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O Desejo De Kianda

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Published January 1, 2024

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About the author

Pepetela

44 books231 followers
Artur Carlos Maurício Pestana dos Santos is a major Angolan writer of fiction. He writes under the name Pepetela.

A white Angolan, Pepetela fought as a member of the MPLA in the long guerrilla war for Angola's independence. Much of his writing deals with Angola's political history in the 20th century. Mayombe, for example, is a novel that portrays the lives of a group of MPLA guerrillas who are involved in the anti-colonial struggle, Yaka follows the lives of members of a white settler family in the coastal town of Benguela, and A Geração da Utopia reveals the disillusionment of young Angolans during the post-independence period. Pepetela has also written about Angola's earlier history in A Gloriosa Família and Lueji, and has expanded into satire with his series of Jaime Bunda novels. His most recent works include Predadores, a scathing critique of Angola's ruling classes, O Quase Fim do Mundo, a post-apocalyptic allegory, and O Planalto e a Estepe, a look at Angola's history and connections with other former communist nations. Pepetela won the Camões Prize, the world's highest honour for Lusophone literature, in 1997. Pepetela is a Kimbundu word that means "eyelash," as does "pestana" in Portuguese. The author received this nickname during his time fighting with the MPLA.

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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Profile Image for Kaique Coelho.
147 reviews
November 14, 2025
Lendo ao redor do mundo: Angola 🇦🇴

Talvez não tenha sido a melhor escolha para o livro da Angola. Achei um pouco confuso, com personagens caricatos e um plot que não me prendeu tanto. A escrita é rápida de ser lida e é fácil terminar o livro, com pouco mais de 100 páginas.

Achei que faltou consistência entre as duas narrativas da história (a parte de João e de Cassandra) e achei que algumas escolhas narrativas não fizeram tanto sentido ou não tiveram importância para a história em si.

Queria ter lido mais sobre a Kianda – que é personagem importante do folclore angolano – e queria que a parte de Cassandra fosse mais desenvolvida, tudo pareceu muito superficial.
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