Dreamy and weird, almost delirious , coming of age story of a very introspective teenage boy in Brazil in the early 1990s. We also had a duel timeline of the mid 2010s to see what had become of this character and his life - and whether it is worth keeping the secret of the violence that happened all that time ago...
This short book was very easy to read, but due to the almost stream of consciousness writing style in places I did wonder if I was keeping all the characters and their experiences straight in my head.
Enjoyable and a little disturbing.
3.5 stars

A young man sets off one morning to meet up with a friend to go climbing. On the way he makes a detour to the town where he grew up. But this is not some sort of nostalgic trip, as it becomes increasingly clear that something happened all those years ago that haunts him still, something that he feels guilty for. This is the second book I have read by acclaimed Brazilian author Daniel Galera and I found it just as disturbing and intriguing. Nothing is spelt out for the reader but much is implied and the reader has to work hard to understand what has happened and what is happening. It's an atmospheric and evocative book, with a growing sense of menace that I found quite compelling and it’s a novel that haunts the reader just as the protagonist’s past haunts him. An unusual and absorbing read.

The shape of bones by Daniel Galera.

A man rises at 5 a.m. and leaves his home. He does not wake his wife or child to bid them goodbye. He starts his car - an SUV filled with survival gear - but does not drive to his friend's house as planned. Instead he glides through the sleeping streets of Porto Alegre, haunted by ghosts of himself: the fearless boy riding a battered stunt bike, the silent adolescent fascinated by bodies and violence, the obsessive young surgeon, the distant husband.
As the dawn comes on and people slowly fill the streets, the man drives unthinkingly, inexorably, toward the old neighbourhood of his youth. What is pulling him back there? Perhaps the need to make something happen, perhaps just nostalgia. Or perhaps the search for absolution - from a crime he has carried in his heart for fifteen years.

This was a good read with good characters. Little slow to start with then it picked up. I liked the story too. 4*. Netgalley and penguin books UK.

Porto Alegre, early in the morning. A man gets up to meet his friend for a hiking trip. He does not wake up his wife or child. Yet, instead of getting to the meeting point, he decides to go somewhere else. A place he left years ago. A place of his past, where one day, he decided to become to man he is now. While getting closer to his destination, memories of the past, long ago buried deep in his brain, come to the surface and he has to face the worst moment of his life again. Today, he needs to do something about it, but can he ever correct what he has done wrong so long ago?

I needed some time to get into the novel. At first, I could not really get together the two plot lines and then I was not really sure which of the boys of the past is the man we get to know in the present. However, while reading and while slowing understanding Daniel Galera’s narrative, more and more suspense is created and you get curious to know what happened, what made him to man we see now.

From the innocent cyclist, he turns into a carefree teenager who enjoys himself with his friends. At the end, he is a rational, rather unemotional and very controlled adult. The relationship with his wife seems to be hardly affectionate, I was not sure if their marriage was already at an end or if this was really due to his character. In his profession, he is considered a prodigy. The doctor who everybody wants to consult, who can communicate with the patients and who is selflessly sacrificing his life for others. Yet, we slowly learn about his dark sides and the decisive point in his life which is not only a surprise, but also a very convincing explanation for how the character could develop in this way.

All in all, not a novel you can easily access, but it is worth the effort to get a complex psychological analysis of a very interesting character.

This is a novel that stays with you. It tells the story of Hermano, moving between his years as a teenager and a day in his life many years later as a married man. Galera cleverly interweaves the two time periods and we gradually understand why Hermano is the risk- taking adult he is now. As a young teenager we follow his strange friendship with Bonobo - the town's leading thug - which follows a brutal collision on the local football field. This seemingly simple clash shapes Hermano's life and is the conduit to love, danger, tragedy and death. Wonderfully constructed this novel will have you hanging on grimly as Hermano takes risk after reckless risk. Why? Is he trying to be Bonobo or is he carrying a secret that demands one final confrontation? What's for certain is by the end of the novel Hermano squares up to his past in true "Bonobo" style and, as a result, we'd like to hope. can finally be at peace with himself.

'That bad blood there, it's good that it's coming out. You've got to let it out, because then you body will make more of the good blood, the clean sort that runs through the inside, to replace the bad blood, understand?'
This is a book that could put South American literature back on the map.

Brazilian author Daniel Galera writes some terrific scenes in this short yet haunting novel about a man trying to make sense of who he is and deal with the regrets of his past.

While being a relatively short read at 192 pages, there are many beautiful and evocative passages that make this an almost visceral experience of growing up in Brazil.

The opening chapter alone almost has a short story quality to it as we read an exciting account of 'the urban cyclist.' It is here that we are introduced to the novel's man character, Hermano.

The opening scene is just one of many memorable scenes that Galera writes to recount Hermano's childhood and subsequent teenage years. Whether he is describing an afternoon soccer game, a kamikaze downhill bicycle ride or a teenage get together, you can almost smell the hormones coming right off the page.

Hermano is a boy with many friends and acquaintances, but still lives somewhere on the outside of the group. While being more than capable of surviving the rough and tumble of life on the streets of his local neighbourhood, he still avoids physical confrontation of any kind. This is at odds with his unusual tendency to injury himself remarkably when riding his bike. His refusal to engage in fistfights and brawls seems smart until the day one of his friend's needs help.

'The weather had been dry and the beaten earth of the soccer field filled the air with a brown dust that hung there, apparently static, for minutes on end, refusing to accept the natural order of things and fall back to the ground.'

In between these childhood recollections, we meet a very grown up Hermano who is rising early to collect his friend Renan. As he prepares to embark on a mountaineering trip to Cerre Bonete in Bolivia, his thoughts constantly return to his childhood days when he witnessed a horrendous crime. Inexplicably, he alters his early morning destination and begins to drive around his old neighbourhood, thus taking a trip down memory lane to ponder upon what might have been.

Within this contemplation, Hermano wonders how his earlier life has affected his life in the present day. He's not even sure that he likes Renan or mountaineering yet he still leaves his disgruntled wife Adri to embark on the expedition. Hermano is missing something from his life and only by looking back and facing the fears of his past can he find the missing piece.

By the end of this novel, I too was left contemplating the decisions that I have made in my own past and wondering how these thoughts or regrets affect me in the present day. This book really makes you question what would be done differently when given a second chance.

Would I recommend this book to a friend?

Yes. Yet another example of a relatively short read from another part of the world that will give you a different perspective on life. These type of reads are fast becoming my favourite genre and offer a great opportunity for any reader to become a literary world traveller. Broaden your horizons and take a trip to sunny Brazil with this book!