A review by malvord27
The Air You Breathe by Frances de Pontes Peebles

5.0

This book is intense. It draws you into the world of the two protagonists, makes you think about music in an incredibly evocative way, and then quickly ends. Well, maybe not quickly - it is almost 500 pages after all. I loved the descriptions the author used throughout the book. You're able to imagine what life is like at a big sugar plantation, at a boarding school, out on the streets singing outside a radio station, backstage before performances, in a backyard just singing, on a set in Hollywood. Really detailed, but not in a wordsmithy way. The author did a good job of exploring relationships and their complications. I've never been in a band or in a group that goes on tour, but her descriptions of the ebb and flow and complications of those relationships were very good.

This book made me want to listen to samba and to hear the differences in its various forms. It also gave me a slight history lesson on Brazil and the USA's involvement in its politics.

Overall - very well written book. Would read again, and would read more books by this author.