I Also Read

I often write about movies or television shows that I watch, but I also read at least a book a week.  This week I've finished Brazil, by John Updike.  Brazil was my first experience with Updike's writing, and I'm now intrigued to read more of his works.  Ever since I saw the movie, City of God (2002), I've been interested in the history and society of Brazil, and more specifically the social aspects of life in Rio De Janeiro.  It's horrible how the industrialization of the country and the deforestation of the rain forest have equally spawned millions of people living in states of poverty that people in this country could never imagine.   And of course, where there's poverty there's often crime.  Kids growing up on the streets of Rio knowing that hustling and/or robbing the rich is often their only way to survive. 

Brazil provides an excellent inside view to an instance where one of these poor kids encounters a girl from a more prominent background.  Both of their lives are changed forever after Tristao and Isabel fall in love, and while many forces (mostly both of their families) fight to keep them apart, these two young lovers always manage to find each other.  It's not all a love story with happy endings.  This story features numerous instances of betrayal, violence, and loss.  At one point these two lovers find themselves escaping from Isabel's father and from the law by hiking through the Brazilian jungle with only the help of an old woman.  They are eventually attacked by a group of natives and experience horrors and tragedies that many people would not be able to survive.  If you're a fan of Updike, classical literature, or my little shpeel give this book a shot. 

Also check out City of God.  As long as you don't mind subtitles (unless you speak Portuguese) it's a great movie and gives a sad but realistic view into the life of a young hood in Rio.