Mi Amigo el Pintor

by Lygia Bojunga Nunes

A young boy becomes friends with the artist in the apartment upstairs and tries hard to understand when his friend commits suicide

Genres: Childrens, Young Adult

Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Lygia Bojunga (often known with the addition of Nunes, her pen name) (born August 26, 1932 in Pelotas) is a Brazilian author of children's books. She worked of TV and radio until her first book was published in 1972. A major element of her books is the usage of the child's point of view.

Lygia Bojunga is part of the tradition of magical realism and fantasy-filled storytelling of South America, a tradition she has developed and perfected. In her word of mouth-style narratives, characterised by a strongly dramatic presence, anything can happen. In a deeply original way she fuses playfulness, poetic beauty and absurd humour with social critique, a love of freedom and a strong empathy with the vulnerable child. Fantasy often functions as a way of dealing with distressing personal experiences, or as an escape from harsh reality. Bojunga enables the reader to enter directly into the dreams of her principal characters and to share in their experiences.

Having begun her career as an actress (she has also written a number of plays), she published her first children's book, Os Colegas, in 1972 (The Companions, 1989). Here, as in Angélica (1975), the main characters are animals endowed with human characteristics, a device that highlights the comic elements in the narrative. These early works already reveal a psychological focus: Angélica is about a pig that wants to be a swallow, but gradually learns to accept its own identity. A Bolsa Amarela (1976), highlights a similar theme, this time with a young girl in the leading role, whereas A Casa da Madrinha (1978) presents the utopian dreams and fantasies of an abandoned street child. Two of her books deal with mourning and grief: her masterpiece, Corda Bamba (1979), is about a young girl who manages to come to terms with the death of her parents through her fantasies, and in O Meu Amigo Pintor, 1987 (My Friend the Painter, 1991), a young boy reflects on the inexplicable suicide of an adult friend.

In books such as Seis Vezez Lucas (1995), Bojunga writes in an altogether more realistic style. In her latest work, Retratos de Carolina (2002), her continual experimentation as a writer has led her in a new direction: she allows us to follow the main character from childhood through to adulthood in a narrative partly written in the form of a meta-novel. Bojunga uses this device to extend the boundaries of literature for children and young people in an attempt, as she herself puts it, to make room both for herself and the characters she has created in one single house, "a house of my own invention".

Bojunga's work has been translated into a number of languages including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, Bulgarian, Czech and Hebrew. She has won a number of awards, including the Jabuti Award (1973), the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing (1982), and the Rattenfänger Literaturpreis (1986). Winner of The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2004.




Works in Portuguese

Os Colegas – Rio de Janeiro: José Olympio, 1972 Angélica – Ilustrações de Vilma Pasqualini. Rio de Janeiro: Livraria AGIR Editora, l975 A Bolsa Amarela – Ilustrações de Marie Louise Nery. Rio de Janeiro: Livraria AGIR Editora, 1976 A Casa da Madrinha – Ilustrações de Regina Yolanda. Rio de Janeiro: AGIR, 1978 Corda Bamba – Ilustrações de Regina Yolanda. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Civilização Brasileira, l979 O Sofá Estampado – Ilustrações e diagramação de Elvira Vigna. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Civilização Brasileira, 1980 Tchau – São Paulo, SP: Livraria AGIR Editora, 1984 O Meu Amigo Pintor – Rio de Janeiro: José Olympio, 1987 Nós Três – 1987 Livro, um encontro com Lygia Bojunga – Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Livraria Agir Editora, 1988 Fazendo Ana Paz – Rio de Janeiro, RJ: AGIR, 1991 Paisagem – Rio de Janeiro, RJ: AGIR, 1992 Seis Vezes Lucas – Ilustração da capa, Roger Mello. Ilustrações do miolo, Regina Yolanda. RJ: AGIR, 1995 O Abraco –

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro lo empecé a leer a los 9 años. Todas las emociones que sentía el personaje principal fueron demasiadas para mi... Lloraba, leía, y me cuestionaba de la vida. En ese momento yo estaba pasando por momentos difíciles y reflejaba la muerte de pintor en la muerte que acabábamos de sufrir en mi familia. Lloraba desconsoladamente hasta que mi mamá me encontró en un rincón con el libro. Ella no tenía idea de qué era lo que estaba leyendo y, cuando le conté la trama del libro, me lo quitó, lo rompió y no supe el final del libro hasta los 22 años que empecé a sentir un vacío adentro de mí. No sabía como describirlo hasta que me encontré a mi misma diciéndome: nostalgia. Todo era color nostalgia. Busqué el libro en internet y lo terminé. A pesar de que creo que el libro está muy bien escrito y todas las descripciones son poéticas, no le deseo a nadie entender lo que el autor quiere transmitir. Es un excelente libro, pero no es para niños. Creo que está mal catalogado y jamás se lo daría a un niño de 8 a 12.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just one thought from the myriad in this complex small gem for the thoughtful reader of any age: "... loves his work so much that if he finds his work has no life, he doesn't want to go on living either."

This short book can help one to think more about not only despair, but also grief, and recovery, and art, and politics, and love....

Recommended to all.

openlibrary.org

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Diego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro lo tengo desde que estaba en 5to de primaria. Recuerdo que un día en el colegio, luego de haber entrado del descanso, tuve que pedir permiso para salir al patio porque había perdido mis gafas porque las había metido en mi bolsillo del pantalón. Mientras las estaba buscando encontré este libro. Recuerdo que en la tarde, cuando llegué a mi casa, me acosté a leer este libro, que recuerdo como el primero en el que encontré que alguien hablara sobre la muerte y sobre lo incomprensible del suicidio. Es probable que existan muchos más y que incluso este no haya sido el primero, pero lo fue para mí en mi experiencia como lector.

[Guilherme Semionato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bojunga's most heartbreaking, perfect book - which makes it one of the greatest books ever written. Sometimes I feel like the Portuguese language was invented for her books, I swear to God.

[Skye Richardson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I mean 0 stars burn this book

[Tabish · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poignant account of a kid trying to make sense of the suicide of his grown up painter friend, who lived upstairs to him. Poetic prose, simplicity of emotions and freshness of words, its so well written that you can hardly put the book down, though one may pause several times, smiling, appreciating and taking in whatever has been put. I discovered it by chance during one of my desultory walks in the library, first the title - My Friend the Painter - allured me and then it's first few lines made me to find a chair nearby, I did not stop then, it was so well written, I could not resist reading this short piece twice.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro para mí es una obra de arte. Es literatura infantil y juvenil de la mejor calidad. No solo la narración es impecable, la forma en la que la autora aborda temas densos como la muerte y el amor es brillante y maravillosa. Creo que todos sin importar la edad que tengamos debemos conocer su trabajo.
Además, como dato curioso, tengo sinestesia, una condición en la que se cruzan dos o más sentidos (oír colores, etc) y leer sobre la forma en la que el protagonista relaciona los colores con la forma en la que percibe el mundo y sus estados de ánimo es muy interesante.
Simplemente es un trabajo excelente, este es uno de esos libros de los que nunca cambiaré de opinión.

[Engie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es cierto que no es un libro para niños, el tema es bastante fuerte y el protagonista, que es un niño, no tiene problemas en mostrarlo como él lo siente: sin tapujos ni velos. Es el dolor mismo tal como lo siente, y también el ofuscamiento, es un personaje totalmente transparente; lo que hace a este libro "para niños" tan real, como si uno estuviese dentro y pudiera sentir el amarillo y los blancos, así como los apasionados rojos.

Creo que es un libro que se puede leer luego de los 10, para ser releído después de otros cuantos años, así se puede apreciar mucho mejor.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Claudio and the painter are great friends. The painter teaches Claudio much about art as well as life.

But the painter dies and people say he killed himself. What is the truth? Claudio must ask difficult questions of those the painter left behind to find out the whole story of the painter's life.

This is a beautifully written book that deals with truths about life that children's books don't often take on.

[mafe · Rating 4 out of 5]

“coisa esquisita que é sonho; a gente acorda com aquele montão de coisa acontecida dentro da gente e logo depois, puf! esquece.” eu amo livros na perspectiva do infantojuvenil! é uma idade que você acha que sabe de tudo, mas sabe de nada e tenta dar um nome para este nada

[Luis Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este es un libro de preguntas y sobre la necesidad existencial de vivir con ellas sin pretender algún día encontrar respuestas. Pone la mirada de un niño en lo que llamaríamos problemas de adultos, y establece la relación entre la felicidad de grupo y la infelicidad individual. Reconcilia el remordimiento que a todos nos golpea en mayor o menor medida cuando hay un suicidio, con el respeto absoluto a la decisión libre de quién puede elegir cuál es el límite prudente de su existencia.

[Amber Scaife · Rating 2 out of 5]

A young boy narrates the process of grieving for his friend and upstairs neighbor, a painter who committed suicide.
Meh. It feels like it's trying to do too much at once by both describing how grief looks and feels to a child and also talking about how the main character learns to appreciate art. It also falls into the trap of making a young character seem unrealistically precocious.

[Aniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Que sensibilidade. Este livro fala sobre luto de uma forma muito franca e inocente. Fala sobre perder alguém especial quando se é recém adolescente, criança suficiente ainda e não se sabe o que sentir.

[gio! · Rating 5 out of 5]

"eu fico lembrando dessa cena, e fico pensando uma coisa: será que um artista pode amar tanto o trabalho dele que... deixa eu ver como é que eu explico isso... pode amar tanto o trabalho dele que, se ele acha que o trabalho não tem vida, ele também não quer mais ter?"

[isabclima · Rating 5 out of 5]

quero mo

[*ੈ✩‧₊ · Rating 5 out of 5]

meu deus do ceu

[Alejandro Brand · Rating 3 out of 5]

El estilo de Bojunga abordando algunos más de los aspectos de la vida moderna, inquietudes que se presentan en los adolescentes y que son de difícil cuestionamiento moralmente. Elementos principales de la obra el arte y el suicidio. En forma inteligente, simple y apropiado para los adolescentes aborda y lleva al lector a acercarse a estos temas pero también generando interrogantes, también el buen lector y el joven deben buscar ir más allá en estos temas o por lo menos cuestionarse sobre ellos.

[Salcab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro es exellente. Realmente refleja la vida con los colores y los matices de la naturaleza y conectadoes con los matices del alma. Unos de los mejores libros infantiles que he leido. Indicado para el 6to grado de Ceci. Sept. 30, 2010.

[niks · Rating 5 out of 5]

E então, um dia desses, fez um nevoeiro forte toda vida. O Pintor espiava pela janela do apartamento dele, só via aquele nevoeiro tapando tudo que é cor e falava feito costumava falar: hoje tá fazendo um pouco de vontade de morrer.

chorando litros aqui

[Jonathan Fonseca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esse livro é muito especial,retrata a vida de um garoto,que tem um verdadeiro amigo.Nos põe dúvidas,nos dá respostas...Realmente ótimo.

[Mary]

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner

[Jota · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encanto y aun mas por el mensaje de las emociones.

[Christina Packard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This did not seem like it was a children's book.

[Crhistopher Rm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ame por completo la idea de este libro. Es de esos libros de un tono amarillo nostalgia. (':

[Layla F · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the main character. And the story, it was good

[Ana M. Camila · Rating 5 out of 5]

El tema del suicidio es bastante fuerte; sin embargo creo que la idea es realmente bonita, un libro lleno de magia, muy bonito, me encanto.

[Kristy Thayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of an odd little book, but has an interesting message

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un libro lindo, pero bastante triste, te deja con un sabor de boca extraño. Como entre nostalgia y alegría. Me gustó, no es muy largo, pero tiene bastante significado.

[Joha Villa · Rating 2 out of 5]

1 1/2

[Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clara y cruda, sin golpes bajos pero tampoco sin subestimar al lector. Una hermosísima novela.