When most Americans think of Brazil, their thoughts usually turn to soccer, Carnival, and –of course– samba. But there are many samba, not just one. There is the samba do morro or hillside shanty samba, the samba de clube or the samba danced in exclusive clubs. And there is the samba-enredo or “samba story” that plays a special place in carnival parades.

João Almino′s new novel, Samba-Enredo or Samba Story plays with this last type of samba. Ostensibly written by a computer named G.G. or Gigi, the book focuses on the intrigue surrounding the kidnapping of Brazil′s first black president and the events leading up to his eventual death. Although the title refers on one level to the ongoing carnival procession whose varied segments the computer registers, samba is also a sort of shorthand for the Brazilian nation, which is in many ways the book′s true protagonist. Deliciously ironic, the book has led some of Brazil′s foremost critics to compare João Almino to the country′s celebrated turn-of-the-century novelist Machado de Assis (himself often compared to the Laurence Sterne of Tristram Shandy). If the very short chapters –ostensibly computer entries with often amusing titles– recall Machado, so does the author′s mordant humor and capacity for understatement.

Samba Story is the second novel by a remarkable author. (His earlier Ideias para onde passar o fim do mundo or “Ideas about where one might spend the end of the world” tells the story of a deceased screenwriter who returns to earth in order to finish a film script.) Not just a writer of fiction, João Almino holds a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes and has authored various studies on social and political questions. Presently the Brazilian consul in San Francisco, he has taught literature courses at U.C. Berkeley and Stanford.

U.S. readers will be intrigued by the Brazil they encounter in the pages of this well-translated novel. While the city of Brasilia appears stripped of the proud modernity it inevitably displays in tourist magazines, the dancers in the streets remain defiantly, if often uncomprehendingly, joyous. Although the novel initially appears to be a detective story, it is also a meditation by an often unexpectedly lyric computer. The ordenador (literally “order-maker” in Portuguese and, as such, an indirect pun on the “liberty and order” emblazoned on Brazil′s flag) G.G. causes the reader to reflect not only on what it means to be a present-day Brazilian but also on what it means to live in a world where very little is certain and machines and humans join to construct–and to unravel–plots.

Candace Slater

Professor of Spanish and Portuguese

U.C. Berkeley

When most Americans think of Brazil, their thoughts usually turn to soccer, Carnival, and –of course– samba. But there are many samba, not just one. There is the samba do morro or hillside shanty samba, the samba de clube or the samba danced in exclusive clubs. And there is the samba-enredo or “samba story” that plays a special place in carnival parades.

João Almino′s new novel, Samba-Enredo or Samba Story plays with this last type of samba. Ostensibly written by a computer named G.G. or Gigi, the book focuses on the intrigue surrounding the kidnapping of Brazil′s first black president and the events leading up to his eventual death. Although the title refers on one level to the ongoing carnival procession whose varied segments the computer registers, samba is also a sort of shorthand for the Brazilian nation, which is in many ways the book′s true protagonist. Deliciously ironic, the book has led some of Brazil′s foremost critics to compare João Almino to the country′s celebrated turn-of-the-century novelist Machado de Assis (himself often compared to the Laurence Sterne of Tristram Shandy). If the very short chapters –ostensibly computer entries with often amusing titles– recall Machado, so does the author′s mordant humor and capacity for understatement.

Samba Story is the second novel by a remarkable author. (His earlier Ideias para onde passar o fim do mundo or “Ideas about where one might spend the end of the world” tells the story of a deceased screenwriter who returns to earth in order to finish a film script.) Not just a writer of fiction, João Almino holds a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes and has authored various studies on social and political questions. Presently the Brazilian consul in San Francisco, he has taught literature courses at U.C. Berkeley and Stanford.

U.S. readers will be intrigued by the Brazil they encounter in the pages of this well-translated novel. While the city of Brasilia appears stripped of the proud modernity it inevitably displays in tourist magazines, the dancers in the streets remain defiantly, if often uncomprehendingly, joyous. Although the novel initially appears to be a detective story, it is also a meditation by an often unexpectedly lyric computer. The ordenador (literally “order-maker” in Portuguese and, as such, an indirect pun on the “liberty and order” emblazoned on Brazil′s flag) G.G. causes the reader to reflect not only on what it means to be a present-day Brazilian but also on what it means to live in a world where very little is certain and machines and humans join to construct–and to unravel–plots.

Candace Slater

Professor of Spanish and Portuguese

U.C. Berkeley

When most Americans think of Brazil, their thoughts usually turn to soccer, Carnival, and –of course– samba. But there are many samba, not just one. There is the samba do morro or hillside shanty samba, the samba de clube or the samba danced in exclusive clubs. And there is the samba-enredo or “samba story” that plays a special place in carnival parades.

João Almino′s new novel, Samba-Enredo or Samba Story plays with this last type of samba. Ostensibly written by a computer named G.G. or Gigi, the book focuses on the intrigue surrounding the kidnapping of Brazil′s first black president and the events leading up to his eventual death. Although the title refers on one level to the ongoing carnival procession whose varied segments the computer registers, samba is also a sort of shorthand for the Brazilian nation, which is in many ways the book′s true protagonist. Deliciously ironic, the book has led some of Brazil′s foremost critics to compare João Almino to the country′s celebrated turn-of-the-century novelist Machado de Assis (himself often compared to the Laurence Sterne of Tristram Shandy). If the very short chapters –ostensibly computer entries with often amusing titles– recall Machado, so does the author′s mordant humor and capacity for understatement.

Samba Story is the second novel by a remarkable author. (His earlier Ideias para onde passar o fim do mundo or “Ideas about where one might spend the end of the world” tells the story of a deceased screenwriter who returns to earth in order to finish a film script.) Not just a writer of fiction, João Almino holds a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes and has authored various studies on social and political questions. Presently the Brazilian consul in San Francisco, he has taught literature courses at U.C. Berkeley and Stanford.

U.S. readers will be intrigued by the Brazil they encounter in the pages of this well-translated novel. While the city of Brasilia appears stripped of the proud modernity it inevitably displays in tourist magazines, the dancers in the streets remain defiantly, if often uncomprehendingly, joyous. Although the novel initially appears to be a detective story, it is also a meditation by an often unexpectedly lyric computer. The ordenador (literally “order-maker” in Portuguese and, as such, an indirect pun on the “liberty and order” emblazoned on Brazil′s flag) G.G. causes the reader to reflect not only on what it means to be a present-day Brazilian but also on what it means to live in a world where very little is certain and machines and humans join to construct–and to unravel–plots.

Candace Slater

Professor of Spanish and Portuguese

U.C. Berkeley

When most Americans think of Brazil, their thoughts usually turn to soccer, Carnival, and –of course– samba. But there are many samba, not just one. There is the samba do morro or hillside shanty samba, the samba de clube or the samba danced in exclusive clubs. And there is the samba-enredo or “samba story” that plays a special place in carnival parades.

João Almino′s new novel, Samba-Enredo or Samba Story plays with this last type of samba. Ostensibly written by a computer named G.G. or Gigi, the book focuses on the intrigue surrounding the kidnapping of Brazil′s first black president and the events leading up to his eventual death. Although the title refers on one level to the ongoing carnival procession whose varied segments the computer registers, samba is also a sort of shorthand for the Brazilian nation, which is in many ways the book′s true protagonist. Deliciously ironic, the book has led some of Brazil′s foremost critics to compare João Almino to the country′s celebrated turn-of-the-century novelist Machado de Assis (himself often compared to the Laurence Sterne of Tristram Shandy). If the very short chapters –ostensibly computer entries with often amusing titles– recall Machado, so does the author′s mordant humor and capacity for understatement.

Samba Story is the second novel by a remarkable author. (His earlier Ideias para onde passar o fim do mundo or “Ideas about where one might spend the end of the world” tells the story of a deceased screenwriter who returns to earth in order to finish a film script.) Not just a writer of fiction, João Almino holds a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes and has authored various studies on social and political questions. Presently the Brazilian consul in San Francisco, he has taught literature courses at U.C. Berkeley and Stanford.

U.S. readers will be intrigued by the Brazil they encounter in the pages of this well-translated novel. While the city of Brasilia appears stripped of the proud modernity it inevitably displays in tourist magazines, the dancers in the streets remain defiantly, if often uncomprehendingly, joyous. Although the novel initially appears to be a detective story, it is also a meditation by an often unexpectedly lyric computer. The ordenador (literally “order-maker” in Portuguese and, as such, an indirect pun on the “liberty and order” emblazoned on Brazil′s flag) G.G. causes the reader to reflect not only on what it means to be a present-day Brazilian but also on what it means to live in a world where very little is certain and machines and humans join to construct–and to unravel–plots.

Candace Slater

Professor of Spanish and Portuguese

U.C. Berkeley