A review by rachelb36
Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus by Carolina Maria de Jesus
3.0
3.5 stars
De Jesus was a black woman living in a Brazilian slum in the late 1950s, and a single mom of three. She writes about slum life in her diary; she had only a second-grade formal education, but that was enough to develop a love for reading and writing.
It was obviously sad to read about such extreme poverty, and discouraging to realize that after fifty-some years, slum life is the same as it's always been, no matter where the slum is located. The events and attitudes de Jesus recounted were strikingly similar to those described in "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" about a slum in Mumbai in more recent years.
There is some profanity and the author references sex fairly often, as she reports on the goings-on in the favela (slum), and sadly, there's a lot of prostitution and abuse.
The entries all run together, so it's frustrating to find a good stopping place. It would have been nice to have a page break for each month.
De Jesus was a black woman living in a Brazilian slum in the late 1950s, and a single mom of three. She writes about slum life in her diary; she had only a second-grade formal education, but that was enough to develop a love for reading and writing.
It was obviously sad to read about such extreme poverty, and discouraging to realize that after fifty-some years, slum life is the same as it's always been, no matter where the slum is located. The events and attitudes de Jesus recounted were strikingly similar to those described in "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" about a slum in Mumbai in more recent years.
There is some profanity and the author references sex fairly often, as she reports on the goings-on in the favela (slum), and sadly, there's a lot of prostitution and abuse.
The entries all run together, so it's frustrating to find a good stopping place. It would have been nice to have a page break for each month.