2.5
Spilt Milk
ByPublisher Description
As Eulálio d'Assumpção lies dying in a Brazilian public hospital, his daughter and the attending nurses are treated—whether they like it or not—to his last, rambling monologue. Ribald, hectoring, and occasionally delusional, Eulálio reflects on his past, present, and future—on his privileged, plantation-owning family; his father's philandering with beautiful French whores; his own half-hearted career as a weapons dealer; the eventual decline of the family fortune; and his passionate courtship of the wife who would later abandon him.
Through Eulálio's journey across the twists and turns of his own fragmented memories, Buarque conjures an evocative portrait of a man's life and love, while bringing to life the broad sweep of Brazilian history. At once jubilant and painfully nostalgic, playful and devastatingly urgent, readers of the award-winning
will find themselves "in the hands of a master storyteller" (
).
"In
[Buarque] confronts the themes that make Brazil squirm, from the stain of slavery to the inferiority complex the country has historically felt when it compares itself to Europe."
"Lovely details and a fine sense of place . . . Echoing Sebald's
. There's plenty to like."
"One of the saddest love stories, and one of the truest."
Nicole Krauss
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 communitiesSpilt Milk Reviews
2.5
“i really enjoy this type of writing. i can see how this developed into his other book My German Brother which is one of my fave reads of last year. despite the book being told by a very very unreliable narrator with stories being repeated with a slightly different detail, i was still able to follow the life of this centennial man while he recounts his life story to strangers that visits him in the hospital bed.
eulalio so unlikeable but i still enjoyed him recounting his family history. he shares the same quality as that of My German Brother’s narrator where they try to make up scenarios of what could be. ngl. these are my favorite parts although in this book they weren’t as elaborate.
this book is more about memory and longing as eulalio tries to recount and make sense of how his life came to be and why the love of his life eventually left him.
i would warn people who wants to read this that eulalio is a deeply flawed person—humbug, sometimes racist, sexist, and even at times a pervert. the writing is just too good and the style really is what stood out to me most. would love to read more of buarque’s work. hopefully there are english translations out there. k bye.”
“I read this one slowly over about a month, reading it chapter by chapter, first the chapter in the English translation, then the same chapter in the original Portuguese. It was definitely a read that benefitted from time, as if I tried to read it all at once I think I might have gotten lost in the prose and missed poignant and insightful details, as it is written very stream-of-consciousness in a way that reminded me of Clarice Lispector.
A great collection of insights into the perspective of hereditary oligarchs in Brazil's very historically stratified society.”
About Chico Buarque
From world-renowned Brazilian writer Chico Buarque comes a stylish, imaginative tale of love, loss, and longing, played out across multiple generations of one Brazilian family. At once jubilant and painfully nostalgic, playful and devastatingly urgent, Spilt Milk cements Chico Buarque's reputation as a masterful storyteller.As Eulálio Assumpção lies dying in a Brazilian public hospital, his daughter and the attending nurses are treated—whether they like it or not—to his last, rambling monologue. Ribald, hectoring, and occasionally delusional, Eulálio reflects on his past, present, and future—on his privileged, plantation-owning family; his father's philandering with beautiful French whores; his own half-hearted career as a weapons dealer; the eventual decline of the family fortune; and his passionate courtship of the wife who would later abandon him. As Eulálio wanders the sinuous twists and turns of his own fragmented memories, Buarque conjures up a brilliantly evocative portrait of a man's life and love, set in the broad sweep of vivid Brazilian history.
Other books by Chico Buarque
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?
