The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao
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Euridice is young, bright and ambitious. A talented musician, she dreams only of fame and fortune. But this is Rio de Janeiro in the 1940s, and the one thing society expects of its women: to be loving wives and mothers. So when her rebellious sister Guida elopes, breaking her parents' hearts, Euridice sacrifices her own aspirations to marry conventional Antenor, spending her days ironing his shirts and removing the lumps of onion from his food. As his professional success grows, so does her feeling of restlessness.
Throwing convention to the wind, the irrepressible Euridice dreams up an array of creative ventures to escape her humdrum family life, to the distress of her tradition-loving husband. And then one day the free-spirited Guida suddenly reappears, and together the two sisters set about forging their own paths in life.
With a cast of unforgettable characters, The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao is a darkly comic novel from one of the most exciting new voices in world literature.
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A tapestry of Brazilian lives. In the midst of them is Euridice, an ambitious woman full of initiative and talent, born into the wrong place and time. Women in Brazil's 1950ies are meant to stay at home and take care of the kids. They're not meant to develop passions and start companies from their living room. Meanwhile her sister Guida falls in love with a deadbeat, and needs to claw her way out of poverty through sheer resilience and an unwavering spirit.
A playful and joyous novel full of charm, as it ever expands from one character to include the fates and family tragedies of others. I like the rather neat way it opened doors into all the character stories. Even if in the end there felt like too many side characters and I just wanted to return to Euridice.
