Rating: 
Summary: the brasilian humor and culture in the most fascinated way!
Review: One of the best brasilian writers and this book may be his best work! It's brilliant the way Machado deal in the book with feelings,words and atitudes wich is so present in the humam being in times where we show so clear our small ,ignoble thoughts and atitudes, Machado save us with geniality when Bras Cubas face this fellings in such overbold,sarcastic,modest,pure...everthing that life bring us. play with the caotic and enjoy from that...is definitely not to any culture!
Rating:
Summary: Wanna know about life after death? Wrong way!
Review: The story begins by the end, literally,by showing the end of the narrator's life. From this moment on we are compelled to see how his life had been, his evaluations, regrets and happy moments. Read to whom (or "which") he dedicates the book. There's a movie version that is perfect and hillarious! A must read if you like dark, but still extremely intelligent, humor.
Rating:
Summary: A hilarious remembrance of things past
Review: This excellent and extremely original novel marked the transition from Romanticism to an authentically Brazilian literature. Written in very short chapters, it is the autobiography dictated from his grave, of a wealthy bachelor, his love affairs, his rompy relationship with his family, his friendship with the extravagant philosopher Quincas Borba (the subject of another novel), his political ambitions and delusions and his -very- particular view of the world. The style is concise, sarcastic, hilarious, cynical and he's constantly sustaining a dialogue with the reader. In a way, it is a novel rewritten in every read, since it seems to be written by the author AND the reader. This novel accurately portrays the enivronment of upper classes in Rio de Janeiro in the middle XIX century. But note that, despite being funny and comical, in the background there is always a tone of sadness and pessimism. It is an intelligent, bittersweet and excellent work of literary art. Read it and you'll be much rewarded.
Rating:
Summary: This one is great
Review: This is great. By far better than Dom Casmurro, Brás Cubas is the ultimate watcher and critic of society. Having been part of it, but now dead, he is able to rant about it without fear or a restraining morale. Machado de Assis shows most of his superb characteristics here: irony, pessimism, short chapters, digression, strong female characters. A must buy if you are into Realism or just plain olg good literature.
Rating: 
Summary: The first romance of Realism of Machado de Assis
Review: Well I always thought that the critics of Machado de Assis were exaggerating his capability, mainly because the critics usually point that he focus more on the psychological aspects of the characters rather than the story itself. That is absolute not true, even in the Realism phase of Machado. This book is the history of a common insignificant person living in the XIX century in Brazil. What is interesting about this book are the reflections that the author do that are sometimes even funny. He criticizes the idea of understading the social and individual behavior from a mechanicist point of view and exposes the culture distorted by the capitalism and politics exposing the ordinary life of an ordinary man. Corruption, frustrated love, cheats: this is what this book is all about.
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