[.ca] A Death in Brazil: A Book of Omissions (ISBN 0312424876)

Too Superficial:
This book is very strange. It is neither an academic essay nor a good analisys of Brazilian history and costumes.It is a combination of everything that ends up being very dissapointing. For a brief book on Brazilian history, I reccomend "Brazil: Five Centuries of Change" by Thomas Skidmore. It is an excellent first step on the subject.

Entertaining Assortment:
Don't be put off by the mingling of genres. Although Robb has written a book that is both history and travel, politics and opinion, he is a more than able enough author to keep the reader turning the pages. The prevailing question of the book is, 'What is Brazil?' and Robb entertains us by cherry picking historical anecdotes, then relating them to the political scene of the last 20 years. It's definitely rich picking. The presidency of Fernando Collor, which forms a healthy chunk of the book, is an utterly absorbing scandal, depicting a total abuse of the system. Yet it is in Brazil's history where Robb is at his best, his detailed description of slave societies that formed outside of the 'state', the manner in which they were dealt with, sounds strong comparisons with the problems that both gave Lula his presidency and ensure that his hold on power will be hard to keep.

A book that needed omissions:
The subtitle of this book is "A Book of Omissions" and there is definitely something missing. There're heaping tablespoons of information on Brazil's political history and how that emerged from her unique colonial history. The problem is twofold--the writer intertwines some irrelevant and mostly boring episodes in his life into it (just skip all that if you actually pick up this book...trust me) and I found the Chronology at the back made far more sense than the body of this work. Maybe it just needed a better writer or editor. I can't put a finger on it. It's sad really as this subject is a goldmine. So two stars for the fascinating history of Brazilian politics and no stars for the writing which did not blow me away at all.