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On Earth As It Is Beneath
On land where enslaved people were once tortured and murdered, the state built a penal colony in the wilderness, where inmates could be rehabilitated, but never escape. Now, decades later, and having only succeeded in trapping men, not changing them for the better, its operations are winding down. But in the prison’s waning days, a new horror is unleashed: every full-moon night, the inmates are released, the warden is armed with rifles, and the hunt begins. Every man plans his escape, not knowing if his end will come at the hands of a familiar face, or from the unknown dangers beyond the prison walls. Ana Paula Maia has once again delivered a bracing vision of our potential for violence, and our collective failure to account for the consequences of our social and political action, or inaction. No crime is committed out of view for this novelist, and her raw, brutal power enlists us all as witness.
112 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2017
55 people are currently reading
2710 people want to read
About the author
Ana Paula Maia
25 books257 followersAna Paula Maia (Nova Iguaçu, 1977) is a Brazilian writer, scriptwriter and musician.
During her adolescence she player at a punk rock band and studied piano. As a scriptwriter she took part in the script of the short film O entregador de pizza (2001), and along with Mauro Santa Cecilia and Ricardo Petraglia, she wrote the theatrical monologue O rei dos escombros assembled in 2003 by the Moacyr Chaves firm. She published her first novel under the title O habitante das falhas subterrâneas in 2003.
She is the author of the trilogy A saga dos brutos, started by the short novel Entre rinhas de cachorros e porcos abatidos y O trabalho sujo dos outros —published in one volume— and concluded by the novel Carvão animal.
Influenced by Dostoievski, by Quentin Tarantino and Sergio Leone in her cinematography, and the pulp literature and series, her works are maked by the violence and the treatment of their characters, that often includes scatological elements.
During her adolescence she player at a punk rock band and studied piano. As a scriptwriter she took part in the script of the short film O entregador de pizza (2001), and along with Mauro Santa Cecilia and Ricardo Petraglia, she wrote the theatrical monologue O rei dos escombros assembled in 2003 by the Moacyr Chaves firm. She published her first novel under the title O habitante das falhas subterrâneas in 2003.
She is the author of the trilogy A saga dos brutos, started by the short novel Entre rinhas de cachorros e porcos abatidos y O trabalho sujo dos outros —published in one volume— and concluded by the novel Carvão animal.
Influenced by Dostoievski, by Quentin Tarantino and Sergio Leone in her cinematography, and the pulp literature and series, her works are maked by the violence and the treatment of their characters, that often includes scatological elements.
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August 9, 2025
The Colony is much like a corral. Cattle are slaughtered for food; men, in turn, are slaughtered for eradication. This is not a place for rehabilitation, nothing of the sort. It's a corral where undesirables are tossed onto a pile, much like landfill, a place no one wants to see, smell or think about.
O confinamento de homens assemelha-se a um curral de animais. O gado é abatido para se transformar em alimento; os homens, por sua vez, são abatidos para deixarem de existir. Não é um lugar de recuperação ou coisa que o valha, é um curral para se amontoarem os indesejados, muito semelhante aos espaços destinados às montanhas de lixo, que ninguém quer lembrar que existem, ver ou sentir seus odores.
On Earth As It Is Beneath, published by Charco Press, is Padma Viswanathan's translation of Assim na terra como embaixo da terra (2017) by Ana Paula Maia, which won, in the original, the Prêmio São Paulo de Literatura for Melhor Livro do Ano. The author's next novel Enterre Seus Mortos won the same prize in 2018, and will also be forthcoming in English translation from Charco Press.
The author's previous novel in English, the brilliant Of Cattle and Men (2023), Zoe Perry's translation of De Gados e Homens (2013), won the author, translator and press the Republic of Consciousness Prize and the Cercador Prize.
And On Earth As It Is Beneath is, in a sense, a prequel to that novel, telling us more of the story of the foreman of the slaughterhouse in Of Cattle and Men Bronco Gil. Of Cattle and Men introduced him as follows:
Ana Paula Maia is known for her recurrent characters, particularly Edgar Wilson from Of Cattle and Men and various, previous and later works, and Edgar Wilson and Bronco Gil both appear in her most recent novel Búfalos selvagens (2024), alongside an ex-priest Tomás, the third in a trilogy - the “trilogia do fim” - with the aforementioned Enterrem Seus Mortos (2017) and De Cada Quinhentos Uma Alma (2021)
The author explained why she decided to expand on the story of Bronco Gil in an interview (again ChatGPT sourced and translated):
"Eu gostei muito do Bronco Gil. Eu nunca tinha tido um personagem índio. Eu queria muito ter um índio como personagem. Mas não índio de cocar, ainda com aquela imagem inocente, mas não, um índio mestiço, exatamente como é o Bronco Gil. E eu gostei muito do Bronco Gil, eu acho que ele teve um excelente desempenho em De gados e homens, e eu percebo que quando o personagem tem um desempenho muito bom, quando ele me pega… eu falo, ‘não, esse cara tem que voltar em algum outro livro’. E quando ele surgiu em De gados e homens eu falei, ‘eu vou trazer esse personagem de novo’. Geralmente esses eu não mato, ele não pode morrer, tem que ficar vivo para um próximo livro. E aí quando eu fui escrever o Assim na terra como embaixo da terra, eu decidi trazer o Bronco Gil como protagonista, porque ele estava muito próximo de mim, era um personagem que eu queria trabalhar de novo, e eu achei que ele seria perfeito para aquele lugar, para aquele espaço."
"I really liked Bronco Gil. I had never had an Indigenous character before. I really wanted to have an Indigenous character. But not a feathered-headdress kind of Indian, still caught up in that innocent image—no, a mixed-race Indian, exactly like Bronco Gil. And I liked Bronco Gil a lot. I think he performed excellently in De gados e homens, and I realize that when a character performs really well, when they grab me… I say, ‘No, this guy has to come back in another book.’ And when he appeared in De gados e homens, I said, ‘I'm going to bring this character back.’ Usually, I don’t kill off these kinds of characters—they can’t die, they have to stay alive for a future book. So when I sat down to write Assim na terra como embaixo da terra, I decided to make Bronco Gil the protagonist because he was very close to me—he was a character I wanted to work with again. And I thought he would be perfect for that place, for that setting."
On Earth As It Is Beneath is set in a remote Prison Colony. This was originally set up to be unescapable, a long way from anywhere, surrounded by high earth wall and an electric fence, the prisoners fitted with ankle tags which (they are at least told, and dare not test) will explode if they leave an electronic security perimeter, and the guards armed and authorised to shoot-to-kill. Those sent there are often the worst of prison society, murderers, including those who have killed policeman.
Bronco Gil, whose father trained him as a hunter, became over time, a hunter of men, and claims to have killed many people to order, starting with an exploitative landowner, although he was caught only when he was paid to kill a town Mayor, and has been sent some time ago to the colony.
He’d never heard of the Colony before, maybe because no one who was sent there ever got out to tell the tale.
[...]
From one end of the Colony to the other, nothing is certain except the high walls. In fact, he realises, the walls don't only serve to confine the inmates, they also obliterate any evidence of their existence. On the outside, no one cares. No one wants to see what happens here on the inside. It's of no consequence, doesn't matter to anyone. As with the trash piled up to be consumed by fire, so it is for those confined between the walls. Trash, at least, is recycled. But there's no one to give these men another chance.
The ground on which the Colony stands has a very troubled history, one of violence and death, a slave concentration camp a century earlier, and two farmers who each tried in turn to farm the land met, or their families met, tragic ends. And the authorities have, over the years, let it be known they'd prefer an inmate to also be disposed of.
Some months ago, the authorities announced that the Colony was to be closed, and the 42 prisoners rehoused elsewhere. The prison warden Melquíades appears to be losing his sanity, and seems determined to keep up his proud record that no inmate has ever escaped by slaughtering them. Every full moon he arms himself with a rifle, selects a number of inmates, removes their ankle tags and makes the following speech, before hunting them down and killing them:
'Now, you're practically free men. I'm only going to say this one time, so pay attention. You've got the chance to get beyond these walls, but it's just a chance, which I consider remote? He shows them a stopwatch. 'When I give the signal, I'm going to start the timer for thirty seconds, which is how long you both have to go ahead and run as far as you can. But if me and my long-range made-in-Czechoslovakia CZ.22 rifle find you, you're never getting out of here, got it? No one has ever managed to escape. Everyone stays here, forever and ever. This is a socio-educational measure.'
At the time the novel is set, there are only four prisoners left, including Bronco Gil, and one guard, who doesn't know who to be more concerned about - the violent criminals or his boss Melquíades. And when one prisoner finds a way out of the camp - alerted by the survival of a vulture who perches on a particular part of the electric fence - and a representative of the authorities finally arrived, every man there (and this is an intensely masculine novel) becomes both hunter and hunted.
It's no spoiler, given the earlier (in publication) but later (in chronology) novel to say that Bronco Gil survives, and in the novel's closing page, hitchhiking, he is picked up by a man, Milo, who impressed that he has escaped the unescapable, and unconcerned about his path, offers him a job at the Touro do Milo Slaughterhouse which we will encounter in Of Cattle and Men:
Milo winks at Bronco and goes on. 'I own a slaughterhouse. I need a man I can trust to manage staff and cattle deliveries. You'd get a paycheque, food and lodgings. A day off every two weeks. You can go wherever you want.'
Another viscerally powerful and compact (101 pages) novel and I look forward to more of the author's work.
O confinamento de homens assemelha-se a um curral de animais. O gado é abatido para se transformar em alimento; os homens, por sua vez, são abatidos para deixarem de existir. Não é um lugar de recuperação ou coisa que o valha, é um curral para se amontoarem os indesejados, muito semelhante aos espaços destinados às montanhas de lixo, que ninguém quer lembrar que existem, ver ou sentir seus odores.
On Earth As It Is Beneath, published by Charco Press, is Padma Viswanathan's translation of Assim na terra como embaixo da terra (2017) by Ana Paula Maia, which won, in the original, the Prêmio São Paulo de Literatura for Melhor Livro do Ano. The author's next novel Enterre Seus Mortos won the same prize in 2018, and will also be forthcoming in English translation from Charco Press.
The author's previous novel in English, the brilliant Of Cattle and Men (2023), Zoe Perry's translation of De Gados e Homens (2013), won the author, translator and press the Republic of Consciousness Prize and the Cercador Prize.
And On Earth As It Is Beneath is, in a sense, a prequel to that novel, telling us more of the story of the foreman of the slaughterhouse in Of Cattle and Men Bronco Gil. Of Cattle and Men introduced him as follows:
Each man goes to his post under the watchful eye of the slaughterhouse foreman, Bronco Gil. Tall, with straight hair and tanned skin, and exceptionally strong, he always wears braces and leather boots, even in the heat. He is a self-proclaimed hunter. When a cow breaks free and escapes, he’s able to capture it quickly. When a jaguar or wild boar threatens the cattle’s safety, he’ll sit for days and nights on end in the woods, waiting to ambush it. If a disagreement between the employees oversteps the limits of peaceful coexistence, he knows how to deal with it. Bronco Gil is a mediator, a hunter, a butcher and one of the vilest individuals Edgar Wilson has ever met.
Despite his ability to handle a shotgun, he prefers a bow and arrow. He is the son of an Indigenous woman and a white rancher. Until the age of twelve, he lived with a tribe where outsiders were not allowed, and cut off from the world, he lived immersed in a culture with little fondness for affection. He accidentally lost one of his testicles in an initiation ritual into adulthood. This made him quieter but more aggressive. Some time later, his father decided to go fetch him and take him to live on the ranch, as he needed a helper. In exchange for some tins of potted meat and lard, Bronco Gil was whisked away to a region far removed from the tribe. His father, by then an old man and a widower, had lost his three other sons, who’d spent weeks hunting down two jaguars that had been circling the ranch’s cattle. Overnight, the old man found himself alone and with no heirs, so he decided to rescue Bronco Gil and try to civilise him before it was too late. That’s the way the old man thought. But instead civilisation barbarised him, and what little affection he’d known became like the dust on the ground he walked upon. Civilised, wearing boots and braces, and combing his hair back with Mutamba and Juá hair tonic, he was taught to hunt for pleasure and to never turn his back on anyone. They lived together, father and son, for ten years, until the old man died of a heart attack while riding among the cornfields.
On his own, Bronco Gil lost the farm, the horses and two pickup trucks at card tables. The rest of what he had was spent on hookers and booze. Late one night, walking home drunk, propped up by two women, they were run over and left for dead. The deserted stretch of road prevented help from arriving for eight hours. The women didn’t make it; he was rescued in time. But his left eye didn’t stand a chance. A vulture ate it while his right eye watched. In its place was now one made of glass; brown, like the real one, but that pops loose from its socket now and again.
Ana Paula Maia is known for her recurrent characters, particularly Edgar Wilson from Of Cattle and Men and various, previous and later works, and Edgar Wilson and Bronco Gil both appear in her most recent novel Búfalos selvagens (2024), alongside an ex-priest Tomás, the third in a trilogy - the “trilogia do fim” - with the aforementioned Enterrem Seus Mortos (2017) and De Cada Quinhentos Uma Alma (2021)
The author explained why she decided to expand on the story of Bronco Gil in an interview (again ChatGPT sourced and translated):
"Eu gostei muito do Bronco Gil. Eu nunca tinha tido um personagem índio. Eu queria muito ter um índio como personagem. Mas não índio de cocar, ainda com aquela imagem inocente, mas não, um índio mestiço, exatamente como é o Bronco Gil. E eu gostei muito do Bronco Gil, eu acho que ele teve um excelente desempenho em De gados e homens, e eu percebo que quando o personagem tem um desempenho muito bom, quando ele me pega… eu falo, ‘não, esse cara tem que voltar em algum outro livro’. E quando ele surgiu em De gados e homens eu falei, ‘eu vou trazer esse personagem de novo’. Geralmente esses eu não mato, ele não pode morrer, tem que ficar vivo para um próximo livro. E aí quando eu fui escrever o Assim na terra como embaixo da terra, eu decidi trazer o Bronco Gil como protagonista, porque ele estava muito próximo de mim, era um personagem que eu queria trabalhar de novo, e eu achei que ele seria perfeito para aquele lugar, para aquele espaço."
"I really liked Bronco Gil. I had never had an Indigenous character before. I really wanted to have an Indigenous character. But not a feathered-headdress kind of Indian, still caught up in that innocent image—no, a mixed-race Indian, exactly like Bronco Gil. And I liked Bronco Gil a lot. I think he performed excellently in De gados e homens, and I realize that when a character performs really well, when they grab me… I say, ‘No, this guy has to come back in another book.’ And when he appeared in De gados e homens, I said, ‘I'm going to bring this character back.’ Usually, I don’t kill off these kinds of characters—they can’t die, they have to stay alive for a future book. So when I sat down to write Assim na terra como embaixo da terra, I decided to make Bronco Gil the protagonist because he was very close to me—he was a character I wanted to work with again. And I thought he would be perfect for that place, for that setting."
On Earth As It Is Beneath is set in a remote Prison Colony. This was originally set up to be unescapable, a long way from anywhere, surrounded by high earth wall and an electric fence, the prisoners fitted with ankle tags which (they are at least told, and dare not test) will explode if they leave an electronic security perimeter, and the guards armed and authorised to shoot-to-kill. Those sent there are often the worst of prison society, murderers, including those who have killed policeman.
Bronco Gil, whose father trained him as a hunter, became over time, a hunter of men, and claims to have killed many people to order, starting with an exploitative landowner, although he was caught only when he was paid to kill a town Mayor, and has been sent some time ago to the colony.
He’d never heard of the Colony before, maybe because no one who was sent there ever got out to tell the tale.
[...]
From one end of the Colony to the other, nothing is certain except the high walls. In fact, he realises, the walls don't only serve to confine the inmates, they also obliterate any evidence of their existence. On the outside, no one cares. No one wants to see what happens here on the inside. It's of no consequence, doesn't matter to anyone. As with the trash piled up to be consumed by fire, so it is for those confined between the walls. Trash, at least, is recycled. But there's no one to give these men another chance.
The ground on which the Colony stands has a very troubled history, one of violence and death, a slave concentration camp a century earlier, and two farmers who each tried in turn to farm the land met, or their families met, tragic ends. And the authorities have, over the years, let it be known they'd prefer an inmate to also be disposed of.
Some months ago, the authorities announced that the Colony was to be closed, and the 42 prisoners rehoused elsewhere. The prison warden Melquíades appears to be losing his sanity, and seems determined to keep up his proud record that no inmate has ever escaped by slaughtering them. Every full moon he arms himself with a rifle, selects a number of inmates, removes their ankle tags and makes the following speech, before hunting them down and killing them:
'Now, you're practically free men. I'm only going to say this one time, so pay attention. You've got the chance to get beyond these walls, but it's just a chance, which I consider remote? He shows them a stopwatch. 'When I give the signal, I'm going to start the timer for thirty seconds, which is how long you both have to go ahead and run as far as you can. But if me and my long-range made-in-Czechoslovakia CZ.22 rifle find you, you're never getting out of here, got it? No one has ever managed to escape. Everyone stays here, forever and ever. This is a socio-educational measure.'
At the time the novel is set, there are only four prisoners left, including Bronco Gil, and one guard, who doesn't know who to be more concerned about - the violent criminals or his boss Melquíades. And when one prisoner finds a way out of the camp - alerted by the survival of a vulture who perches on a particular part of the electric fence - and a representative of the authorities finally arrived, every man there (and this is an intensely masculine novel) becomes both hunter and hunted.
It's no spoiler, given the earlier (in publication) but later (in chronology) novel to say that Bronco Gil survives, and in the novel's closing page, hitchhiking, he is picked up by a man, Milo, who impressed that he has escaped the unescapable, and unconcerned about his path, offers him a job at the Touro do Milo Slaughterhouse which we will encounter in Of Cattle and Men:
Milo winks at Bronco and goes on. 'I own a slaughterhouse. I need a man I can trust to manage staff and cattle deliveries. You'd get a paycheque, food and lodgings. A day off every two weeks. You can go wherever you want.'
Another viscerally powerful and compact (101 pages) novel and I look forward to more of the author's work.
February 15, 2018
Os livros da Ana Paula Maia são geralmente bem curtos. Ler suas histórias é como chegar já no clímax, intuir o passado de seus personagens perdidos e violentos, completar as lacunas que ela prepara para o leitor, e se preparar para o desastre pessoal de cada um, que vai se anunciando aos poucos.
"Assim na terra..." conta mais uma vez com sua ironia e toques tarantinescos de violência. Seus tipos brutos são sempre meio desastrados em suas ações e escolhas, um detalhe que curto muito.
O toque extra desse livro vem de uma crítica social mais direta... Ao nosso passado escravocrata sanguinário, à nossa política de presídios que são como abatedouros. Nenhum dedo apontado na cara, mas está lá para quem quiser ver. Podemos até fingir que não, mas no fim das contas, seguimos enterrando nossos mortos uns em cima dos outros.
"Assim na terra..." conta mais uma vez com sua ironia e toques tarantinescos de violência. Seus tipos brutos são sempre meio desastrados em suas ações e escolhas, um detalhe que curto muito.
O toque extra desse livro vem de uma crítica social mais direta... Ao nosso passado escravocrata sanguinário, à nossa política de presídios que são como abatedouros. Nenhum dedo apontado na cara, mas está lá para quem quiser ver. Podemos até fingir que não, mas no fim das contas, seguimos enterrando nossos mortos uns em cima dos outros.
December 28, 2025
I thought this was going to be dystopian, but it’s closer to survival horror, albeit with an important message about how society treats those who’ve committed crimes. It features a remote penal colony where the warden has gone absolutely rogue. Each night, he selects two prisoners, lets them loose, and hunts them with his gun like game. Separately, the prisoners are hatching plans to escape before their night comes.
This wasn’t a favourite for me but it was certainly fast-paced and suspenseful, a bit like watching an action movie. It’s a quick read, and overall I enjoyed it.
This wasn’t a favourite for me but it was certainly fast-paced and suspenseful, a bit like watching an action movie. It’s a quick read, and overall I enjoyed it.
December 31, 2025
[2.5 stars] I'm changing this to a 2.5 and trusting my gut sorry <3
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A short, depraved novella about the justice system and the power imbalance that exists between inmates and guards. The commentary about the exploitation of criminals and lack of emphasis on rehabilitation isn’t particularly nuanced or surprising, but the dystopian atmosphere was still immersive enough. I liked the characters well enough, but they weren’t particularly fleshed out.
As others have mentioned, there’s a lack of cohesion in certain scenes that are hard to ignore. I’m not sure if this is attributed to the translation or source text, but there’s several instances of logical inconsistencies or gaps in scenes that don’t make sense. Characters have the tendency to disappear and reappear at will, and it left me re-reading a few of the action packed scenes to try and make sense of what was going on.
I’m not sure how much this will stick with me, but it was a compelling enough read that I didn’t mind spending a few hours with it. Given the relatively favourable reviews I can’t help but admit I expected a little more from it! At least it’s another potential Booker title I’ve knocked off my TBR.
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A short, depraved novella about the justice system and the power imbalance that exists between inmates and guards. The commentary about the exploitation of criminals and lack of emphasis on rehabilitation isn’t particularly nuanced or surprising, but the dystopian atmosphere was still immersive enough. I liked the characters well enough, but they weren’t particularly fleshed out.
As others have mentioned, there’s a lack of cohesion in certain scenes that are hard to ignore. I’m not sure if this is attributed to the translation or source text, but there’s several instances of logical inconsistencies or gaps in scenes that don’t make sense. Characters have the tendency to disappear and reappear at will, and it left me re-reading a few of the action packed scenes to try and make sense of what was going on.
I’m not sure how much this will stick with me, but it was a compelling enough read that I didn’t mind spending a few hours with it. Given the relatively favourable reviews I can’t help but admit I expected a little more from it! At least it’s another potential Booker title I’ve knocked off my TBR.
June 5, 2018
Quizás sea un error mío, pero de un tiempo a esta parte me volví más crítica con los libros que se leen de una sentada, quizás sea que la simpleza de su tránsito me lleva a pensar que no hay mucha riqueza narrativa o muchas más capas para explorar. Con este libro no puedo decir eso porque si bien se lee de un tirón, está tan bien escrito, dice tanto más de lo que dice, habla con tanta simpleza y al mismo tiempo profundidad del alma humana, que uno no puede dejar de decir cuando lo termina: waw!
Hace rato que tenía ganas de leer a Ana Paula Maia, había escuchado que era muy buena pero como otras veces ya caí en el chasco, esperaba vivir yo el proceso. Y si che, es buena, muy buena, jajaja. La historia te lleva con el ritmo frenético de los sucesos pero en el medio te va hablando de la humanidad, de las divisiones que hace el mismo hombre entre buenos y malos y las líneas difusas que hay en esa etiqueta. Del alma humana más allá de todo análisis social y siguen pasando y pasando cosas que no te dejan cerrar el libro. Y los supuestos buenos se mezclan con los supuestos malos y todo es un gran guiso en el que lo único importante es el vivir, la vida como máximo valor y la muerte como parte de ella.
Hace rato que tenía ganas de leer a Ana Paula Maia, había escuchado que era muy buena pero como otras veces ya caí en el chasco, esperaba vivir yo el proceso. Y si che, es buena, muy buena, jajaja. La historia te lleva con el ritmo frenético de los sucesos pero en el medio te va hablando de la humanidad, de las divisiones que hace el mismo hombre entre buenos y malos y las líneas difusas que hay en esa etiqueta. Del alma humana más allá de todo análisis social y siguen pasando y pasando cosas que no te dejan cerrar el libro. Y los supuestos buenos se mezclan con los supuestos malos y todo es un gran guiso en el que lo único importante es el vivir, la vida como máximo valor y la muerte como parte de ella.
June 9, 2025
Prison Break if it were reimagined by Mariana Enriquez and Cormac McCarthy.
On Earth As It Is Beneath is a very dark and disturbing look at the human capacity for violence and evil. Taking place in a crumbling backwater prison, somewhere in the arse-end of the Brazilian jungle, it follows a group of inmates and wardens as the normal rules break down and terror descends. Maia follows up Of Cattle and Men with this triumph of gripping, suspenseful real world horror. Absolutely loved it.
On Earth As It Is Beneath is a very dark and disturbing look at the human capacity for violence and evil. Taking place in a crumbling backwater prison, somewhere in the arse-end of the Brazilian jungle, it follows a group of inmates and wardens as the normal rules break down and terror descends. Maia follows up Of Cattle and Men with this triumph of gripping, suspenseful real world horror. Absolutely loved it.
September 22, 2025
A quick, enjoyable read. But if you're a fan of true crime or literary thrillers, it's nothing new.
August 5, 2025
3.5-3.75. A brutal little book that segues perfectly into the start of one of my favorite books of recent years, Of Cattle and Men. While Maia’s latest English release fell a little short of expectations—Of Cattle and Men is hard to top—it’s still a worthwhile read that exposes the ubiquitous nature of violence, specifically as it pertains to masculinity.
Maia is economical with her words, stripping the story down to its bare bones, but at what cost? The connective tissue, or the bridge, between sentences was often missing, making some of the more action-filled scenes feel like we were jumping three steps ahead with each sentence. In a scene where a hitman is trying to gain access to the house where his target is hiding, the writing emphasizes that the windows and doors are locked, yet a sentence later he’s suddenly inside with no explanation. Later, a character is trying to hurry and shoot his gun at a critical moment but it jams and “he can’t pull the bolt forward again or lock it to fire”, and then the next sentence that’s back in the scene has the man shooting multiple times. So I guess they just figured it out off page? And then there were at least two times in the story that something said earlier in the story is contradicted later on. This many hiccups (?) in such a short book took away some of the thrill and excitement for me and I’m not sure whether they came about through the translation or they were there all along (though worth noting that On Earth has a different translator than Of Cattle).
Maia is a little too on the nose in the exploration of some of her themes, there were times I understood exactly what was being implied and then she went ahead and just spelled it out. Additionally, the third-person omniscient narrator was a drawback for me here, bouncing around from person to person and stating feelings and intentions that would’ve been more interesting to reveal in less direct ways.
The story, though, is a good one and kept me flipping the pages despite my issues with the execution. I suspect my rating would be lower if the author had been someone else, but I wanted to love this one so I'm still rounding up to 4.
Maia is economical with her words, stripping the story down to its bare bones, but at what cost? The connective tissue, or the bridge, between sentences was often missing, making some of the more action-filled scenes feel like we were jumping three steps ahead with each sentence. In a scene where a hitman is trying to gain access to the house where his target is hiding, the writing emphasizes that the windows and doors are locked, yet a sentence later he’s suddenly inside with no explanation. Later, a character is trying to hurry and shoot his gun at a critical moment but it jams and “he can’t pull the bolt forward again or lock it to fire”, and then the next sentence that’s back in the scene has the man shooting multiple times. So I guess they just figured it out off page? And then there were at least two times in the story that something said earlier in the story is contradicted later on. This many hiccups (?) in such a short book took away some of the thrill and excitement for me and I’m not sure whether they came about through the translation or they were there all along (though worth noting that On Earth has a different translator than Of Cattle).
Maia is a little too on the nose in the exploration of some of her themes, there were times I understood exactly what was being implied and then she went ahead and just spelled it out. Additionally, the third-person omniscient narrator was a drawback for me here, bouncing around from person to person and stating feelings and intentions that would’ve been more interesting to reveal in less direct ways.
The story, though, is a good one and kept me flipping the pages despite my issues with the execution. I suspect my rating would be lower if the author had been someone else, but I wanted to love this one so I'm still rounding up to 4.
March 26, 2018
Algo que admiro na prosa da Ana Paula Maia é sua capacidade de fabular num universo que se fecha: é sempre esse cenário meio pós-apocalíptico de uma urbe, geralmente seu subúrbio, com seus mesmos personagens cruentos. Entretanto, depois do terceiro livro (acho que esse é o quarto que leio, após "A Guerra dos Bastardos", "Entre Rinhas..." e "Carvão Animal"), essa mesma prosa vai ficando meio manjada, não tanto por esse cenário e esses personagens, mas por sua técnica de narrar que é sempre meio igual: o olhar cinematográfico, as descrições filtradas pelo imaginário dos personagens, seus diálogos ágeis mas profusos, a ação repleta de movimento e violência. Aqui, a leitura foi um tanto tediosa até lá pela metade do livro (é um livro bem curto, umas 150 páginas...) quando os presos começam a traçar um plano de fuga da Colônia Penal. Depois, tudo se desenrola sem muitas surpresas. A impressão que ficou foi que ela transformou em livro o que era na verdade o rascunho da história de fundo do personagem Bronco Gil, que como o Edgar Wilson - uma de suas crias mais famosas - aparece em alguns dos outros títulos. Gosto mais dos seus romances que têm aquelas estruturas de capítulos centrados nos personagens, cada um funcionando independentemente, quase como um conto ou uma pequena novela dentro dos romances. Sua escrita parece se acomodar melhor assim, e render mais. Acho esse livro bem aquém do que a prosa dela tem a oferecer pra quem curte a autora.
June 9, 2022
Este livro é como se Kafka e Stephen King tivessem transado e tido um filho. A burocracia sufocante e a opressão institucional do primeiro, aliados aos personagens chucros, cheios de defeitos, mas com espaço para humanidade do segundo.
Ana Paula Maia faz tudo isso e mais um pouco, prosa afiada, precisa. O texto é curto e potente, uma história forte, repleta de dilemas, presa em um labirinto de injustiças.
Na literatura, comparações são sempre descabidas, minha menção a Kafka e King é puramente didática, pra te situar sobre o que esperar desse livro, mas se eu puder acrescentar mais uma comparação didática: Ana Paula Maias é tão brutal quanto os dois, se não for mais.
Tá achando pouco? Pega mais essa então: quando terminei pela primeira vez de ler O velho e o mar, do Hemingway, fiquei com saudades de Santiago. Até hoje ele está comigo, até hoje imagino como está sua rotina de pescador velho no vilarejo às margens do mar. Neste caso aconteceu o mesmo com Bronco Gil, ele ainda está comigo. E vai ficar um bom tempo. Vou ficar muito tempo imaginando o que aconteceu com ele após a última página do livro, que vida ele levou, para onde foi. Ambos livros curtos, com personagens marcantes que me deixaram na saudade.
Foi minha primeira leitura de Ana Paula Maia, mas está longe, muito longe, de ser a última.
Ana Paula Maia faz tudo isso e mais um pouco, prosa afiada, precisa. O texto é curto e potente, uma história forte, repleta de dilemas, presa em um labirinto de injustiças.
Na literatura, comparações são sempre descabidas, minha menção a Kafka e King é puramente didática, pra te situar sobre o que esperar desse livro, mas se eu puder acrescentar mais uma comparação didática: Ana Paula Maias é tão brutal quanto os dois, se não for mais.
Tá achando pouco? Pega mais essa então: quando terminei pela primeira vez de ler O velho e o mar, do Hemingway, fiquei com saudades de Santiago. Até hoje ele está comigo, até hoje imagino como está sua rotina de pescador velho no vilarejo às margens do mar. Neste caso aconteceu o mesmo com Bronco Gil, ele ainda está comigo. E vai ficar um bom tempo. Vou ficar muito tempo imaginando o que aconteceu com ele após a última página do livro, que vida ele levou, para onde foi. Ambos livros curtos, com personagens marcantes que me deixaram na saudade.
Foi minha primeira leitura de Ana Paula Maia, mas está longe, muito longe, de ser a última.
August 2, 2025
On the Earth As It Is Beneath is soooo good!! This novella opens in The Colony, an isolated penal colony built on cursed ground, where prisoners enter, but never leave; even if a prisoner managed to scale the 3 meter high, barbed wired topped walls, their ankle bracelet would explode, blowing off their foot. There are only a few prisoners, one guard and the camp commander left in this seemingly forgotten hell, and the commander has gone mad. What has happened to the other 39 prisoners?
There is an evil that permeates this blood soaked land: what is buried beneath the grounds is also above the ground and it hunts and maddens men.
Anyone in the US will of course think of the prison built by MAGAts in the middle of a swamp in the Florida Everglades, the so-called Alligator Alcatraz. The paragraph I've posted is what I imagine will happen with ICE guards:
I’ve felt for a long time that I will never leave this place….I should’ve left, quit, as soon as it started. But no: I stayed. I don’t know exactly why. It seemed like the right thing to do. I thought that was the way justice worked. You know, sir, after years shut up in here, we forget what it’s like in the world outside. Our world is here, on the inside, along with all kinds of people. I don’t know exactly when I started feeling indifferent, I don’t remember…It’s a slow thing, simmering away, until you realize there’s no turning back. You lose all affection for your fellow man, you don’t even realize that they’re the same as you.
I loved Of Cattle and Men and this is just as good, with an even stronger sense of menace and foreboding. It’s not necessary to read Of Cattle and Men first, but I’m glad I did. Highly, highly recommended.
There is an evil that permeates this blood soaked land: what is buried beneath the grounds is also above the ground and it hunts and maddens men.
Anyone in the US will of course think of the prison built by MAGAts in the middle of a swamp in the Florida Everglades, the so-called Alligator Alcatraz. The paragraph I've posted is what I imagine will happen with ICE guards:
I’ve felt for a long time that I will never leave this place….I should’ve left, quit, as soon as it started. But no: I stayed. I don’t know exactly why. It seemed like the right thing to do. I thought that was the way justice worked. You know, sir, after years shut up in here, we forget what it’s like in the world outside. Our world is here, on the inside, along with all kinds of people. I don’t know exactly when I started feeling indifferent, I don’t remember…It’s a slow thing, simmering away, until you realize there’s no turning back. You lose all affection for your fellow man, you don’t even realize that they’re the same as you.
I loved Of Cattle and Men and this is just as good, with an even stronger sense of menace and foreboding. It’s not necessary to read Of Cattle and Men first, but I’m glad I did. Highly, highly recommended.
May 22, 2025
The way Maia explores deranged and psychopathic masculinity is just incredible. In the same vein as Of Cattle and Men, Maia looks at what happens to a group of men when they are left in a confined, liminal space and how the madness begins to manifest.
This book wasn’t as visceral as her previous book but the more I read the more I became completely terrified by the book. The violent machoism that Maia explores is truly unhinged and it becomes apparent in this little book of lies, criminality and mass torture that both authority and the victims of it are at the mercy of this insanity.
A truly haunting follow up, I really loved this book and thought it paired excellently with her English debut. I was shocked to my core at some of the imagery and left reeling by her sly references to the slaughterhouse in her first book, showing us how everything she writes about is connected and the toxicity feeds into each other. I can’t recommend her enough as a writer.
This book wasn’t as visceral as her previous book but the more I read the more I became completely terrified by the book. The violent machoism that Maia explores is truly unhinged and it becomes apparent in this little book of lies, criminality and mass torture that both authority and the victims of it are at the mercy of this insanity.
A truly haunting follow up, I really loved this book and thought it paired excellently with her English debut. I was shocked to my core at some of the imagery and left reeling by her sly references to the slaughterhouse in her first book, showing us how everything she writes about is connected and the toxicity feeds into each other. I can’t recommend her enough as a writer.
May 2, 2020
A cada livro da Ana Paula Maia dá pra ver que o estilo está cada vez mais depurado, o ponto cada vez mais certeiro. É uma beleza acompanhar o projeto estético dessa escritora.
September 23, 2018
Lido praticamente de uma tacado só, que livro!
Há um que de distopia e ar pós-apocalipse mas talvez seja apenas uma sensação de realidade exacerbada pela crueza dos personagens e da trama, árida como a paisagem onde se passa, seca como a vida dos personagens.
A Colônia é atemporal e sem geografia definida, pode-se abrir o leque e interpretá-la como o fardo de culpa que cada um carrega pelos 'crimes' que cometeu na vida, somos reféns de nossas culpas, entramos e jamais saímos e os cadáveres que vamos enterrando acabam por nos assombrar cedo ou tarde.
O desumano é banal quando tudo ao redor é seco de sentido ou empatia e o individuo se perde, vira um rascunho de si ante o isolamento proposto pelos muros que parecem intransponíveis e as mentiras que se conta para evitar que fujamos da prisão, acabamos por acreditar que nosso lugar é ali e que sair é impossível e até mesmo pode acarretar a morte.
Há uma questão ali, quando o oficial de justiça chega interroga sobre os javalis, ninguém sabe de onde vem os bichos mas, se a prisão é toda cercada, ou alguém os trouxe de fora ou já estavam por ali o que parece fugir da compreensão dos detentos afinal, eles já não sabem se foram para ali trazidos ou sempre estiveram ali, impossível entender tal afirmação do oficial.
Uma fábula tanto tenebrosa sobre como nos isolamos no mundo e como damos pouco valor ao que acontece ao nosso redor, vivemos em Colônias, somos apenados como os do livro mas fingimos que não.
No final, o javali sempre acaba morto.
Há um que de distopia e ar pós-apocalipse mas talvez seja apenas uma sensação de realidade exacerbada pela crueza dos personagens e da trama, árida como a paisagem onde se passa, seca como a vida dos personagens.
A Colônia é atemporal e sem geografia definida, pode-se abrir o leque e interpretá-la como o fardo de culpa que cada um carrega pelos 'crimes' que cometeu na vida, somos reféns de nossas culpas, entramos e jamais saímos e os cadáveres que vamos enterrando acabam por nos assombrar cedo ou tarde.
O desumano é banal quando tudo ao redor é seco de sentido ou empatia e o individuo se perde, vira um rascunho de si ante o isolamento proposto pelos muros que parecem intransponíveis e as mentiras que se conta para evitar que fujamos da prisão, acabamos por acreditar que nosso lugar é ali e que sair é impossível e até mesmo pode acarretar a morte.
Há uma questão ali, quando o oficial de justiça chega interroga sobre os javalis, ninguém sabe de onde vem os bichos mas, se a prisão é toda cercada, ou alguém os trouxe de fora ou já estavam por ali o que parece fugir da compreensão dos detentos afinal, eles já não sabem se foram para ali trazidos ou sempre estiveram ali, impossível entender tal afirmação do oficial.
Uma fábula tanto tenebrosa sobre como nos isolamos no mundo e como damos pouco valor ao que acontece ao nosso redor, vivemos em Colônias, somos apenados como os do livro mas fingimos que não.
No final, o javali sempre acaba morto.
Read
August 31, 2025'How'd you lose your eye?' ask Valdenio.
'It was long time ago. I was run over and left to die.' A vulture ate my eye while I watched. I was paralysed. Badly injured. It thought I was dead. Just doing its job. That's what vultures are for, eating waste, eating flesh'.
I've been dancing a dance of impatience since I learned that we're getting a translation of another Ana Paula Maia novel. Of Cattle and Men was a work of genius. I need to reread it in light of this one, as it is a prequel of sorts. Much remains the same, though I surprisingly found it less brutal. I suppose that's because there's much less violence against nonhuman animals than in Of Cattle and Men. Here, the violence is more human-on-human, and Maia shows the long history of masculinist (post)colonial brutality that constitutes humanity. Will Maia give us a prequel to the prequel and take us on a tour of colonial Brazil in her next novel? I'm both terrified and excited about the prospect.
'It was long time ago. I was run over and left to die.' A vulture ate my eye while I watched. I was paralysed. Badly injured. It thought I was dead. Just doing its job. That's what vultures are for, eating waste, eating flesh'.
I've been dancing a dance of impatience since I learned that we're getting a translation of another Ana Paula Maia novel. Of Cattle and Men was a work of genius. I need to reread it in light of this one, as it is a prequel of sorts. Much remains the same, though I surprisingly found it less brutal. I suppose that's because there's much less violence against nonhuman animals than in Of Cattle and Men. Here, the violence is more human-on-human, and Maia shows the long history of masculinist (post)colonial brutality that constitutes humanity. Will Maia give us a prequel to the prequel and take us on a tour of colonial Brazil in her next novel? I'm both terrified and excited about the prospect.
December 27, 2017
Reseña disponible también en mi blog:
http://ceresplaneta.blogspot.com.ar/2...
La novela más reciente de Ana Paula Maia sitúa al lector en una colonia penal. Allí, vemos la convivencia de un reducido conjunto de presos que son testigos del horror que allí se desarrolla. Todo en manos de Melquíades, el director de la cárcel.
Si bien algunos personajes se repiten, en Así en la tierra como debajo de la tierra plantea un contexto distinto al que habíamos visto en la novela anterior de esta autora brasileña (De ganados y de hombres, también traducida y publicada por Eterna Cadencia). Podríamos leer esta nueva novela casi como una precuela, si se quiere, de la que salió en 2013. En el caso de Así en la tierra como debajo de la tierra la historia se desarrolla en una cárcel. Pero lo curioso de esta cárcel es que no son muchos los presos que allí residen. Es un oficial de justicia el que lo descubre. De los cuarenta y dos que debería haber, hay treinta y nueve de los que se desconoce su paradero. Desconocido para este oficial, porque los reclusos saben bien qué es lo que pasa en esta colonia penitenciaria. Nuestros protagonistas serán, como mucho, cuatro. Pero claro, lo interesante de esta historia es saber por qué son tan pocos. O, mejor dicho, por qué van quedando tan pocos.
Tal como sucedía en su anterior libro, Así en la tierra como debajo de la tierra es una historia surcada indefectiblemente por la violencia. Los presos asisten, constantemente, a la brutalidad a la que los somete el director de la cárcel. Éste tiene como divertimento cazar presos. Melquíades les propone una especie de juego. Les quita la tobillera electrónica que tiene cada uno y les da un tiempo para correr y tratar de escaparse. Finalizado ese tiempo Melquíades dispara. Y los presos caen. Es una actividad no sólo sumamente violenta, sino también muy cínica, porque está claro que los reclusos no van a poder sortear los muros que rodean la colonia penal. Y claro, si a alguno se le ocurre traspasarlos, Melquíades sale con su jeep a buscarlos, para asegurarse de que nadie se burle de él. Que nadie lo desafíe.
La novela tiene un ritmo constante que atrapa completamente el lector. Al comienzo, la autora nos introduce a los personajes. Todos hombres y criminales, cada uno tiene su historia. Más allá de que la mayoría de los capítulos narran las situaciones cotidianas de los presos, hay uno en particular que nos cuenta justamente cómo es que fueron a parar a esa cárcel que ya se encuentra a punto de desaparecer. Casi en una situación apocalíptica, porque para llegar a ella no hay indicaciones, y se encuentra prácticamente en el medio de la nada. Una apocalipsis rural, carcelaria, descarnada. La narración es en tercera persona, y eso nos permite conocer las realidades de varios personajes simultáneamente. De esta forma, el relato se construye a partir de una sola voz omnipresente y omnisciente que conoce cómo es cada preso, cómo se siente y qué planes tiene para intentar escapar. La novela, en ese sentido, se lee con mucha facilidad y agilidad, no solo porque la autora tiene un estilo para nada rebuscado ni difícil de entender, sino también porque a medida que la historia avanza vamos enterándonos de más cuestiones que hacen que aumente el interés del lector por lo que está leyendo.
Pienso que quizás la perspectiva más interesante por la cual analizar Así en la tierra como debajo de la tierra es a partir del mismo título. Éste plantea una comparación, casi en términos de iguales, entre lo que sucede abajo de la tierra y lo que sucede arriba. Arriba ya sabemos qué pasa. La violencia es extrema por las medidas tomadas por Melquíades, que según él mismo son “socioeducativas”. Medidas que no son solo para “disciplinar” a los presos, sino que evidentemente sirven para exponer y, en última instancia, canalizar sus impulsos psicopáticos. Pero esa violencia no solo queda ahí, arriba. Se traslada inmediatamente abajo. Por los esclavos que antes allí estaban, que fueron asesinados y enterrados, pero también por cómo Melquíades “resuelve”, por así decirlo, ese cinismo explícito al que somete a los presos. Es interesante, también, plantear la cuestión del infierno, que está presente en muchas ocasiones a lo largo del relato. En el texto, éste no es solamente ese lugar al que, según determinadas religiones, vamos cuando morimos y hemos hecho el mal en vida. En la novela de Maia el infierno está en la cotidianeidad de los presos. Es lo que viven con Melquíades, el horror que se sucede constantemente con las técnicas del director. Y la única manera que tienen para contrarrestar ese infierno en el que viven es con más violencia. Es por eso que esta novela es una sucesión de hechos violentos constantes. Pero también es interesante ver cómo, a pesar de esto, de igual manera surgen actos muy humanos, muy valorables. Particularmente, me gustó mucho la relación que forjan dos personajes, Bronco Gil y Valdenio. El primero terminó en la cárcel por matar a un hombre importante. Un intendente, dice él. El otro es un viejo de más de setenta años que se ha pasado prácticamente toda su vida en las cárceles: “Hoy, curtido en el infierno, su cuerpo espera el fin de los días. Ya no cuestiona nada. Obedece. Baja la vista y se retira. Sigue recibiendo golpes, a veces con y a veces sin motivo. Dejó un poco de sangre en todos los lugares en los que anduvo. Podría seguirse su rastro. Intriga que haya sobrevivido tanto tiempo. Muy pocos llegan a la tercera edad en prisión”.
No hay muchos hechos, en la novela, que den cuenta de otra cosa que no sea la prisión. Como ya mencioné, hay algunos pasajes en los que se explican los pasados de cada recluso, y cuál fue el hecho que los hizo desembarcar en la colonia penal. Así en la tierra como debajo de la tierra se enfoca más que nada en las vidas de los presos en aquel lugar y, claro está, las cosas que tienen que hacer para sobrevivir y, también, las situaciones terribles a las que son sometidos. Y encima, nadie los espera afuera. Afuera no queda nada.
Es muy interesante el trabajo que hace Ana Paula Maia con la narración que estructura la novela. En primer lugar, porque pareciera que leemos lo que en ella se nos cuenta como si nada, como si no pasara nada. La prosa de la autora es ágil, pero también despojada, cruel, cruda. Nada la adorna, nada la amortigua. Todo lo que cuenta es concreto, violento, despiadado. Pero también tiene la capacidad de lograr que los personajes establezcan vínculos muy humanos, que dan cuenta de que es posible, más allá del contexto tan violento en el que les toca vivir a los presos, dejen eso de lado y hagan un poco de lugar para el compañerismo, para la lealtad. Es muy gratificante ver que, a pesar de todo, en estos hombres curtidos por el infierno sigue habiendo cosas para valorar. No hay un juicio moral en la novela de Maia, no está explicitado qué está bien y qué está mal. Porque claro, la ley moral que define los actos de cada personaje es la de la violencia. Todos la conocen, todos la han experimentado. Pero eso no imposibilita la aparición de buenos actos.
Así en la tierra como debajo de la tierra es una novela que sacude. Sacude porque narra hechos de una extrema violencia, lo cual también se traslada al estilo de la autora. Ana Paula Maia escribe con un ritmo constante, sin adornos, nada que haga desviar la atención de lo que está narrando. Una escritura tan dura y cruda como lo que cuenta. Con grandísima intensidad, esta escritora brasileña ha construido una novela que no se olvida fácilmente. Un libro que se lee en poquísimo tiempo, que se disfruta pero que también golpea duro.
http://ceresplaneta.blogspot.com.ar/2...
La novela más reciente de Ana Paula Maia sitúa al lector en una colonia penal. Allí, vemos la convivencia de un reducido conjunto de presos que son testigos del horror que allí se desarrolla. Todo en manos de Melquíades, el director de la cárcel.
Si bien algunos personajes se repiten, en Así en la tierra como debajo de la tierra plantea un contexto distinto al que habíamos visto en la novela anterior de esta autora brasileña (De ganados y de hombres, también traducida y publicada por Eterna Cadencia). Podríamos leer esta nueva novela casi como una precuela, si se quiere, de la que salió en 2013. En el caso de Así en la tierra como debajo de la tierra la historia se desarrolla en una cárcel. Pero lo curioso de esta cárcel es que no son muchos los presos que allí residen. Es un oficial de justicia el que lo descubre. De los cuarenta y dos que debería haber, hay treinta y nueve de los que se desconoce su paradero. Desconocido para este oficial, porque los reclusos saben bien qué es lo que pasa en esta colonia penitenciaria. Nuestros protagonistas serán, como mucho, cuatro. Pero claro, lo interesante de esta historia es saber por qué son tan pocos. O, mejor dicho, por qué van quedando tan pocos.
Tal como sucedía en su anterior libro, Así en la tierra como debajo de la tierra es una historia surcada indefectiblemente por la violencia. Los presos asisten, constantemente, a la brutalidad a la que los somete el director de la cárcel. Éste tiene como divertimento cazar presos. Melquíades les propone una especie de juego. Les quita la tobillera electrónica que tiene cada uno y les da un tiempo para correr y tratar de escaparse. Finalizado ese tiempo Melquíades dispara. Y los presos caen. Es una actividad no sólo sumamente violenta, sino también muy cínica, porque está claro que los reclusos no van a poder sortear los muros que rodean la colonia penal. Y claro, si a alguno se le ocurre traspasarlos, Melquíades sale con su jeep a buscarlos, para asegurarse de que nadie se burle de él. Que nadie lo desafíe.
La novela tiene un ritmo constante que atrapa completamente el lector. Al comienzo, la autora nos introduce a los personajes. Todos hombres y criminales, cada uno tiene su historia. Más allá de que la mayoría de los capítulos narran las situaciones cotidianas de los presos, hay uno en particular que nos cuenta justamente cómo es que fueron a parar a esa cárcel que ya se encuentra a punto de desaparecer. Casi en una situación apocalíptica, porque para llegar a ella no hay indicaciones, y se encuentra prácticamente en el medio de la nada. Una apocalipsis rural, carcelaria, descarnada. La narración es en tercera persona, y eso nos permite conocer las realidades de varios personajes simultáneamente. De esta forma, el relato se construye a partir de una sola voz omnipresente y omnisciente que conoce cómo es cada preso, cómo se siente y qué planes tiene para intentar escapar. La novela, en ese sentido, se lee con mucha facilidad y agilidad, no solo porque la autora tiene un estilo para nada rebuscado ni difícil de entender, sino también porque a medida que la historia avanza vamos enterándonos de más cuestiones que hacen que aumente el interés del lector por lo que está leyendo.
Pienso que quizás la perspectiva más interesante por la cual analizar Así en la tierra como debajo de la tierra es a partir del mismo título. Éste plantea una comparación, casi en términos de iguales, entre lo que sucede abajo de la tierra y lo que sucede arriba. Arriba ya sabemos qué pasa. La violencia es extrema por las medidas tomadas por Melquíades, que según él mismo son “socioeducativas”. Medidas que no son solo para “disciplinar” a los presos, sino que evidentemente sirven para exponer y, en última instancia, canalizar sus impulsos psicopáticos. Pero esa violencia no solo queda ahí, arriba. Se traslada inmediatamente abajo. Por los esclavos que antes allí estaban, que fueron asesinados y enterrados, pero también por cómo Melquíades “resuelve”, por así decirlo, ese cinismo explícito al que somete a los presos. Es interesante, también, plantear la cuestión del infierno, que está presente en muchas ocasiones a lo largo del relato. En el texto, éste no es solamente ese lugar al que, según determinadas religiones, vamos cuando morimos y hemos hecho el mal en vida. En la novela de Maia el infierno está en la cotidianeidad de los presos. Es lo que viven con Melquíades, el horror que se sucede constantemente con las técnicas del director. Y la única manera que tienen para contrarrestar ese infierno en el que viven es con más violencia. Es por eso que esta novela es una sucesión de hechos violentos constantes. Pero también es interesante ver cómo, a pesar de esto, de igual manera surgen actos muy humanos, muy valorables. Particularmente, me gustó mucho la relación que forjan dos personajes, Bronco Gil y Valdenio. El primero terminó en la cárcel por matar a un hombre importante. Un intendente, dice él. El otro es un viejo de más de setenta años que se ha pasado prácticamente toda su vida en las cárceles: “Hoy, curtido en el infierno, su cuerpo espera el fin de los días. Ya no cuestiona nada. Obedece. Baja la vista y se retira. Sigue recibiendo golpes, a veces con y a veces sin motivo. Dejó un poco de sangre en todos los lugares en los que anduvo. Podría seguirse su rastro. Intriga que haya sobrevivido tanto tiempo. Muy pocos llegan a la tercera edad en prisión”.
No hay muchos hechos, en la novela, que den cuenta de otra cosa que no sea la prisión. Como ya mencioné, hay algunos pasajes en los que se explican los pasados de cada recluso, y cuál fue el hecho que los hizo desembarcar en la colonia penal. Así en la tierra como debajo de la tierra se enfoca más que nada en las vidas de los presos en aquel lugar y, claro está, las cosas que tienen que hacer para sobrevivir y, también, las situaciones terribles a las que son sometidos. Y encima, nadie los espera afuera. Afuera no queda nada.
Es muy interesante el trabajo que hace Ana Paula Maia con la narración que estructura la novela. En primer lugar, porque pareciera que leemos lo que en ella se nos cuenta como si nada, como si no pasara nada. La prosa de la autora es ágil, pero también despojada, cruel, cruda. Nada la adorna, nada la amortigua. Todo lo que cuenta es concreto, violento, despiadado. Pero también tiene la capacidad de lograr que los personajes establezcan vínculos muy humanos, que dan cuenta de que es posible, más allá del contexto tan violento en el que les toca vivir a los presos, dejen eso de lado y hagan un poco de lugar para el compañerismo, para la lealtad. Es muy gratificante ver que, a pesar de todo, en estos hombres curtidos por el infierno sigue habiendo cosas para valorar. No hay un juicio moral en la novela de Maia, no está explicitado qué está bien y qué está mal. Porque claro, la ley moral que define los actos de cada personaje es la de la violencia. Todos la conocen, todos la han experimentado. Pero eso no imposibilita la aparición de buenos actos.
Así en la tierra como debajo de la tierra es una novela que sacude. Sacude porque narra hechos de una extrema violencia, lo cual también se traslada al estilo de la autora. Ana Paula Maia escribe con un ritmo constante, sin adornos, nada que haga desviar la atención de lo que está narrando. Una escritura tan dura y cruda como lo que cuenta. Con grandísima intensidad, esta escritora brasileña ha construido una novela que no se olvida fácilmente. Un libro que se lee en poquísimo tiempo, que se disfruta pero que también golpea duro.
August 1, 2020
caralho.
quero pedir pra todo mundo ler ana paula maia. sério. puta que pariu. que escrita incrível. que história cortante. sério, você pega um livro que tem menos de 150 páginas e consegue ter personagens que não são rasos, são totalmente... críveis. e a escrita dessa mulher. você fica aflito e torce por eles, e fica horrorizado com eles e teme com eles. é muito, muito bom esse livro. eu estou fascinada!!
quero pedir pra todo mundo ler ana paula maia. sério. puta que pariu. que escrita incrível. que história cortante. sério, você pega um livro que tem menos de 150 páginas e consegue ter personagens que não são rasos, são totalmente... críveis. e a escrita dessa mulher. você fica aflito e torce por eles, e fica horrorizado com eles e teme com eles. é muito, muito bom esse livro. eu estou fascinada!!
July 29, 2025
Jesus, I finally finished a book, hallelujah. 4 stars for GR, 3.5 on my actual system.
This is a fairly interesting look at punitive systems, how prisons are often their own society apart from the one we live in, exploring violence, especially violence of men, and if there is really any difference between ourselves and the animals we hunt and kill as they would to us. Fight or flight, hunt or be hunted, that kind of thing.
To me it wasn't anything particularly new, although I enjoy this kind of subject matter, and it read like a TV show, easily lending itself into being adapted. There were some very well written passages, and I liked the brief looks we got into the villain's brain, his relationship with the justice system, father, and God, but that was for about one page, and the other characters are given only the barest minimum of background or development. Considering it's only 100 pages, that makes sense.
This book has an audience, it isn't really for me, but I respect it and appreciate it for what it is - I'm interested enough in giving Of Cattle and Men a chance.
This is a fairly interesting look at punitive systems, how prisons are often their own society apart from the one we live in, exploring violence, especially violence of men, and if there is really any difference between ourselves and the animals we hunt and kill as they would to us. Fight or flight, hunt or be hunted, that kind of thing.
To me it wasn't anything particularly new, although I enjoy this kind of subject matter, and it read like a TV show, easily lending itself into being adapted. There were some very well written passages, and I liked the brief looks we got into the villain's brain, his relationship with the justice system, father, and God, but that was for about one page, and the other characters are given only the barest minimum of background or development. Considering it's only 100 pages, that makes sense.
This book has an audience, it isn't really for me, but I respect it and appreciate it for what it is - I'm interested enough in giving Of Cattle and Men a chance.
October 22, 2025
A brutal penal colony. A prison of last resorts, where rehabilitation is promised but ignored. Instead it becomes a killing field for a deranged warden.
The remaining, dwindling prisoners dig the graves, finding old ones. Finding that the prison was built upon an old one, where the enslaved were tortured and murdered. On Earth As It Is Beneath A cycle of violence, of the things men do to one another.
There are no waiting women here, no glimpses of unrequited love. And yet, oddly, there is hope. The author, as before, lets a heart beat among the dying.
The remaining, dwindling prisoners dig the graves, finding old ones. Finding that the prison was built upon an old one, where the enslaved were tortured and murdered. On Earth As It Is Beneath A cycle of violence, of the things men do to one another.
There are no waiting women here, no glimpses of unrequited love. And yet, oddly, there is hope. The author, as before, lets a heart beat among the dying.
October 1, 2025
Slapped so hard
June 9, 2022
Meu primeiro audiobook não poderia ser melhor! Ana Paula Maia novamente traz aqui uma história árida, brucutu, instigante. Uma mistura da Colônia Penal do Kafka, Battle Royale e Bacurau. Ou seja: tudo que há de bom!!
A Ana Paula é do meu estado Rio de Janeiro, e tem algo de muito específico e carioca em como ela mostra a violência cotidiana, as injustiças sociais que são mais brutais do que qualquer crime de arma branca. Tem muito de cinema e roteiro nesse livro, que eu queria que fosse adaptado pro cinema de tão visual que é. Ou se bobear uma adaptação em história em quadrinhos ilustrada apenas no nanquim, na forma e contraforma.
Há algo muito interessante também nos homens que a autora retrata: pra mim são um estudo sobre uma masculinidade que só poderia resultar em monstros policiais, burocratas corruptos sanguinolentos, que odeiam intrinsecamente brasileiros pobres, frágeis e miseráveis. É uma masculinidade sedenta por sangue, que está no poder, e vê no genocídio o futuro da nossa narrativa. Melquíades é um agente presidiário, mas é também um policial miliciano, um bandeirante paulista, um capitão do mato ou até mesmo um presidente genocida. Perceber isso na escrita da Ana Paula mostra a potência e o cuidado das histórias que ela cria.
Deixo aqui também um thumbs up pra versão do audiobook, que parece um podcast narrado na calada da noite. Muito bommMmmmMMm!
A Ana Paula é do meu estado Rio de Janeiro, e tem algo de muito específico e carioca em como ela mostra a violência cotidiana, as injustiças sociais que são mais brutais do que qualquer crime de arma branca. Tem muito de cinema e roteiro nesse livro, que eu queria que fosse adaptado pro cinema de tão visual que é. Ou se bobear uma adaptação em história em quadrinhos ilustrada apenas no nanquim, na forma e contraforma.
Há algo muito interessante também nos homens que a autora retrata: pra mim são um estudo sobre uma masculinidade que só poderia resultar em monstros policiais, burocratas corruptos sanguinolentos, que odeiam intrinsecamente brasileiros pobres, frágeis e miseráveis. É uma masculinidade sedenta por sangue, que está no poder, e vê no genocídio o futuro da nossa narrativa. Melquíades é um agente presidiário, mas é também um policial miliciano, um bandeirante paulista, um capitão do mato ou até mesmo um presidente genocida. Perceber isso na escrita da Ana Paula mostra a potência e o cuidado das histórias que ela cria.
Deixo aqui também um thumbs up pra versão do audiobook, que parece um podcast narrado na calada da noite. Muito bommMmmmMMm!
September 17, 2025
Roh, brutal und unheimlich packend. Ich hätte nicht gedacht, dass so viel in den wenigen Seiten steckt. Das Ende hätte für meinen Geschmack aber noch ein bisschen weniger überstürzt daherkommen dürfen.
November 22, 2025
“He understood that he hadn’t been sent here to serve out his sentence, but rather to be executed. He doesn’t know how long Melquiades has been hunting prisoners, applying what he calls, his Socio-educational measures, but, according to Taborda, the boss had gone crazy in recent months, between confinement, isolation, and having to live alongside the evil inside every man in this place.”
December 8, 2025
Excellent and visceral work in a smattering of pages. Looking forward to reading more Ana Paula Maia now!
June 26, 2025
Absolutely fucking perfect.
October 2, 2025
This is another tremendous achievement by the Brazilian writer, following Of Cattle and Men, though it serves as a prequel to that as is revealed in the last pages.
In an unnamed country where enslaved people were once tortured and murdered, the state has constructed a prison in the wilderness, where inmates may get rehabilitated, but escape is impossible.
Decades later, without rehabilitating anyone its operations are winding down. 42 men are guarded by a warden and his assistant. The warden’s state of mind has deteriorated to the extent that on a full moon he releases a handful of prisoners, then hunts them down.
Maia works with the premise skilfully, once again addressing man’s potential for violence. There aren’t any women in this book. Her writing is unrestrained and brutal. In just 112 pages no word is wasted. It’s a short sharp impact that stay in the memory long after the final page.
In an unnamed country where enslaved people were once tortured and murdered, the state has constructed a prison in the wilderness, where inmates may get rehabilitated, but escape is impossible.
Decades later, without rehabilitating anyone its operations are winding down. 42 men are guarded by a warden and his assistant. The warden’s state of mind has deteriorated to the extent that on a full moon he releases a handful of prisoners, then hunts them down.
Maia works with the premise skilfully, once again addressing man’s potential for violence. There aren’t any women in this book. Her writing is unrestrained and brutal. In just 112 pages no word is wasted. It’s a short sharp impact that stay in the memory long after the final page.
August 28, 2025
#brazilianportuguesetranslation
"The brutalism of the book lies in the raw construction of the characters. Their fears, their intentions and their actions are apparent. There is no coating, no glossing that can hide who they really are" - Ana Paula Maia
Never to mince her words & her feelings, the cinematic plot line Maia is capable of creating is par excellence
Yes she is extremely honest, to the extent that it will put you in a spot but I think that's what expands your horizons as a reader
I am thankful that I am impervious when it comes to hardcore violence, in the sense that it doesn't leave an aftereffect & I am able to segregate it from author
This point blank helps me in reading some of the amazing literature which showcases the extreme human side, case in point being Ana Paula Maia's books
On Earth...is a prequel to 'Of Cattle..' set in remote (forgotten) Penal colony, where the deranged Warden hunts down prisoners on the night of full Moon (the way slaves were executed). How the tables are turned is the jest of this thriller, which keeps you absolutely on toes & panting for breath
Author's stories are about forgotten people & places, collective inaction against horrors of society & systemic violence prevailing there
Thanks to a fellow reviewer @Rachel , I was able to spot quite a few discrepancies in the text. Are these errors by the author at scripting level or & by the translator, Padma Viswanathan's, it isn't clear. But now that I have seen it I can't ignore it. so even though the plot is very thrilling & keeps you highly engaged, this work is not as nuanced as "Of Cattle and Men'"
Nevertheless Kudos to @charcopress for publishing such underrated works
"The brutalism of the book lies in the raw construction of the characters. Their fears, their intentions and their actions are apparent. There is no coating, no glossing that can hide who they really are" - Ana Paula Maia
Never to mince her words & her feelings, the cinematic plot line Maia is capable of creating is par excellence
Yes she is extremely honest, to the extent that it will put you in a spot but I think that's what expands your horizons as a reader
I am thankful that I am impervious when it comes to hardcore violence, in the sense that it doesn't leave an aftereffect & I am able to segregate it from author
This point blank helps me in reading some of the amazing literature which showcases the extreme human side, case in point being Ana Paula Maia's books
On Earth...is a prequel to 'Of Cattle..' set in remote (forgotten) Penal colony, where the deranged Warden hunts down prisoners on the night of full Moon (the way slaves were executed). How the tables are turned is the jest of this thriller, which keeps you absolutely on toes & panting for breath
Author's stories are about forgotten people & places, collective inaction against horrors of society & systemic violence prevailing there
Thanks to a fellow reviewer @Rachel , I was able to spot quite a few discrepancies in the text. Are these errors by the author at scripting level or & by the translator, Padma Viswanathan's, it isn't clear. But now that I have seen it I can't ignore it. so even though the plot is very thrilling & keeps you highly engaged, this work is not as nuanced as "Of Cattle and Men'"
Nevertheless Kudos to @charcopress for publishing such underrated works
June 24, 2020
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBnyvW_jMhn/
“Assim na terra como embaixo da terra” de Ana Paula Maia, foi o livro escolhido para o encontro de maio do @leiamulheresjundiai.
Esse é meu segundo contato com a autora, então eu estava preparada para sua escrita crua, sem floreios, mas que causa reações sensoriais e permite que o leitor consiga imaginar perfeitamente todo o cenário e clima da história.
A escrita da autora é simples, sua escolha de palavras é precisa, os personagens são profundos e despertam reflexões que me acompanharão por muito tempo. Há uma crítica pertinente ao sistema prisional, que pende para um abatedouro, onde a desumanização acontece com todos os que estão encarcerados na colônia, seja por uma sentença judicial ou por seu cargo de trabalho. Ela faz isso sem vitimizar nenhum dos personagens.
A Colônia é isolada da civilização e os presos que ali estão, cometeram delitos graves. Além de toda tensão causada por o que está acontecendo no presente, também há a questão do passado sanguinário escravocrata sepultado que a terra parece ter absorvido e devolvido e em forma de maldição para o local.
Leitura mais que recomendada, é ágil e reflexiva, no entanto, se você não gosta de cenas violentas, talvez essa não seja uma boa escolha para você.
“Assim na terra como embaixo da terra” de Ana Paula Maia, foi o livro escolhido para o encontro de maio do @leiamulheresjundiai.
Esse é meu segundo contato com a autora, então eu estava preparada para sua escrita crua, sem floreios, mas que causa reações sensoriais e permite que o leitor consiga imaginar perfeitamente todo o cenário e clima da história.
A escrita da autora é simples, sua escolha de palavras é precisa, os personagens são profundos e despertam reflexões que me acompanharão por muito tempo. Há uma crítica pertinente ao sistema prisional, que pende para um abatedouro, onde a desumanização acontece com todos os que estão encarcerados na colônia, seja por uma sentença judicial ou por seu cargo de trabalho. Ela faz isso sem vitimizar nenhum dos personagens.
A Colônia é isolada da civilização e os presos que ali estão, cometeram delitos graves. Além de toda tensão causada por o que está acontecendo no presente, também há a questão do passado sanguinário escravocrata sepultado que a terra parece ter absorvido e devolvido e em forma de maldição para o local.
Leitura mais que recomendada, é ágil e reflexiva, no entanto, se você não gosta de cenas violentas, talvez essa não seja uma boa escolha para você.
May 13, 2025
‘Tell me they’re animals,’ Taborda says, his voice catching.
‘They’re not animals,’ Bronco Gil responds, moving forward immediately and shutting the lid. ‘After all, what is this place?’
A short, sharp jab of a novella about human cruelty, carceral abuse, and the allure of indifference in the face of violence. The story feels very much in conversation with Agustina Bazterrica (female South American authors writing about dehumanization and legacies of violence with a splatterpunk edge) but I enjoyed Ana Paula Maia's style much more; her terse prose, understated yet compelling, is well suited for the rising atmospheric dread and South American literature's insouciant approach to violence and corruption. I do think the ending felt rushed and did a disservice to the build-up of horror (seemingly to tie into one of her other books?) but the strong character work and social critique in the first half went a long way towards making the last chapters land wobbly but mostly upright.
‘They’re not animals,’ Bronco Gil responds, moving forward immediately and shutting the lid. ‘After all, what is this place?’
A short, sharp jab of a novella about human cruelty, carceral abuse, and the allure of indifference in the face of violence. The story feels very much in conversation with Agustina Bazterrica (female South American authors writing about dehumanization and legacies of violence with a splatterpunk edge) but I enjoyed Ana Paula Maia's style much more; her terse prose, understated yet compelling, is well suited for the rising atmospheric dread and South American literature's insouciant approach to violence and corruption. I do think the ending felt rushed and did a disservice to the build-up of horror (seemingly to tie into one of her other books?) but the strong character work and social critique in the first half went a long way towards making the last chapters land wobbly but mostly upright.
June 10, 2025
3.5 stars. An entertaining hundred pages, felt like I was in the world of No Country For Old Men. Exposition wasn’t great at times, I can see they were being economical with the pages they had, and this wasn’t going to be a slow burn of a book.
Some passages were ultimately thrilling and I was glued to the page, rooting for the prisoners.
The blurb of this edition gives far too much away. It’s conflicting, because ultimately that led to me asking for the copy, but it would’ve been great to stumble upon some of the plot points organically.
Feel like the theme of indigenous culture and past slavery weren’t teased out enough, but they supported the story well when employed! Bronco Gil was a good character.
Some passages were ultimately thrilling and I was glued to the page, rooting for the prisoners.
The blurb of this edition gives far too much away. It’s conflicting, because ultimately that led to me asking for the copy, but it would’ve been great to stumble upon some of the plot points organically.
Feel like the theme of indigenous culture and past slavery weren’t teased out enough, but they supported the story well when employed! Bronco Gil was a good character.
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