Starlight Book Review -Martha Batalha’s The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao – 🇧🇷

Cover of The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha on a green background | Image Source: Goodreads

World Tour Stellar Reading Challenge – Brazil

Translated from Portuguese

4/5 I have always wanted to visit Brazil. Of course, an easy ticket to this glittering jewel in the Southern Hemisphere is via literature. My search for such a book led me to The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha.

Learn more about these 2023 SRC by clicking here.

Click here to discover more about 2024 SRC.

Trigger Warnings (TW): period typical racism (also showing as fetishization) and sexism.

“Euridice is young, beautiful and ambitious, but when her rebellious sister Guida elopes, she sets her own aspirations aside and vows to settle down as a model wife and daughter. And yet as her husband’s professional success grows, so does Euridice’s feeling of restlessness. She embarks on a series of secret projects – from creating recipe books to becoming the most sought-after seamstress in town – but each is doomed to failure. Her tradition-loving husband is not interested in an independent wife. And then one day Guida appears at the door with her young son and a terrible story of hardship and abandonment. The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao is a wildly inventive, wickedly funny and keenly observed tale of two sisters who, surrounded by a cast of unforgettable characters, assert their independence and courageously carve a path of their own in 1940s Rio de Janeiro. A deeply human and truly unforgettable novel from one of the most exciting new voices in world literature.”

At first, I enjoyed reading The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao. I liked and cared about the titular character, Euridice. I often wanted to climb into the book to give her husband, Antenor, a piece of my mind. Batalha painted a vivid picture in this charming work of the Gusmaos’ home life. I docked the book a star, though, because it delved into many of the other characters and I wanted more Euridice. Nevertheless, I highly recommend to fans of historical fiction with a dash of magical realism.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starry Says – Episode #95 — Bandeira do Brasil 🇧🇷

Flag of Brazil

Manuscript Word Count (MWC) – 74,963

2023 Reading Goal to Date 67/72

It’s Vexillology Friday, dear Gnomies! Today’s nation is the World Tour Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC) country of the month – Brazil.

Check out other “Flag Posts” by clicking here.

Known simply as the national flag of Brazil (Portuguese: bandeira do Brasil), this national banner possesses a green field with the large yellow rhombus in the center bearing the blue disk, which is formed the celestial globe, depicted the starry sky of 27 small white 5-pointed stars spanned by the white equatorial curved band with the National Motto: “Ordem E Progresso” (Portuguese for “Order and Progress”), written in green block letters.

This flag was officially adopted on November 19, 1889 — 4 days after the Proclamation of the Republic, to replace the flag of the Empire of Brazil. The concept of the flag was the work of Raimundo Teixeira Mendes, with the collaboration of Miguel Lemos, Manuel Pereira Reis, and Décio Villares.

The Brazilian Flag is the flag that has gone through the most changes and the current flag was made and used in May of 1992, and still use it today.

The green color represents the flora and fauna of Brazil, the yellow stands for gold, and the blue globe and stars symbolize the night sky filled with stars and constellations that also stands for Brazil’s states. Each star corresponds to a Brazilian state, sized in proportion relative to its geographic size. Per Brazilian Law, the flag must be updated in case of the creation or extinction of a state. At the time the flag was first adopted in 1889, it had 21 stars. It then received 1more star in 1960 (representing the state of Guanabara), then another in 1968 (representing Acre), and finally 4 more stars in 1992 (representing Amapá, Roraima, Rondônia and Tocantins), totaling 27 stars in its current version. This explains why this flag holds the status of “most modified.”

Of course, the stars appeal to me. I especially like how each star represents a Brazilian state. Also, I wonder which Brazilian state will be the setting of the book I’ll read for this challenge.

How do you like the Bandeira do Brasil, Gnomies?

Select Bibliography

• Flag of Brazil facts for kids – https://kids.kiddle.co/Flag_of_Brazil
• Brazilian Flag Meaning: Lesson for Kids – https://tinyurl.com/muez732e

World Tour SRC Stop #9 – Brazil 🇧🇷

Badge fothr World Tour Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC) Stop #9 – Brazil| © Starry Night Elf

It’s October, Gnomies! Stop #9 in the World Tour Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC) is Brazil, the largest country in South America and in Latin America. Brazil is the world’s 5^th-largest country by area and the 7^th most populous. Its capital is Brasília, and its most populous city is São Paulo. The federation is composed of the union of the 26 states and the Federal District. Brazil is the only country in the Americas to have Portuguese as an official language.

Click here to read more about this SRC.

You can earn the badge displayed here by reading a book set in Brazil. In addition, if you choose a book originally written in a language different from your primary reading language, you can also apply that towards the In Translation Journey SRC. If your selection for Local Tour SRC happens to be a spot in Brazil, then you can count that towards that SRC.

Click on the following phrases to learn more about these other SRC:

• In Translation Journey
• Local Tour

You’re welcome to select books for other World Tour spots but your Gnomie Hostess looks at at books set in Brazil this month

What are some books set in Brazil, Gnomies?