A review by bergsteiger
Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus by Carolina Maria de Jesus

3.0

This book's strength was not so much in its prose, but like "The Diary of Anne Frank", in providing exposure to an experience that would seem almost contrived without a first hand account. Carolina's journal entries from 1958 and 1959 in a Brazilian shanty town are certainly poignant and give a good sense of poverty in that country. And while I would have preferred a shorter sampling, the repetitiveness of her daily struggle for food for her and her family really drives home the experience. There are certain cultural references that are quite interesting too. If you know little about Brazilian culture and history, this is a good book to pick up to understand how the lower classes lived (and still live) there.