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Fils D'Héliópolis (2010)

by James Scudamore(Favorite Author)

3.55 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

2264050454 (ISBN13: 9782264050458)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

10/18

review 1: This should probably be 4 stars. Set in Sao Paulo, Brasil, it shows the incredibly opposite worlds of the rich and poor cultures of the city. Scudamore writes beautifully and realistically (I think) about Brasil. However, I felt a bit uncomfortable laughing at times because the issues are really too serious to laugh at. I am interested in an evaluation of a reader who has been in Brasil more recently than I. The characters were interesting, especially the main character, but something seemed lacking. Scudamore's titling every chapter with a different Brazilian dish was clever, and he writes tantalizingly about the food, which he lovingly describes with more insight than he describes some of the characters. I'm looking forward to his next book. PS--Watching "Wastelan... mored", a documentary about an art project and garbage pickers in a garbage dump in Rio is an interesting ancillary activity to this.
review 2: One of the quotes on the back of James Scudamore's Heliopolis compares it to Great Expectations, which is usually a good reason to go back and actually read Great Expectations instead of the particular book in question.Heliopolis didn't just fall short of Great Expectations, it also fell short of the rave review in the Washington Post that drew me to it in the first place.The novel is reasonably good but doesn't come close to great and can be flawed and clunky at times. It is a black comedy tinged with bits of melodrama and thriller that tells the story of Ludo dos Santos who was adopted into the family of a wealthy supermarket magnate who travels everywhere by helicopter. Ludo is having an affair with his adopted sister, working in an absurd advertising agency that is promoting his adopted father's new "budget" supermarket chain for the favelas, and going through a sometimes reckless exploration of these favelas.The novel alternates between a few compressed, eventful days in the present and extensive flashbacks to the past, as well as between comedy and tragedy.It is hard to say what was so disappointing, but the alternations never seemed to work and the disjointed jumble of genres and actions didn't make psychological sense and made the book a little less appealing.I would, however, read Scudamore's next novel... but in the meantime will re-read Great Expectations. less

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