Read this when
The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas
A dead man reviews his own life and it's brutally, hilariously honest. What would your final chapter say? ⚰️
Who it's for
The dead narrator has nothing left to protect, so he tells the truth about his vanity, idleness and half-hearted loves with mocking candour, and the reader gets to see a whole life assessed from its end point.
Stuck→Clear-Headed
Feelings it meets
What it is
Machado de Assis's 1881 Brazilian novel, narrated by Brás Cubas from beyond the grave, who dedicates his memoirs to the first worm to gnaw his corpse.
Where to find it
The Portuguese original is public domain and free online. English translations by Flora Thomson-DeVeaux (Penguin Classics, 2020) and by Margaret Jull Costa & Robin Patterson (Liveright, 2020) are in p.
Before you start
Heads up: Slavery and abuse of an enslaved child.
Age: Ages 16+
That I exist is a perpetual surprise which is life.Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, no. 22
