Edney Silvestre

During my most recent visit to the library to return some books I happened to walk past the 'recently returned' shelf. I had no plans to borrow any books but two books seemed to call out to me and demand to be read. The first of these books was Happiness is Easy by Edney Silvestre. Three things grabbed my attention, the title, the cover picture, and the location story, Brazil. Initially I had assumed that the author was Brazilian so it would also allow me to tick another country off of my 'world list', alas, the author was actually born in Valencia, not that this mattered at all.

The story centres around Olavo Bettencourt, an advertising executive with a lot of shady lies to corrupt government officials. Due to his elevated financial status in society Olavo becomes the target of a gang of kidnappers who specialise in separating rich people from their money. The gang is made up of a disparate group of men from all over South America who all believe that a few big pay days will bring them happiness. Their plan goes slightly awry when, instead of kidnapping Olavo's son they manage to kidnap the son of one of Olavo's domestic staff.

I really enjoyed this book, the writing is direct and the translation is easy to read. The story moves along at a decent pace and the tension slowly builds to an exciting conclusion. Almost all of the characters in the book are searching for what they believe will bring them happiness with varying degrees of success. I found the book to be a great insight into Brazilian society and the hardship that many normal Brazilians face on a regular basis.… (mais)

Paulo en Eduardo, twee vrienden van 12, vinden het lijk van een jonge vrouw. De politie arresteert haar echtgenoot; de veel oudere plaatselijke tandarts. Daarmee lijkt de zaak afgedaan, maar de twee vrienden geloven niet dat de tandarts de schuldige is en gaan op onderzoek uit, daarbij geholpen door Ubiratan, een bejaarde man.
Intrigerend verhaal, spannend. De schrijfstijl is in het algemeen vrij soepel met vaak staccato-achtige dialogen. Een enkele keer ook wel eens opsommingen die voor mij niet hadden gehoeven (meestal Braziliaanse namen, die ons hier in Nederland niet veel zeggen).
Achterin het boek staat nog een beknopte geschiedenis van Brazilië en in de Noten staan vertalingen van dichtregels die in het boek worden gebruikt.… (mais)

A kidnap in Sao Paulo, and the fallout...
By sally tarbox on 30 April 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
Fair but forgettable narrative of a failed kidnap attempt. Wealthy and utterly unpleasant Olavo Bettencourt is an advertising bigshot, corrupt to the hilt. When his household arrangements are thrown out of kilter, the group of criminals planning to seize his schoolboy son actually end up with the sweet, special-needs child of his housekeeper...
Silvestre gives quite vivid portraits of the characters: the quiet chauffeur, Olavo's wife - spoilt and beautiful but nonetheless arousing our sympathy, the anguished mother.
An OK read.… (mais)

Basically set in Sao Paolo, Brazil, on a day in May 1990, this story cleverly nips in and out of time frames to give the reader the background to political corruption, and an economy based on inflation and constantly rising prices, where government issued media reports may or may not tell the truth.

For Olavo Bettencourt everything has possible spin, and even the assassination of his driver and the attempted abduction of his son has PR possibilities which will give the government more opportunity to demonstrate how well it looks after its people. A drug running cartel will be uncovered, criminals will be apprehended and shot, all in the name of justice, but how much will be true?

And all the time Bettancourt and others will be shoring up their overseas holdings, their apartments and bank accounts.

I read this for the 2014 Global Reading Challenge and it certainly provided a cutting insight into the problems of Brazil, at the same time as exploring an unusual scenario.… (mais)