" --
"In 1960s São Paulo, teenage car thief and budding lothario Ciccio comes home each day to a house stuffed with books. His father, a scholar, cold and aloof, has spent his life acquiring them; his mother, by necessity, has spent her life organizing them. Ciccio himself feels like an afterthought in his own family, largely left to his own criminal devices. Though forbidden to touch any of the volumes in the library, Ciccio sneaks off with The Golden Bough one day only to discover a decades-old letter hidden inside the book, addressed to his father from a mysterious woman in Berlin. Ciccio becomes convinced that his father must have had an affair with this woman in the years before World War II -- an affair that produced a son, a German brother who, real or imaginary, Ciccio becomes obsessed with tracking down. Thus begins a fractured coming-of-age tale, tawdry and epic by turns, about a lifelong obsession: one man's quest not only for his mythical sibling but for his father's respect" -- No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)869.3Literature Spanish and Portuguese Portuguese Portuguese fictionLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Even though the book is classified as fiction, it is based on Chico Buarque’s life and the facts he reports about his father and German brother are actually true. Sérgio Buarque de Holanda spent some time in Berlin where Sergio Günther was born who later became a well-known artist in the German Democratic Republic. Unfortunately, the brothers never had the chance to meet.
I really appreciate Buarque’s tone of narration, especially at the beginning, the light-heartedness with which the young men move around town is well transferred into the language the author uses. Interesting to observe are the family structures. Even though the father’s main occupation is closely linked to language in all shapes and forms, the family members hardly find a way to communicate with each other and the most important things remain unsaid. A third aspect which struck me was the part in the novel which gives insight in the time of the military regime. Hardly do I know anything about the country’s history, therefore those glimpses are most fascinating.
Sometimes life itself invents the best stories. Even though some of it is fictional, I found Chico Buarque’s story about his mysterious brother most intriguing and a perfect example of how complicated families and our lives can be. ( )