Why this book:  Strongly recommended by my friend Janar to our literature reading group. Not selected by the others, but based on his recommendation, I wanted to read it.

Summary in 3 Sentences: This novel looks at the ends of the lives of 5 men living in the Rio de Janeiro region of Brazil – in their own words sharing their experience of old age and finally their own deaths, followed by the perspectives of (mostly) the important women in their lives – wives, lovers, and others.   A few of the five men lived lives of debauchery and libido satisfaction, a couple of the others at least tried to go straight.  This novel provides a perspective on men and women’s sexuality in the very libertine world of urban Brazil in the 1960s – 1980s – sexuality as banal amusement, sexuality as s a driver of love and passion, and as a purely recreational activity, fraught with danger. 

My Impressions: Fun to read about the reminiscences of the crazy debauched lives that some of these men lived as young men in the party life of Rio in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.  And then “the rest of the story”… failed marriages, the ultimate emptiness of the constant chasing of the next erotic adventure – but as they tell their stories, their emphasis was on the fun they had.  After looking back on their lives and sharing some of their favorite and not-so-favorite stories, each of the men’s stories ends with him experiencing his own death.  Then we get the perspectives from some of the women in their lives – their wives and girl friends, and some others who they touched in their lives. 

Each of these men knew each other – they were a group of buddies who  partied together into middle age and beyond – sharing in their dissolute indulgences and debauched life styles – which included not just a lot of recreational sex, but also drugs and alcohol.  They had their female accomplices in these adventures, but each of them did make a weak effort to get married and lead a normal family life, but all but one of them failed – and the one who did remain dedicated to his wife, can hardly be said to have had a joyful marriage – but he was indeed devoted to his strict and overbearing wife.

The book is broken up into five parts – each focussing on one of the five men, but a large portion of each section was given to the perspectives of those on the fringes of the man’s narrative of his experiences  – the wives and other enablers – what THEIR lives were like,  how they perceived the primary characters, how these men affected them, and some of the damage they left in the wake of their pursuit of pleasure.

Reading the stories these mens tell at the end of their lives, it’s almost as if some of it is fulfilling every man’s fantasy of constant partying and fun, lots of sex with lots of women, drugs, drinking, rock and roll – but not much of what I would call fulfillment.  And I think that was the point of the author – a women who has clearly lived the high-life in Brazil and has some first hand experience of the craziness of this world.

One of the men is extremely attractive to women – they are drawn to him as to none of the others and he gets more than his share of attention and affection from attractive young women. He finally falls deeply in love and marries, and the couple has ten years of a rich and fulfilling life. Then suddenly he realizes he is bored with his wife, deals with it by going on a rampage of extramarital carnality.  She is devastated, and he is consumed with guilt, but can’t control himself. He comes back to her but can’t walk away from the sexual circus. She goes down hill and he contributes to her demise by making her believe she is hallucinations about his extramarital affairs.  They both come to a sad end. 

The men in this novel are childlike in their inability to manage their lust; the women in this novel are either naïve victims of their unwillingness to recognize this in their men, or, in the case of their many girlfriends, are complicit partners in this game of partying, fun and uncommitted sexual recreation.  

This was a fun read, and also takes a bit of the glamor away from what on the surface appears to be the fantasy life of a lot of young men.  And the women’s perspectives are telling as well.  How the author reveals the first person perspectives on the experience of dying of these characters is well done and thought provoking.  The spiritual element was nowhere to be found in this hedonistic view of life – living for the moment, the next high and the next erotic adventure.  These men did not experience the simple pleasures of family life and of contented love and  friendship with a life partner, nor any spiritual transformation or insight  Their deaths were rather sad and lonely.   

I enjoued and am glad I read this – short and provocative book