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Barbecued Husbands: And Other Stories From The Amazon
Collects legends and folk tales culled from the endangered indigenous tribes of the Brazilian rainforests, linking them to their larger histories and traditions while offering the author's perspectives from an anthropological viewpoint. 12,000 first printing.
- GenresAnthropologyBrazil
Paperback
First published October 17, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 24, 2009
"The myths are often brutal, direct, and yet dreamlike, with sex, food and death constant preoccupations."
"But the Amazon is no idyll. Jealousy, vengeance, cannibalism, wild beasts, and malevolent spirits mark the dangers and despairs of tribal life."
"The Grimms, valuable as their work was, edited their stories through their own 19th century morality. Their tales came into English as stories for children. Other folk tales became the playthings of the French court before winding up in prettily illustrated kids' books. Greek mythology filtered through Roman and Renaissance sensibilities before it reached us. In more modern times, the tales have suffered both from the censorious shears of Victorian sensibilities (even Aesop was bowdlerized) and the animated shears of Disneyfication. European myths and fairy tales arrive at our doorsteps trailing behind them centuries of cultural baggage."
"Mindlin brings us folk tales without the clouds of obscuring and changeable sensibilities: these are the raw stuff of myth, with their language and power and lustiness intact. It makes me wonder what, if we had a time machine and could slide back to the Europe of, say, 3000 B.C., we would find in our own cultural attic."
"An idea common to many of these stories is that the best lovers, male and female, do not come from this world. In the real world, sublime love is fleeting, and harmony is rare among humans."
"One day, the women are seduced by a magical being (aren't all lovers indeed magical beings?)"
"But the Amazon is no idyll. Jealousy, vengeance, cannibalism, wild beasts, and malevolent spirits mark the dangers and despairs of tribal life."
"The Grimms, valuable as their work was, edited their stories through their own 19th century morality. Their tales came into English as stories for children. Other folk tales became the playthings of the French court before winding up in prettily illustrated kids' books. Greek mythology filtered through Roman and Renaissance sensibilities before it reached us. In more modern times, the tales have suffered both from the censorious shears of Victorian sensibilities (even Aesop was bowdlerized) and the animated shears of Disneyfication. European myths and fairy tales arrive at our doorsteps trailing behind them centuries of cultural baggage."
"Mindlin brings us folk tales without the clouds of obscuring and changeable sensibilities: these are the raw stuff of myth, with their language and power and lustiness intact. It makes me wonder what, if we had a time machine and could slide back to the Europe of, say, 3000 B.C., we would find in our own cultural attic."
"An idea common to many of these stories is that the best lovers, male and female, do not come from this world. In the real world, sublime love is fleeting, and harmony is rare among humans."
"One day, the women are seduced by a magical being (aren't all lovers indeed magical beings?)"
May 27, 2023
Mindlin's exploration of Amazonian myths, particularly as they surround love/relationships, is a fascinating journey into oral storytelling and myth-building. With the author/collector having worked to retrieve the myths firsthand as told orally, from translators fluent in each given tribe's language as well as English (to the extent possible), the collection has an authenticity which comes through in each section and in the varied styles of story. Separated by the different tribes, the stories offer up unique perspectives from pockets of the Amazon and the peoples who've called it home for centuries, with a delivery of themes and tails that is as powerful as it is entrancing.
Throughout the book, there is extremely adult and potential triggering material. Most of the stories are short, so the individual plot points are generally short and less than graphic (though there is absolutely graphic material here, both in the way of sex and violence), but readers will want to beware that a number of the stories deal with cannibalism, incest, rape, violent murder, and mutilation.
Nevertheless, I'd absolutely recommend this book to anyone who's remotely interested. I'm glad to have read it, and I've got no doubt that the myths here would appeal to readers of weird fiction as well as those interested myth, anthropology, and the Amazon.
Throughout the book, there is extremely adult and potential triggering material. Most of the stories are short, so the individual plot points are generally short and less than graphic (though there is absolutely graphic material here, both in the way of sex and violence), but readers will want to beware that a number of the stories deal with cannibalism, incest, rape, violent murder, and mutilation.
Nevertheless, I'd absolutely recommend this book to anyone who's remotely interested. I'm glad to have read it, and I've got no doubt that the myths here would appeal to readers of weird fiction as well as those interested myth, anthropology, and the Amazon.
March 29, 2023
No fault to the author, but I have trouble with short story compilations. Sometimes my interest wains when I'm not following a single plot. I did really enjoy the interconnectivity between the tales with myths built upon myths.
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April 24, 2015Creo que os mitos dos pobos macurapi, tupari, ajuru, jabuti, arikapu e aruá me interesan menos do que pensaba.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews