cvc13 's review for:

Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior

4.0

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

A richly written magical realist tale focusing on the long fall out of plantations and slavery in Brazil. The characters are vividly portrayed even if their specific personalities and motivations sometimes feel more 'tell' rather than 'show'. Still, it balances dizzyingly vivid description with a relatively tightly plotted story that leaves you thinking about how racism and othering can be absorbed into us and contract our horizons.