This is not a book to explain.
It is a book to feel and experience.

Rich and complex in it's storyline, characters and linquistics, set against the background of beautiful Brazil, it will stay with you after completing it.
I wish never to part from it.
Don't let the style the author uses throw you off, if you have never encountered it before. Once accostumed to it, you will love it. It has much to give, you need only to receive.

This book changed my life. It's all about life and death, good and evil. A tale about growing up in the worst of conditions, of learning about what is right and wrong. Choosing between what was given to him and what he knew was right. Sometimes people don't get it right the first time around but have the courage to continue on and keep trying. I'm a sucker for epic adventures, and this is one of the best. You can learn more about Brasil from this book than from the rest of them combined.

This is maybe the best book I have ever read and certainly the one which I discussed the most with other people who have read it.

In this book Riobaldo, a man who has long been a bandit travelling the interior or Brazil, tells the story of his life and love to an unknown listener. In first instance he seems to be a simple man, but this impression is deceiving. Behind it is the story of a man struggling with the Big Issues of life: the devil, life, love, friendship and trust. This is set against the gorguous background of this part of Brazil.

The language used in the book is not easy: the author uses the spoken language, which means repetitions and innovative new words and the book is one big monologue. But please, read on, because once the book has gripped you, it will not let you go. And you are in for a big surprise at the end...

First, I have to report that all Guimarães Rosa's books are amazing. Rosa has a power to create new words and invite a reader to enter in a realistic and fantastic journey into a undiscovered regional brazilian world with such magestry and simplicity at the same time. The book is composed by 21 shortly stories that relates madness, poetry, metaphysic, love, hate, etc... Readind "The Mirror" (O Espelho), a metaphysical history about a man that tries to understand his essence through himself experiences, dialoguing with a mirror and trying to "erase" his "alter-ego". Others brilliant stories, like "Darandina" and "A Terceira Margem do Rio" (one of the best story from the book) is something uncommon and guides us in a subjective experience, when each reader will find your own way to understand what's written. Buy it now, and be welcome to a new magical world. Rosa is considered one of the ten's best authors of books of the history. See by yourself!

This is a really boring book about a poor Brazilian family. I do not recommend it. You can read it to cure insomnia though.