Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon

I would give five stars for Music Magpie, the distributor. The book was a request from a friend who'd read it in her native language and wished to read an English version. I couldn't relate to the story, hence four stars.

At one point in this novel reference is made to  The Crime of Father Amaro  and this book certainly put me in mind of the work of Eca de Queiros. It's a kind of Brazilian western, with cocoa plantations replacing cattle ranches. Try to think of the set up of  Man Who Shot Liberty Valance [DVD] [1962 ] overlaid with the plot of a Palliser novel populated with characters from Priestley's  The Good Companions . Or if that's too complicated, just read the book. It's very good.

We just visited paraty and this book was mentioned so many times, I really enjoyed the writing.

Lovely book. I enjoyed it a lot and the book arrived and was in the good condition as advertised. All round good experience

Excellent novel full of spice,excellent writing - gives a real flavour of Brazil (not that I've been lucky enough to visit that country).Vibrant characters, strong plot bursting with the joys of living.

Ilhéus is changing: once a frontier town, where pioneers ambushed and murdered each other for control of plantation estates, its newly prosperous residents seek peace, good governance, and the trappings of civilization. But the old guard who dominate local politics - the colonels - are resisting, and the cocoa wars are threatening to begin again.Nacib, a Syrian-born Ilhéan and the owner of a popular bar in town, is trying his best to stay neutral (it's better for custom). When his cook leaves on the eve of an important dinner event, he finds Gabriela in the "slave market", hires her and hopes for little. But Gabriela is a diamond in the rough - sensual, simple, and a brilliant cook. Soon all the men in town are after her, and Nacib is wondering how he ever did without her.Amado fills Ilhéus with a host of characters, all richly evoked, and his dialogue and style are first-class; it's a hugely readable tale. And also a clever one, in which the evolution of a backwater into an important trading centre is drawn out in the dreams, scandals and daily adventures of its population. A steamy, twisting and earthy novel that swamps you and won't let go.

The Brazilian writer Jorge Amado, 1912 - 2001, was born near Ilhéus, in Bahia State, which is the location of this novel, published in 1958, and here translated by James L. Taylor and William L. Grossman.The translation dates from 1962 but, with the exception of a few jarring phrases [`otherwise his employees would ball things up', `But shucks, a man like Mr Nacib isn't goin' to marry just anybody.'], creates the necessary energy and exoticism. The author grew up on a cacao plantation and this novel describes urban and rural life, and the effects of development and post-agrarian industrialisation on the social, economic and political fabric of the region in the mid-1920s.This is a period of cacao harvesting and, in the outlying areas, of deforestation. Violence remains just under the surface and prevailing tradition has it that if a wife is having an affair, her husband has the right, indeed the obligation, to kill both the lovers. He will be arrested, though not imprisoned and will be found innocent. This is a South American frontier novel with much of the amoral activity being a direct result of sheer boredom and economic necessity.As befits the complex multiculturialism of Brazil, the central story is that of the Syrian-Brazilian bar owner, Nacib Saad, and the young mulatto, Gabriela. When they first meet, he can hardly make out her age or features because, having walked to escape droughts in the north of the country, she is covered in dust and wears a collection of rags. After he has asked her to bath, a sign of his honesty and generosity, he recognises just how beautiful she is [`her skin the color of cinnamon and her smell like clove'] but it still takes time for them to become lovers. Even then she retains her innocence and good nature. Later, in passing, the author informs the reader that Gabriela was abused by her uncle as a child.Around this couple, Amado introduces a broad sweep of characters of differing ages, ethnicities and economic sectors - such as the aged reactionary Ramiro Bastos and his profligate son, Tonico; Malvina Tavares, who refuses to accept her father's control over her education and marriage partner; Mundinho Falçao, a recently arrived exporter determined to upset the traditional politics, attitudes and economy of Ilhéus; Dr. Mauricio Caires, a reactionary lawyer summoning hellfire and damnation; Dr Osmundo Pimental, dentist and seducer; Dona Arminda, midwife and spiritualist; Vitor Melo, Congressman and 'human emetic'; Lazy Chico and Eaglebeak.....The author, occasionally in a rather wordy fashion, introduces a great deal of background information about Brazilian history, culture, agriculture and trade, flora and fauna, food and drink and social life. The society is patriarchal with the men engaging in all manner of vices and their wives and children expected to remain prim and proper, or to live in the state capital, Bahia, which gives their husbands an even freer hand to behave licentiously. The contrast and conflict between the older families, whose riches are based on agriculture, and the more recent arrivals, who advocate the political and economic benefits of dragging the state into the 20th century, is very well described.Nacib needs to cater to all the locals and so has to tread a careful path between rival factions. As his feelings for Gabriela move from lust to love, mediated by the terror of one of the wealthy politicians or landowners setting her up as a mistress, we want to give him a big push before it is too late. Similarly we find him adopting the prevailing social norms when, after marriage, he seeks to limit Gabriela's freedom and exuberance, and tries to get her to conform to how a wife should behave. Before his marriage he was warned `Gabriela is like an exquisite wild flower; once you pick it and put it in a vase, it withers and dies.' Part of the fascination of the book lies in the finding out what will happen with the author offering contradictory hints at various points in the narrative.The cast list is long and the book might have benefitted from these being listed, and grouped, at the beginning of the story. The narrative is reasonably straightforward and Amado introduces tension about the course of various relationships, personal and professional jealousies, and political and social disputes.Amado creates a number of very impressive female characters from all strata of society and shows us how constrained their lives were, even in the case of mistresses and those on the very edge of society. Overall, Amado offers an optimistic perspective on his characters, country and society and writes with great enthusiasm and passion.