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The invisible life of Euridice Gusmao / Martha Batalha ; translated by Eric M.B. Becker.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextLanguage: English Original language: Portuguese Publisher: London, England : Oneworld, 2017Copyright date: ©2017Description: 232 pages ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781786071729
  • 178607172X
  • 9781786072986
  • 178607298X
Uniform titles:
  • Vida invisível de Eurídice Gusmão. English
Subject(s): Genre/Form: LOC classification:
  • PQ9698.412.A835 V5413 2017
Summary: Euridice is young, beautiful and ambitious, but when her rebellious sister Guida elopes, she sets her own aspirations aside and vows to settle down as a model wife and daughter. And yet as her husband's professional success grows, so does Euridice's feeling of restlessness. She embarks on a series of secret projects from creating recipe books to becoming the most sought-after seamstress in town -- but each is doomed to failure. Her tradition-loving husband is not interested in an independent wife. And then one day Guida appears at the door with her young son and a terrible story of hardship and abandonment
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Fiction Davis (Central) Library Fiction Collection (New) Fiction Collection (New) BATA Available T00634268
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Named by Bustle as One of 9 Fall Book Debuts by Women You're Going to Want to Read Immediately: "You're going to love it. Batalha takes you through nearly 100 years of life in Rio de Janeiro.... filled with intrigue, mystery, sadness, and a whole lot of strong female leads, The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao isn't a novel to miss this season."

Named One of the Top 28 Fiction Books for Fall 2017 by Huffington Post

Named one of the best 18 Books to Read This Fall by the Chicago Review of Books
"Humorous and exuberant, this book is a rare treat!"

"The arc of this novel, the writing, the characters, are a joy to read."
- Book Riot

"A worthy debut, full of wry humor"
- Kirkus Reviews

"With sharp humor and pointed prose, Marta Batalha's novel rebels against the patriarchal forces of her home country."
- World Literature Today

Euridice is young, beautiful and ambitious, but when her rebellious sister Guida elopes, she sets her own aspirations aside and vows to settle down as a model wife and daughter. And yet as her husband's professional success grows, so does Euridice's feeling of restlessness. She embarks on a series of secret projects from creating recipe books to becoming the most sought-after seamstress in town -- but each is doomed to failure. Her tradition-loving husband is not interested in an independent wife. And then one day Guida appears at the door with her young son and a terrible story of hardship and abandonment.

The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao is a wildly inventive, wickedly funny and keenly observed tale of two sisters who, surrounded by a cast of unforgettable characters, assert their independence and courageously carve a path of their own in 1940s Rio de Janeiro. A deeply human and truly unforgettable novel from one of the most exciting new voices in world literature.

Originally published in Portuguese as A vida invisivel de Euridice Gusmao by Companhia das Letras, 2016.

Euridice is young, beautiful and ambitious, but when her
rebellious sister Guida elopes, she sets her own aspirations aside and vows to settle down as a model wife and daughter. And yet as her husband's professional success grows, so does Euridice's feeling of restlessness. She embarks on a series of secret projects from creating recipe books to becoming the most sought-after seamstress in town -- but each is doomed to failure. Her tradition-loving husband is not interested in an independent wife. And then one day Guida appears at the door with her young son and a terrible story of hardship and abandonment

Translated from the Portuguese.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

Brazilian journalist Batalha draws readers into 1940s Rio de Janeiro, where men are the breadwinners and the highest achievement for a woman is to marry and become an obedient housewife. Euridice is a beautiful, ambitious woman with incredible potential for great things, but she sacrifices her aspirations for the sake of her family. After her sister, Guida, runs away, Euridice marries Antenor, a banker who aims to achieve the status quo, and becomes trapped in the routine of married life. However, her ambitions and intellect lead her to pursue a number of highly successful projects. Despite her success, she is continuously ridiculed by the town gossip and is restrained by her own husband. The inherently rebellious Euridice and Guida find that to achieve satisfaction within society's traditional expectations, they must carve out paths for themselves. Batalha's debut shines a light on often-overlooked members of society and paints a thorough and riveting portrait of its characters that will keep readers engaged till the end.--Park, Emily Copyright 2017 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A charming family tale of the Gusmao sisterswhose lives diverge and eventually come together again.The Gusmao family lives in Rio de Janeiro in the 1940s. Euridice worships teenage Guida; Guida tolerates Euridice. Volatile Guida battles her parents until the night she sneaks off with her forbidden boyfriend and doesn't return. Devastated, Euridice mourns the loss; her parents' emotions run the gamut until they write off their eldest. Life goes on, and Euridice marries a sensible choice to please her parents and leaves home to live a lonely life despite her husband and two children. Driven to distraction by boredom, she struggles to fill her days with projects other than cooking and maintaining the home, hiding such ventures from her traditional husband, Antenor, who repeatedly quashes her ambitions when he discovers all that she's hidden from him. Discouraged, a now passively resistant Euridice becomes a mere shadow in the background. Guida unexpectedly returns with her son and a wild tale of her broken relationship, and Euridice's spirit fills with life once again. Batalha's well-rounded characters show how beliefs and decisionswhether acted on openly, as Guida does, or covertly like Euridiceaffect their own lives and the lives of others. Batalha portrays the bleakness that can arise in marriagenot an absence of love as much as an absence of appreciating the other's needs or, conversely, of sacrificing one's own needs. Be prepared to love invisible Euridice, who has so much more to offer than the confines of life in Rio allowed at the time. And be prepared to want to kick her in the butt and say, "Come on, woman! Don't give in!" She doesn't. For those who enjoy delving into characters and love to watch life unfold for others, this thought-provoking tale will satisfy. A worthy debut for Batalha, full of wry humor. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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