Deka LS’s Reviews > Quarto de Despejo: Diário de Uma Favelada > Status Update

I’m reading an anthology of women diarists right now and she’s one of them!! Her entries are fascinating. How are you liking her diary?

jessie wrote: "I’m reading an anthology of women diarists right now and she’s one of them!! Her entries are fascinating. How are you liking her diary?"

Hey, Jessie! Wow, so cool that we’re reading the same author at the same time! Let me know which anthology it is; I’d love to know how Maria Carolina de Jesus and her work are presented in other countries and cultures. In Portuguese, the editors decided to maintain the 'deviations' from the grammatically correct form. I wonder how it was translated into English.

Regarding the book, it’s a challenging read due to the harsh life this woman leads. Her reality is deeply defined by her daily struggle to survive and feed her children. The logs are very repetitive in that sense, and I believe that was the idea—to make you feel exhausted, as the struggle is constant and endless.

The way she describes atrocities in short sentences and shifts subjects without elaborating much on what just happened makes the experience of reading it even harsher. There’s no time to digest one atrocity before you’re already reading about the next. That reminded me of the book Claus and Lucas by Agota Kristof. I don’t know if you’ve had the chance to read it.

Although she had little formal education, her writing is powerful, and she has firm political views and awareness.