The narrator of the novel is the fictional writer of the story. He describes the feelings he has as he creates the character Macabea from the face of a girl from the North-East of Brazil he sees in a market. Where will his imagination take Macabea? Macabea exists therefore she is. She is a quiet and simple girl brought up by her strict aunt and at the time of the story is a virgin. She meets the macho Olimpico, who has killed a man and dreams of becoming a politician, and they date. In his spare time Olimpico goes to funerals. However he ditches Macabea for her work colleague buxom Gloria. Macabea goes to a doctor and innocently accepts her diagnosis of tuberculosis. She goes to a fortune teller who tells her what a terrible life she has (until that moment Macabea had thought of herself as happy) and that she will marry a rich foreigner called Hans. On leaving the fortune teller she is struck by a yellow Mercedes and falls bleeding to the pavement. For a while the writer narrator toys with killing her and then decides it is time for her to die. This brilliant Brazilian novel says much about what it is to be a misfit.
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The review of this Book prepared by John Marcel
