Rating: 
Summary: Go ahead, order the book
Review: My face is one big smile as I think what I could write here. Very very good. I read his Saints book a few years ago and liked it well enough to send to my best friend, but this book I want to send to all my girl friends, and some guy friends as well! This book put me in a good mood. Very witty and funny and, while it definitely has that latin american twist to it, really relates to people's race to get all good things in their life. Dona Flor wins, and the way she gets there makes for a very entertaining read.
Rating: 
Summary: Brazilian Journey
Review: Never having read Brazilian literature previously, I approached "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands" with some uncertainty. However, my apprehensions were quickly erased. This is a funny, entertaining and very readable novel (despite its length). "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands" conveys the atmosphere and flavor of the Bahian culture, its love of people, land, and food. Religious principles and cultural norms have an important place in Bahian lifestyle, thus Dona Flor's struggle upon the return of the spirit of her first husband. Yet, this moral dilemma is treated light-heartedly and sympathetically, making all the characters approachable and likeable. My first Brazilian literary experience was like sampling a good "caruru". I will be back for more.
Rating:
Summary: Brazilian Journey
Review: Never having read Brazilian literature previously, I approached "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands" with some uncertainty. However, my apprehensions were quickly erased. This is a funny, entertaining and very readable novel (despite its length). "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands" conveys the atmosphere and flavor of the Bahian culture, its love of people, land, and food. Religious principles and cultural norms have an important place in Bahian lifestyle, thus Dona Flor's struggle upon the return of the spirit of her first husband. Yet, this moral dilemma is treated light-heartedly and sympathetically, making all the characters approachable and likeable. My first Brazilian literary experience was like sampling a good "caruru". I will be back for more.
Rating:
Summary: One lucky woman gets satisfied on both sides of the sheets
Review: Not many women know what they want and what they need -they're often two different things. But Dona Flor explores love and marriage to two different men at the same time. Once married to a rascal who dies of heart failure during a fiesta, Flor eventually settles for a stable second hubby, a pharmacist who somehow fails to make chemistry work on the matrimonial sheets. Readers will have great fun discovering with Flor what happens when love (and lust) actually live on after death.
Rating:
Summary: As colorful as the Bahia carnival
Review: Readable, spicy tale. The author in his lively style takes the reader in a tour through BahÃa, using the story of a young woman haunted by her late husband's ghost - a good for nothing gambler who dies in midst of a Carnival. Recipes, voodoo stories, humor and action are braided in a tale that defies the law of gravity: the book will not fall from your hands as you will read on this account of brazilian life. Never boring, always enticing. This is Amado's main book and a must in every library.
Rating: 
Summary: Magical realism and senselessness
Review: Tightly holding the sweaty palm of Senor Marques, the climate of South America, the humid nights, and drunken carnivals, transcend reality apparently and come back from the dead to haunt us, whoever has bothered to read the the book, the placenames abound "in Sao Miguel, on Via Campaneira, Asuncion Fernades, with her ample thighs facing the ceiling, could barely contain herself from tearing the sheets apart, as Miguel Silva, sweating in the humid night, penetrated her over and over and over" make sure to turn every s into sh for authenticity's sake, and dispose of the book in the all consuming fire
Rating:
Summary: Finally, a 'bestseller' i'm not embarassed to read...
Review: With this book, Jorge Amado left behind his more serious style of writing and adopted a lighter, 'bestseller' tone. What a great idea!...It works perfectly in this book. It's hard to go wrong with a book full of gambling, sex, music, and love. It's obvious that Amado is a fantastic writer from page one. His sentences flow seamlessly, blending one description into the next; the reader is entranced for all 600 plus pages. Despite its daunting size, this was a really fast read, and with zero lag time. He can definitely tend towards the verbose side of things, but overall, I didn't find this to be a big detraction. Besides being entertaining, this book also makes you think. Dona Flor is torn between the corporal desires of the flesh and the purity of the soul. I won't tell you who wins. While this book has enough bawdiness and vulgarity to keep the men reading, it is also very appealing to women; Amado taps in perfectly to the conflicting female desire for a tender, stable man on one hand, and a passionate "bad boy" on the other. I think Dona Flor is a character that every woman can empathize with. My only complaint is that the conclusion seemed a long time coming but then wrapped up too quickly. It's like Amado was on a deadline for the last 50 pages. But really, this is a minor quarrel. Take this book on your summer vacation...highly readable, engrossing, and smart to boot!
Rating:
Summary: Finally, a 'bestseller' i'm not embarassed to read...
Review: With this book, Jorge Amado left behind his more serious style of writing and adopted a lighter, 'bestseller' tone. What a great idea!...It works perfectly in this book. It's hard to go wrong with a book full of gambling, sex, music, and love. It's obvious that Amado is a fantastic writer from page one. His sentences flow seamlessly, blending one description into the next; the reader is entranced for all 600 plus pages. Despite its daunting size, this was a really fast read, and with zero lag time. He can definitely tend towards the verbose side of things, but overall, I didn't find this to be a big detraction. Besides being entertaining, this book also makes you think. Dona Flor is torn between the corporal desires of the flesh and the purity of the soul. I won't tell you who wins. While this book has enough bawdiness and vulgarity to keep the men reading, it is also very appealing to women; Amado taps in perfectly to the conflicting female desire for a tender, stable man on one hand, and a passionate "bad boy" on the other. I think Dona Flor is a character that every woman can empathize with. My only complaint is that the conclusion seemed a long time coming but then wrapped up too quickly. It's like Amado was on a deadline for the last 50 pages. But really, this is a minor quarrel. Take this book on your summer vacation...highly readable, engrossing, and smart to boot!
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