Capitães de areia de Jorge Amado ao cordel. --

by Zé Maria de Fortaleza

(Publication 2001)

Paperback

Published January 1, 1900

Reviews

[Tom Lucitor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nada poderia me preparar para a jornada desse livro, para esses meninos vivendo em situação de miséria, e ainda tendo tantas aventuras, questões filosóficas, criando códigos de conduta, mesclando tudo isso com humor, esapanto, incômodo, revolta, angústia, emoção, eu terminei esse livro, literalmente chorando, chorando mesmo, de emoção por tudo que li, por tudo que senti, por tantas palavras de cortar, e ao mesmo tempo preencher meu coração. Essa edição ainda tem uma mini biografia, que pra mim só enriquece minha já grande admiração por esse autor.

[fefa · Rating 5 out of 5]

That may become my favourite second book. Itʼs so genuinely “pure” — in its most twisted, yet childish way, still so raw, those kids donʼt have nothing to call theirs. They donʼt got parents to look after them and be tender with, the only way of loving they know is having sex despite such a ripe age. They only have each others to form their own street family.


It can be more seemed when Dora first appears; even the way she was described, it was not in the very suggestive and vague way that Jorge Amado adopts when it comes to female characters, citing more the appearance of their bodies, no, she was described barely being a “proper lady”, being seen as a child. When the boys get to see her, they go feral; (not tryna be the devilʼs advocate here..) they donʼt have interactions with girls the same way the have with boys — a brotherhood like (or ones like Brandão and Almiro) — they donʼt see them the same way theyʼd see a boy. You see, Dora, from them all, was the one who mostly lived among a family — and being a girl (especially in Brazil, at that time), meant doing pleasant things to men. A mother figure to a husband, a second mother whom you can marry. She becomes their sister, mother but to Pedro Bala she was their wife. I really enjoy their little romance stuff, it was cute, tender. Seeing him with her is different when you see with the another ones; Pedro around Dora seems to get more soft, more boyish like, forgetting the whole “Capitães da Areia boss” and the hatred he has in his heart, acting his age and just being silly. Yet, itʼs rather sad seeing Professor in the shadows, also seeing her as a wife but never getting to love her the same way.


I couldnʼt believe her death, (which I accidently saw any early from flipping through the pages, yet it hold me in an awe) I guess the characters really cling into you, especially her. If she never appeared, the story probablyʼd never be much as entertaining than it is. She carried some sort of light with her.



Pretty often, older women see the boys as a way of fulfilling her own needs, despite seeing them as sexual partners, they still feel the same way a motherʼd feel towards her son. Not even Dora escape this “incest” stuff. Often describing Pedro as a brother yet her lover.


Among all of them, by far Sem-Perna was the saddest story. Being lame on one leg, naturally disadvantaged, he uses violence and cruelty to create protective barriers, afraid that,, if one day he really allowed himself to be kind to anyone, heʼd lose his hatred for people and remember the hatred he felt for himself. Not trying to sugarcoat him at all. The happiest you can see him at the book was when he stayed at Esterʼs house and was being treated like her son. It was cute, sure, although both were serving as a hole cover for important figures in each otherʼs lives; a mother and a son, it wasnʼt exactly genuine. After that? He seems even more irritated with life, with himself. In the narrations you can see that the problem is not the people, but the indescribable disgust he feels for himself.


Despite being a old book, it is very accurate still to this day. Abandoned children who feed on theft. Society instead of trying to take these children off the street and put them in facilities where they really helped them, they prefer to ignore it. Treating them as the scum of society, when if they are on the street in the first place, it is the fault of the system, of society. What good is the pro-life movement if when the children whoʼd be aborted — spared from a miserable life — are treated as nothing again from the moment they are born and cry out for help? None of those kids had a happy ending. Various opportunities and solutions are shown to us, but they do not try to cling to such because theft has no privilege (I mean... Pirulito and Gato were somewhat lucky).


Iʼm happy and glad, but somewhat sad from finishing this book. It is such a short read and you caught yourself thinking about the characters even when not reading. Canʼt wait to watch the film.

[Elida Costa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esse livro é incrível e emocionante. Gosto da forma que o autor apresenta um assunto tão delicado de forma crua, como que se desse um tapa na cara da sociedade e demonstra a hipocrisia das instituições que teoricamente deveriam defender as crianças carentes e acabam, por sua omissão, levando-as ao crime. Confesso que li porque soube que o livro chegou a ser queimado, e fiquei curiosa para saber o motivo, e entendi. Nota 100000000.

[Eduardo Souza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorei como esse livro ainda trata de assuntos atuais, principalmente agora em 2026, tudo está acontecendo agora e sendo bastante evidenciado em todos os lugares. Eu adorei conhecer a rotina dessas crianças, como vemos que mesmo passando por tudo isso, nenhum deles é puro e cada um carrega os seus pecados e as suas tristezas. O senso de companheirismo deles é muito bonito, adorei o livro.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leitura incrível, o livro te mostra com tantos detalhes histórias únicas e que te envolvem de maneira surpreendente.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it at school, fell in love. What an astonishing and heart breaking book.