It is quite difficult for me to rate this book (= the novel and the extra texts - introduction, notes, Afterwords) because there are so many things to think about, after finishing it. Well, it is not an easy novel and reading it from the perspective of a contemporary (modern) European person would not make it a facile reading experience in any way. First, going through the novel would not be so light (well, I would say that it is an easy-to-read-difficult-novel) without Katrina Dodson’s notes and explanations of many words, concepts and legends that one reader has no idea about (not even in Brazilian Portuguese, the original version), which flood the text on every page and build undoubtedly the rhythm and the flow of the text, words that are probably impossible to translate in any language without destroying the Mario de Andrade’s intentions. Therefore, I would not judge only the novel (66% of the physical volume of the book), but the great work of the translator (Katrina Dodson), the Introduction (John Keene) and the extra explanations from Afterword by Mario de Andrade himself and Katrina Dodson, that help the reader to put together some puzzle pieces extracted from the tornado that the Macunaíma (apparently) is. And in order to be able to rate the novel, I would have to ask myself in the first place, why do I read? If only for the story and reading pleasure, I would have abandoned many books before, judged as being boring, difficult, not relevant enough, the language is too complicated, etc. But reading brought me also a lot of reading experiences, which are also related with the style, the rhythm, the flow of the text, the beauty of the language, the breaks that you need to take in order to let the text become part of your own life experience, of who you are and you will be from that moment on. Some books can make you feel like having had a transformative experience, like traveling around the world or climbing on a high mountain peak, not because they are difficult but because they are unique, because they are valuable rare pieces of reading experiences that you encounter not so often on the path of your reading adventure. So, I read not to search for nice and easy stories, but for relevant reading experiences, which Macunaíma certainly is one.
Nevertheless, there are some aspects that make the reading particularly interesting, at least in my case:
• In order to maintain the rhythm and go along with the construction of the story, you have to skip many words that you don’t know, that don’t make much sense, that sound simply funny, strange, absurd, etc. So partly one has to read something that they don't understand completely, which is pretty disturbing for someone who wants to have control and to understand every phrase (not me). Luckily (and a great idea), all the Katrina Dodson’s translation notes are placed in the last section of the book, for each chapter, which in the end is quite convenient to go and read the info and clarifications of some of the words that you had to skip (not properly skipping, I even read most of them out loud) understanding on the way.
• The story is “catchy” and “not catchy” at the same time. OK, there is a kind of plot, a guy (Macunaíma) gets born somewhere in the deep heart of Brazil and he behaves strange, does many hard-to-believe things, including magic, shapeshifting, incantations, etc etc, many that you have to accept in the text as they are, as part of the (pseudo-)reality of the story, deep rooted in the Brazil’s pre-colonial beliefs and mythology. And this guy gets stolen one kind of amulet that he really really values and that he starts to search and to find the thief, everything in that tornado of funny-sounding-no-idea-what-they-mean-words and inconceivable happenings that our hero does all over the 200 pages. It is “not catchy” because every chapter deals in one way or another with a slightly different problem (or more), borrowed by Andrade from Brazil’s mythology, which seems to be the key-point of the novel’s construction. Therefore, does it matter what happened in chapter 2, so to say? Well, yes and no. It matters if you want to use the story to understand/explain parts of Brazil’s overall identity, but not so much in the economy of the text. Therefore, I would say that all the small pieces brought in only to reference some Brazilian myths make the reading slightly difficult and give an idea of a fragmentary de-construction of the story in the middle of the general plot. Not good, not bad, only something that one has to deal with.
• If one reader would be really passionate and interested in Brazilian culture, THIS is probably the book they are looking for (luckily with Katrina Dodson’s notes).
In the end, I would ask myself if it was worth reading it. Should I have given up after the first pages, chapter, nonsense, etc? Is it something to remember in the future, to consider rereading it, to recommend it to other people? Yes and no. Definitely, the story is not something to stay, to get emotional about it, to resonate, to identify yourself with any of the characters. So emphatically, the answer would be no. But why do we read, only for such a reason? Don’t we also need challenging books to take us on some other level of reading experience? Was it worth reading it? For me, definitely yes. Overall, a great start of Fitzcarraldo Editions new Fitzcarraldo Classics collection.