An interesting tale with memories of youth and infatuation and descriptions of Brazil in a style that was easy to read and took you back in time easily and effortlessly.
But not a novel for everyone due to intricate plotting.

Good lord, this was good! A slow start but so beautiful done, and once it got hold me, I couldn't put it down. Dreamy, slow-moving, but utterly compelling. The tension of waiting for the tragedy to unfold was almost unbearable at times; the conclusion was both delicate and not heartbreaking. A perfect read for those who loved Roma.

This is a beautifully-written novella exploring the life of a Brazilian GP in contemporary London. Andre is a complex and rich character that engaged my interest from beginning to end. I'd definitely recommend this if you appreciate nuanced literary fiction.

This is my first time reading the author.

I enjoyed this novella. It’s the kind of book it’s easy to get lost in and hours passed as I was submerged in André’s world.

I liked the simple premise of Flesh and Bone And Water, a letter triggers memories of the past and old wounds and regrets are torn open. The premise is simple yet the story told is haunting and took my breath away at times.

I loved the way the book is structured, moving from the present when André’s careful, calculated life is thrown into chaos and the past events that have haunted him all of his life. The alternating storylines are written well and I liked the way things unfold.

The language used is beautiful, rich and vivid and made reading Flesh and Bone and Water sheer pleasure.

I enjoyed then way the novel explores the contrasts of race and class.

The main theme of this book is about race and class distinctions in Brazil. There is a distinctive difference between the haves and the have nots – and Andre was certainly a rich white ‘have,’ while Luana is the poor dark-skinned ‘have not’. For me Andre was a typical spoiled rich boy, used to having his own way but bored with the aimlessness of parties and living behind the walls of his gated community. As he looks for a diversion his adolescent lust falls on the beautiful Luana who cooks and cleans for the household and has her own small room off the kitchen.

As a character, Andre didn’t excite me – he had no depth. I understand he is supposed to be a selfish and shallow young man – but even that characterisation fell short for me. I think Luana had more character than Andre and while the relationship meant more to her, it was certainly only ever a distraction from boredom for Andre – he was in love with the idea of being in love. I am surprised he became a doctor as he had no empathy whatsoever, and his comments about his patients show great disrespect. I found the flow of the story to be disjointed, and very slow in parts. In fact it took me a while to get into the story. I really never came to care about Andre, he was totally self-obsessed, cared for no-one. I did however care for Luana and I felt sorry for her as she felt true love for a young man incapable of giving any back.

This is a debut novel and it shows a lot of promise, Luiza Sauma’s descriptions of Brazil and the various activities – parties, beach days and family get-togethers for example – came alive on the pages. But on paper the relationship between the young Andre and Luana didn’t seem to evoke the passion that the older Andre seemed to focus on looking back, so because of this the main premise of the story missed the mark for me.

This is a story incorporating class, displacement, nostalgia and yearning. It is also an exploration of the past. Andre was born in Brazil and now works in London, and it is Andre who narrates this tale. Through his, the reader gets an impression of contemporary Brazil, but also of the Brazil of his past - with teenage friends and their parties and his secret love.

To be published in numerous magazines in September: André Cabral is divorced and living in London when he receives a letter sent by a woman from his past. A letter that may just call him back to Brazil. Rewind a few years and we meet the teenage André – grieving for his mother, frustrated by his father’s demands, and infatuated with his 16 year old maid, Luana. An enjoyable read that paints a vivid picture of Brazil, from its beautiful beaches to its rigid social structure.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Brazilian-born doctor André Cabral is living in London when one day he receives a letter from his home country, which he left nearly thirty years ago. A letter he keeps in his pocket for weeks, but tells no one about.
The letter prompts André to remember the days of his youth - torrid afternoons on Ipanema beach with his listless teenage friends, parties in elegant Rio apartments, his after-school job at his father's plastic surgery practice - and, above all, his secret infatuation with the daughter of his family's maid, the intoxicating Luana. Unable to resist the pull of the letter, André embarks on a journey back to Brazil to rediscover his past.

Firstly, I loved the setting of this book. I don't come across too many books set in Brazil here in Australia so this was a lovely surprise.

Secondly, the two lives of Andre were wonderful - his youthful recklessness and the issues he was dealing with in his personal life - the loss of his mother, the weight of expectation from his father, and his lust for a girl that he knows he can never have.
Then the adult Andre - the still-coming-to-terms-with-his-past Andre, the Andre that hasn't been true to his beliefs for fear of failing, the Andre that has to face his past if he wants to have a future.

Finally, the story itself was an easy read, even considering some of the themes. The language evokes the life and cultures of Brazil in stunning detail and brought me into this story easily.


Paul
ARH

A lovely holiday read. Andre is recently separated, living and working in London. He has been getting letters from someone from his childhood in Rio which then takes us back in time to his teenage years. An enjoyable read.

Something about the liquid imagery and cryptic title drew me to this novel. London has a big Brazilian community so I was curious to read about that cross-cultural experience as well. The novel centres around Andre, a Brazilian man in his later years who has lived his whole adult life in the UK. But he was raised in a privileged white upper-middle class family in Rio de Janeiro. There his family had a maid or an “empregada” named Rita and her mixed-race daughter Luana who also served the family. Andre hasn’t had contact with Luana for many years, but recently he’s received letters from her and it’s forced him to revisit a past which he’s denied throughout his life. Gradually the story of his tumultuous teenage years is revealed and the reason why he’s so stridently distanced himself from his country of birth and his family. It’s a novel that comes with a gripping twist which creates a complex picture of love.

In its concept this book is somewhat similar to Julian Barnes’ novel “The Sense of an Ending” for the way the story forces a man to radically reconsider the dramatic choices he made in his youth. It also teasingly questions our perception of what’s happening around us in relation to how those events are cemented in our collective idea of history. Andre reflects “Young people don’t know the importance of things when they’re happening, but when those images still play in your mind long after your hair’s gone grey and your belly slack, that’s when you know.” It’s fascinating the way events which seem trivial or circumstantial can inflate into having a greater importance we never could have attributed to them at the time. Andre discovers certain facts about the past and what was lost which make him see his life in a more rounded way and develop an empathy for other people’s perspectives.

Part of what motivated Andre’s emotional decisions in his youth was the sudden death of his mother which we learn about quite early in the novel. It left a teenage Andre and his younger brother to be raised by his workaholic father Matheus so that they lived in an entirely male household. Andre’s sharp memories of his mother are beautifully rendered: “Even now, I can see my mother and hear her loud voice, her heels clicking on the floor. She’s like a pop song, the melody and lyrics imprinted in my mind.” There also existed in their household the female presences of Rita and her daughter Luana, but there’s an awkward tension here as they navigate the intimacies of home life, the formality of the women as servants and the developing sexual attraction between Andre and Luana. The dynamic of these relationships highlight the strident class system in place in Brazil at that time.

Matheus worked as a plastic surgeon and it’s also interesting to see the way the class of people their family socialized with was so obsessed with appearance and beauty. However, Andre’s father also had a clandestine after-hours job delivering abortions. Abortion is a controversial issue and laws concerning it are in the process or being amended – where traditionally abortion has only been legal there if the pregnancy puts the woman’s life in danger or if that pregnancy was the result of rape. However, these issues aren’t explored in the novel and I would have been fascinated to read about them – especially as a counterpart to my recent reading of Joyce Carol Oates’ novel “A Book of American Martyrs.” The middle of Sauma’s novel lags somewhat as its concerned more with mundane details about tensions in Luana and Andre’s relationship rather than these more complex social issues. However, I can see why the author chose to focus exclusively on the issue of their affair because otherwise it would have become a very different kind of novel. And when the twist comes in this book I was wholly invested and thoroughly gripped. After this point the revelations unfold thick and fast. It’s a promising debut novel and I hope to read more by Sauma in the future.

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me and I didn't continue reading for any significant time therefore, do not feel justified to comment.
It may have been just bad timing but I couldn't get into the style of writing.
Although I did not finish the book and don't feel justified to give feedback or a review I will still be able to recommend it to customers visiting our bookstore.
Thankyou for approving my request to read it as I have definitely been able to take something from it for referral purposes to customers.

Flesh and Bone and Water is a curious little novel.

André is a Brazilian born Doctor who has lived in London for many years. He doesn't think much about home, except for the love he lost during his youth.

It is a letter from her that prompts him to revisit his home country and discover all that he left behind.

Flesh and Bone and Water is sort of a coming of age novel, but from an older man's flash back point of view. It is well written and full of teenage angst, sex and desire.

However long hidden family secrets are soon exposed to put André off his stride and are partly the reason for his arrival in London.

The novel moves back and forth between the present day and André's teenage years. Pure happiness never seem to be found in either. It seems like André needs to lay the past to rest before he can move on with his future.

Whether or not he can do this remains to be seen.

The thoughts of a teenage boy in Brazil 30 years ago are not something I wold expect to find very enthralling, but the deft way the past impinges on the present makes for a really compelling book.
Andrei is a grown man living in London who receives a postcard from a maid who worked for his father. This leads him to remember the past and describe his last few years at home with a compelling intensity. He even gives an insight into how the wealthy can bear to to live with themselves when faced with the deprivations and hardships of their fellow citizens . Andrei's father feels the urge to add to his wealth, because of political unrest and because he is never going to feel rich enough.
I found the most effective writing was describing the feel of the water he swam in or the hotter of the black and white chequered pavement of his home area.
The handling of human relationships and their myriad complications is insightful and rewarding

A slow burning coming of age tale. As London based doctor Andre reflects back on his life, a bittersweet tale of forbidden love is slowly revealled. Growing up in Rio, Andre lives with his fastidious father and his younger brother Thiago, his mother having died in a road accident. Andre's is a priveliged upbringing - life in a penthouse, a good schooling with medical school on the horizon and a group of equally privileged friends. The family's empregada serves them with a quiet dignity alongside her beautiful daughter Luana. As the cirty is traded for the swealtering heat of the jungle village where Andre's father grew up, so emotions are heightened and relationships start to change.

Years later, Andre is reflecting on a potential marriage breadown when he receives the first of a series of letters from Luana and the whole back story is revealled as he travels back once again to his native Brazil.. This tale of class and cultural differences is beautifully written with real pathos and is highly recommended.

Flesh and Bone and Water is the story of Andre, a Brazilian doctor living in London, whose life is derailed by the receipt of a letter from Luana. Alternating between the teenager in Rio 30 years ago and the middle-aged father in the present, the book transports the reader to 1980's Brazil and shows them the divide between the rich and poorer classes. As the story unfolds the reason for the letter becomes clear and Luana's perspective, in stark contrast to that of Andre's, becomes apparent.
This is a well-written novel that had me wishing I was lying on the beach in Ipanema and floating on the Amazon river with the characters.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Andre becomes almost obsessed by a letter he receives from Brazil, a country he left nearly thirty years ago. There was no return address. He reads it, he keeps it in his pocket, he touches it. He doesn't tell his wife about it. He wanted to look up the sender of the letter on the internet but he couldn't remember her surname. He could only remember her first name – Luana, who had been their maid.

The letter takes him back to the time, not long after his mother had died in an accident, when he was 17, in his final year at school and living in Rio with his father and younger brother. The family were relatively affluent. They had a maid, Rita and her daughter Luana also worked for them. Andre's father was a plastic surgeon who came from a line of doctors and was determined that Andre would follow in his footsteps.

The letter haunts him. Andre is living apart from his wife and daughters. Further letters arrive spilling secrets from the past, forcing Andre to think about how his past teenage actions affect his present. The older Andre decides to go back to Brazil to revisit his past and possibly confront his demons.

The story switches between the adult Andre, a GP in London, and the life of teenage Andre in Rio. It's a beautifully written story of a young man's coming of age and him finding his way (or not).

I found it quite an emotional story although it is not all sad. It's a story of relationships, class divisions, separation, regret, loss. How the young are often desperate to leave, determined to find their own path, but stay away too long. However as one gets older there is often a longing to return – but it is ever the same?

Andre, a GP, has a good life living in London until his wife throws a party for his 45th birthday and a someone there reminds him of Luana, his maid's daughter back in Brazil. Andre grew up in Rio and as a teenager had a passionate fling with Luana - although he was warned against it by his father as they were of such different backgrounds.

A year later he gets a letter out of the blue from Luana and it takes him down memory lane to his teenage years in Brazil and some dark secrets start to emerge

A good story made interesting by the descriptions of living in Brazil 30 years ago and the cultural differences between wealthy doctors and the Luana, and it made me think about going to Brazil which has not appealed to me before!

Please see notes to publisher
Thank you for the opportunity to review

“I made the same mistake that people have been making since the beginning of time, thinking that you can change yourself just by going somewhere else. Meu Deus, I sound like a self-help book.”


Middle-aged André is running. After long, long years he is still running. Running from his story, from his feelings but especially from himself. He wanted to change everything about himself by just reneging his roots, without trying to come to terms with everything that happened. Freshly damped by his wife, submerged by work, just existing, it's finally time to deal with past demons. Vague letters received from Luana, the love of his life and half sister, spiral him downward into the past. Fresh weaves of suffering start poring into the pages of the novel. Between letters, present time events and lots of flashbacks we find out everything there is to know about André. A story of inconsolable suffering; of dark family secrets; of loss with no redemption.

Beautifully penned. Very evocative, really cinematic, I'd say. Brazil was dancing before my eyes. With everything so stereotypical Brazilian: parties until all hours, people on beaches, the constant violence, the unbearable heath condemning people to just exist. Yet everything is so gloomy. A gloom that's so deep that you cannot escape it no matter how far you run. It felt like the underbelly of Brazil got exposed.

I felt heartbroken but especially furious and frustrated on André's behalf. What might be a strange notion in the Western part of the world, is a normal or at least often seen occurrence in other parts of the globe. Parents consider they own their kids' life and they need to forge said kids' future. This belief that parents know better, that they have all the right in the world to intervene, to push or even force their kids into a certain path in life is an oppressive and hurtful practice. We get a good experience of just that with André's story and you just cannot stop yourself from thinking(or at least I couldn't :D) : “with what fucking right did he did that”, “with what fucking right did he messed his son's life forever?”. And everything is so much more frustrating when many questions are left answered and you imagine André puzzling over them for the rest of his life. What's even more heart-wrenching is the bitter-sweet after-taste of history repeating itself. While I am sure the last thing André would have wanted was to emulate his father, he definitely ended up repeating some of his father's mistakes. Or for a better explanation he kind of took similar decision who made his life a sort of duplicate of his father's. And I hated that, I hated that with a passion because it forced me to feel a bit of compassion when I only wanted to hate and judge!

A beautiful cover with an interesting premise. I always appreciate a novel that makes an effort to explore culture and diverse characters and themes and this seems to be suggested here.