Captain of the Sands
by Jorge Amado
What happens when the weather on Memorial Day weekend isn’t
very good? Time to read more #RAFavBooks
– one each of the past six days! There are
three more days in May, so we will see if it continues! This time a young-adults book written by a
Brazilian author, Jorge Amado, called Captains
of the Sands. The book explores a young
group of homeless / orphaned kids, aged seven to thirteen, living on the
streets of Bahia Brazil. The ‘gang’ go
by the name Captain of the Sands and are aptly led by Pedro Bala to steal,
gamble, and beg, always barely escaping the city police. Each chapter features one of the boys and
their individual stories, from falling in love, to coming down with smallpox, to
deciding to join the priesthood under the leadership of Father Jose Pedro (who
befriended the boys). Later in the book,
Pedro falls in love with Dora, also an orphan youth, who is captured by the
police during a raid on the boys. Pedro
is jailed while Dora is placed in a reformatory and slowly becomes ill while
the two are separated. Pedro escapes but
not in time to save Dora. The chapters
conclude with the group growing apart and moving in their various directions in
life. A great series of stories
capturing the tales of delinquent youth who rely upon each other to make it
when their lives would otherwise be nothing but despair.
No comments:
Post a Comment