The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas

I was tasked with this read for a humanities literature class and I must say that it was worth the suggested read. Machado's fresh take on literary style and perspective were a welcomed breeze. His twisted and dark humor gave a sense of relevance to how so many view the world and everyday scenarios. Forcing you to think once, twice, three times about the words before you. I absolutely loved it all

Sad story but told with a lot of humor.

Written in 1881, this Brazilian "posthumous" novel is written by a very lively corpse whose stunted political ambitions, amorous love affairs, and railings at the stupidities of humans, including himself, make for a witty, quick paced "memoir"/obituary of a book. Like nothing you've ever read, Machado de Assis pokes at the reader's reactions, anticipates his critics' attacks, and spins you along his passions and griefs, humors and overindulgences. This is a modern novel, way ahead of its time, a classic! Although a crackpot philosopher takes up too many words yammering about his nutty ideas toward the end of the book, I have no other complaints. Terrific!

If you want to get a great read on 10th Century humor, this book is a bomb.But don't expect laugh out loud jokes.

Like modern magic realism

It’s an interesting novel with an unusual narrative structure and some great one-liners, but it’s over-long and begins to wear thin about halfway through. The “plot” is thin so style is really what this book has going for it, but it takes some perseverance to get through it.

I just loved it! The best book I’ve ever read! I’m looking know for “ dom casmurro” by machado de assim too, i heard it is even better. High recommended

That book transformed my way to read books from other countries. This book is a mix of funny and sad. Good and evil. It was so unexpected reading.I loved it and want to read more about Brazilian authors.

Great book - can be read on a plane journey from London to Rio .

The story is great, well-written. Worthy buying.

Muito bom!

One of the best books ever written by any person in any century. The author also has other books that have been translated to English. I can only recommend that, if you enjoyed this one, to also go read Dom Casmurro.

Um trabalho hercúleo de Flora Thomson-DeVeaux, americana radicada no Rio de Janeiro, para traduzir o gênio de Machado de Assis para a língua inglesa. Por exemplo, Flora consultou dicionários de época para que cada palavra traduzida tivesse o sentido que Machado pretendeu dar aos vocábulos utilizados. Um trabalho de tradução magistral, que levou anos, à altura da importância do Bruxo do Cosme Velho. Oxalá a obra siga com altas vendagens (esgotou em um dia nos EUA) para que o maior escritor brasileiro tenha o merecido reconhecimento mundial. Muito obrigado, Flora!