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the complete review - fiction
The Double Death
of Quincas Water-Bray
by
Jorge Amado
general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author
- Portuguese title: A Morte e a Morte de Quincas Berro d'?gua
- Translated by Gregory Rabassa
- With an Introduction by Rivka Galchen
- Previously published as The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell in a translation by Barbara Shelby (1965)
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Our Assessment:
B+ : amusing trifle
See our review for fuller assessment.
| Source | Rating | Date | Reviewer |
|---|---|---|---|
| The NY Times Book Rev. | . | 28/11/1965 | Dudley Fitts |
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The complete review's Review:
???????The Double Death of Quincas Water-Bray is so slight as to barely even qualify as a novella, but it's an amusing little trifle.
It tells of the day of Quincas Water-Bray's deaths -- plural, since his initial death isn't quite as clear-cut as one might want these things to be.
???????Central to the difficulty in considering Quincas Water-Bray's death is the fact that there was an even earlier death to take into account:
if not physical, a moral one at least, dating back some years earlier, which brings the total to three, making Quincas some kind of record holder in matters of death, a champion at dying???????What happened was that one-time devoted and proper civil servant Joaquim Soares de Cunha, after his retirement after twenty-five years dutifully on the job, at the age of fifty simply abandoned: "his family, his home, the habits of a lifetime, his circle of friends" -- and became the entirely dissolute Quincas. A "drunkard, scoffer, and gambler" -- and: "'The king of the tramps of Bahia,' the crime blotter in the newspaper had said."
???????So, for the shamed family, death becomes an opportunity -- to welcome their Joaquim back in the fold. With death comes the end of Quincas Water-Bray, the family wants to believe. Why not see now, about this Quincas:
That he had been nothing but an invention of the Devil ? A bad dream ? A nightmare ????????Ah, but there's a reason for the uncertainty the question marks imply. Not everybody wants to forget Quincas, or see in the dead man only fine and upstanding Joaquim. And when Quincas' old drinking buddies show up at the wake -- and then promise to watch over him that night -- things go dreadfully and comically awry.
???????It's an amusing idea; it's nicely spun out and related; and though it's little more than an episode -- a short day-in-the-life (or, rather, death) story -- it is certainly good fun: an amuse-gueule that whets the appetite for more Amado.
- M.A.Orthofer, 13 August 2012
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Links:
The Double Death of Quincas Water-Bray: Reviews: Jorge Amado: Other books by Jorge Amado under review: Other books of interest under review:- Return to top of the page -
About the Author:
???????Brazilian author Jorge Amado lived 1912 to 2012.
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? 2012 the complete review
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Source: http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/amadoj/double.htm
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