4.0
Captains of the Sands
ByPublisher Description
A Brazilian Lord of the Flies, about a group of boys who live by their wits and daring in the slums of Bahia
A Penguin Classics
They call themselves “Captains of the Sands,” a gang of orphans and runaways who live by their wits and daring in the torrid slums and sleazy back alleys of Bahia. Led by fifteen-year-old “Bullet,” the band—including a crafty liar named “Legless,” the intellectual “Professor,” and the sexually precocious “Cat”—pulls off heists and escapades against the right and privileged of Brazil. But when a public outcry demands the capture of the “little criminals,” the fate of these children becomes a poignant, intensely moving drama of love and freedom in a shackled land.
Captains of the Sands captures the rich culture, vivid emotions, and wild landscape of Bahia with penetrating authenticity and brilliantly displays the genius of Brazil’s most acclaimed author.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
A Penguin Classics
They call themselves “Captains of the Sands,” a gang of orphans and runaways who live by their wits and daring in the torrid slums and sleazy back alleys of Bahia. Led by fifteen-year-old “Bullet,” the band—including a crafty liar named “Legless,” the intellectual “Professor,” and the sexually precocious “Cat”—pulls off heists and escapades against the right and privileged of Brazil. But when a public outcry demands the capture of the “little criminals,” the fate of these children becomes a poignant, intensely moving drama of love and freedom in a shackled land.
Captains of the Sands captures the rich culture, vivid emotions, and wild landscape of Bahia with penetrating authenticity and brilliantly displays the genius of Brazil’s most acclaimed author.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Download the free Fable app
Stay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
Rate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
Curate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesStay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building toolRate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tagsCurate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesCaptains of the Sands Reviews
4.0
“A beautiful masterpiece, perfect critique portrayed by a richly detailed narrative and story setting where you meet these boys. Each and every one of them has a different backstory, but are all united by one factor, abandonment (and also poverty).
Throughout the story, Jorge Amado shows us the type of life that one that had nowhere to learn about life from, but the streets, lead. You’ll laugh, cry and cheer for these kids that are also adults, almost like you’re one of them and when you realize it, all you’re left with are tears.
But abandonment isn’t the only critique that Amado brings to the table; he also wants to show how sometimes the grownups are the cause, not the solution, and how most of the times the ones in charge are the most cruel and apathetic people towards the cause. But also, he shows how kindness can really make a difference, no matter how subtle.
These boys grow up both beautiful and painfully, so that when closing this book, you can't help but feel proud. With a refined, intelligent critique building, you’re forced to admire the breathtakingly bittersweet life led by these fantastic characters.
This really is a work that addresses every generation, in the most heartwarming manner.
I can assure you. You’ll end up loving these kids.”
“I don’t know if I’m sad or happy. Even though I don’t have much literary background, after all, it’s the first book I’ve ever finished, I’d still dare to say it’s perfect. The way the chapters connect and how the characters develop is genuinely captivating. João Grande and Sem-Pernas are two figures I’ll definitely carry with me fondly.”
About Jorge Amado
Jorge Amado (1912–2001) was born in the state of Bahia, Brazil, whose society he portrays in such acclaimed novels as Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon and Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands.
Gregory Rabassa (translator; 1922–2016) was a National Book Award–winning translator whose English-language versions of works by Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortázar, and Jorge Amado have become classics in their own right.
Colm Tóibín (introduction) is the bestselling author of numerous novels, including the Costa Award–winning Brooklyn and the Pulitzer Prize and Booker Prize finalist The Master.
Gregory Rabassa (translator; 1922–2016) was a National Book Award–winning translator whose English-language versions of works by Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortázar, and Jorge Amado have become classics in their own right.
Colm Tóibín (introduction) is the bestselling author of numerous novels, including the Costa Award–winning Brooklyn and the Pulitzer Prize and Booker Prize finalist The Master.
Start a Book Club
Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!FAQ
Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?
Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?
How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?
Do you sell physical books too?
Are book clubs free to join on Fable?
How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?
