Spilt Milk: A Novel

First off let me say that Buck Schirner did an awesome job of narrating Spilt Milk. After listening to this novel, I can't imagine any other reader giving such an outstanding dramatic performance as Buck Schirner gave in Spilt Milk.Spilt Milk is a very interestingly and uniquely written novel. In Spilt Milk, the character of Eulálio d’Assumpção narrates the entire novel in what appears to be the longest monologue of all time... So, we only know what's going on in this story through the eyes of a 100 year old man laying in a hospital on his deathbed.Eulálio d’Assumpção seems somewhat lucid at the start of this novel (if you can call him lucid as he's dying on his deathbed, in pain, and is given morphine), but his narration fades fast as he has his ups and downs... Eulálio d’Assumpção talks endless about his life and rants about his experience at the hospital to whomever will listen to him.Eulálio d’Assumpção's memory is failing as he bounces around from subject to subject telling his life's story. He often repeats the same stories and retells them in different ways. He is also delusional (seeing his mother in the hospital for example). Also, Eulálio d’Assumpção stories about his wife's life make for interesting reading... I can't figure out how she really died. One moment it seems like she could have had tuberculosis, leprosy, or even a std. How she dies exactly is uncertain or least to me it is. So, for me, Eulálio d’Assumpção is an unreliable narrator. I also don't even know if he is actually speaking to his caregivers at the hospital when I hear him talking to caregivers and other visitors or if he just thinks he is.So, I think Spilt Milk is a unique novel because we actually are able to hear a story narrated by someone dying in a hospital who is elderly, delusional, and may not have the best memory of his life events at this point in time. I think Chico Buarque captures the very essence of his main character and relays the events of Eulálio d’Assumpção's life in a believable and engaging way to readers.

This is a novel of sorts, perhaps a novella, in the form of a pseudo-memoir--23 rambling commentaries by a senile fool: commentaries on Brazil as he has lived it for a century and as his once-aristocratic family lived it for another century before. One doesn't have to know much about Brazilian history and culture to find it involving, but it helps. (You may not recognize the word "favela," for example, or know who Getulio Vargas was, or about the history of titles of nobility in the country. But it's easy enough to play catch-up.) Reviewing the book, Nicole Krauss says she read it in one sitting. So did I; so can you--it's only 177 rather small pages. But it will not do to read it superficially. The narrator, like Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim, is deeply unstuck in time. He does not know what year or what decade it is, at least most of the time--and unless you read carefully, neither will you, especially since the narrator's family constantly recycles names. He tells the same stories over and over again, but somehow they never come out the same way twice. If you do read carefully, you will emerge with a deeper understanding of socially-ingrained prejudices of both race and class than you had before, by virtue of seeing them in a social context different from our own, yet still comprehensible. Sometimes that distance helps.

It took me a while to figure out this book, but I enjoyed reading it. I am an avid reader and it is always nice to come across a different book that is well written and holds your interest.

A Brazilian centenarian recounts his life in fragments to possibly imaginary auditors. From the plantations of Minais Gerais to Copacabana Beach to the slums of Rio de Janeiro, Eulalio d'Assumpcao's memoir becomes a pastiche of 20th century Brazilian history.

This was a good read, but I was not overly impressed. I had expected more. Some elements may have been lost in translation. I would not recommend this book to anyone who was interested about the subject of race.

This is a story of a man at the end of his life reflecting on his journey. It is hard to follow at times and a bit depressing.

Nice story and very interesting delivery by author. Overall left me emotionally unaffected and was not riveted to see what was going to occur next.

a little ponderous - cannot recommend but it was interesting at the same time depressing. I would read more by this author.

I love this book - I read it in Portuguese and bought the English version for my in-laws and my wife, who are English native speakers. They loved it too (my mother in-law used to teach Literature in schools). As a Brazilian, let me tell you, not many contemporary works will give you so much insight into the mind of a selfish, merciless, elitist Brazilian middle class (really, an upper class eager to deny that they are the privileged few in a poor country) and tear apart one's stereotypes of Brazil as this happy-go-lucky, samba-loving, friendly nation. Chico Buarque's writing is delightful, gracious, and the book is fun to read. It is centered on a rather agreeable character, a law abiding elderly citizen reminiscing about his life - but look beyond his desire for "order and progress" (concepts so dear to the establishment in Brazil that the words appear on the Brazilian flag) and you will understand some elements of the social tension that underpins Brazilian society. Chico Buarque is a curious case of someone known at home for his songs and lyrics against the 1964-1985 dictatorship and beautiful love songs throughout his career, who managed to reinvent himself as a writer at a later age and is known abroad mostly as a writer these days. I think this book shows why.

This novel is narrated by a 100 year old Brazilian, once a wealth aristocrat, but who has fallen on hard times. Each short(ish) chapter is an unparagraphed monologue recollecting times past - but the recollections overlap and don't cohere. It's hard to figure out what's really happened to the narrator's wife, for example, something which is quite central to his life. This is an extreme case of the unreliable narrator.There are certainly segments of this book I enjoyed - notably the accounts of the narrator's own excess at his 100th birthday party. Overall, though, I found it very difficult to engage with in any sustained way.The dust jacket tells me that this book has won both Brazil's main literary prizes; also that Jonathan Franzen, Nicole Krauss and Jose Saramago all like this writer. I suspect therefore that I am suffering from a blind spot here in my appreciation of this - but I would suggest other potential readers approach with caution.

Fresh and imaginative writing,.Great insights into life in South America. Buarque is a new and remarkable voice and has a distinct style.

Superb novel. Well written, even in translation. Never let me down for one minute. Just what reading is all about.

I found this book difficult to understand, due to the frequent time changes and the different memories of the narrator. I do understand that it is a representation of various periods in Brazil's history and the behaviour of the various parts of society but I did not enjoy reading it.