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A review by jasonfurman
The Double Death of Quincas Water-Bray by Jorge Amado
5.0
"Novella" is an overstatement for the length of this book, about 50 normally formatted pages. But it is a gross understatement of the epic scope and depth of humanity it portrays. The main character, Joaquim Soares da Cunha or Quincas Water-Bray, is dead for the entire book. But he is also fuller and more alive than most fictional creations.
The plot is simple enough: Quincas, dubbed "the king of the tramps of Bahia" by the newspapers, is found dead. A formerly respectable civil servant, he has spent the last decade drinking rum, gambling, consorting with prostitutes, and living under a different name apart from his family. His respectable daughter, brother, and their spouses claim the body and prepare it for a respectable burial. But then his tramp friends come, take the body out for one last night on the town, pour liquor down its throat, carry it around as if its drunk, refer to it as if its alive, and ultimately it "chooses" to jump off a boat and be buried at sea.
But in the course of this, reflected through the perceptions and memories of others, you get a glimpse of a larger-than-life charismatic figure in the slums and the contradictory ways in which he is viewed and processed by two sets of people. Plus it is also humorous and humane--albeit not exactly in a laugh-out-loud sort of a way.
The plot is simple enough: Quincas, dubbed "the king of the tramps of Bahia" by the newspapers, is found dead. A formerly respectable civil servant, he has spent the last decade drinking rum, gambling, consorting with prostitutes, and living under a different name apart from his family. His respectable daughter, brother, and their spouses claim the body and prepare it for a respectable burial. But then his tramp friends come, take the body out for one last night on the town, pour liquor down its throat, carry it around as if its drunk, refer to it as if its alive, and ultimately it "chooses" to jump off a boat and be buried at sea.
But in the course of this, reflected through the perceptions and memories of others, you get a glimpse of a larger-than-life charismatic figure in the slums and the contradictory ways in which he is viewed and processed by two sets of people. Plus it is also humorous and humane--albeit not exactly in a laugh-out-loud sort of a way.