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    The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao
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    The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao
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    The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao
    Ebook211 pages4 hours

    The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao

    By Martha Batalha

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    'Zesty' Daily Mail

    'A real gem of a book' Stylist

    A wickedly funny tale of two rebellious sisters in 1940s Rio de Janeiro

    ‘Why Euridice and Antenor married, no one knows for certain.’

    Euridice is bright and ambitious. But this is Brazil in the 1940s, and society expects her to be a loving wife and mother. While Antenor is busy congratulating himself on his excellent catch, Euridice spends her humdrum days ironing his shirts and removing the lumps of onion from his food, dreaming of the success she could have made of herself – as a writer, dressmaker or culinary whizz – in another life.

    Her free-spirited sister Guida, on the other hand, is the kind of person who was ‘born knowing everything’. When she returns from her failed elopement with stories of heartbreak and loss, the lives of Euridice and her husband are thrown into confusion, with disastrous consequences.

    The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao is a darkly comic debut, bursting with vibrant Brazilian spirit and unforgettable characters – a jubilant novel about the emancipation of women.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOneworld Publications
    Release dateSep 7, 2017
    ISBN9781786071736

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    Reviews for The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao

    4/5

    32 ratings11 reviews

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    • 5/5
      The Invisible Life of Euridice Guomao is a delightful novel by Brazilian author Martha Batalha that tells the story of Euridice, a fiercely intelligent and motivated girl growing up in the middle of the last century in Rio. She's an obedient girl and once she has been convinced that her only goal is to be a good housewife and mother, she falls into line, marrying well, having children, supervising her housekeeper. But there's something inside of Euridice that can't remain entirely passive.Euridice is such a wonderful character and Batalha's writing (and Eric B. Becker's translation) made the reading of this novel so much fun. I'm looking forward to more from this talented new author.
    • 2/5
      No. This book was not for me. It's not just that I'm a man either, although I can see that it is very much written for women. I actually enjoy "women's" fiction more than the traditional male stories.There are many books that I read which I reckon are very well written, but just aren't for me, but I don't even see the literary merit in this book. The fact that it does appeal to many people suggests that it's *my* problem. Anyway, I used the Nancy Pearl Rule of 50 to bring this experiment to an early close.
    • 5/5
      My Takeaway

      "When Euridice set her mind to something, the rest of the world became smoke."
      The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao, Martha Batalha, (Translated by Eric M.B. Becker)

      The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao is a humorous and quirky novel. What originally caught my attention was the gorgeous cover. Being Dominican-American I am familiar with "rolos" aka hair rollers. This is Batalha's first novel (translated by Eric M.B. Becker) and I dig her unique anecdotes and wry humor. Sisters, Euridice and Guida are beautiful, intelligent, and rebellious (my kind of gals). I fell in love with Euridice and found myself cheering for her throughout the novel. You see, although Euridice is a housewife in Brazil in the 1940's, she is also a genius full of tremendous capabilities. She feels bored and dissatisfied being a housewife and yearns to do so much more! And whatever Euridice puts her mind to, she conquers. Sadly, Euridice's aspirations are not deemed important by her husband, Antenor. As the sole provider, Antenor demands Euridice to raise their two kids, and take care of the family (period). However, Euridice pays him no mind and this is where the adventure begins. She becomes a master chef, then a seamstress, and finally a writer (with lots happening in between). I absolutely love and recommend this charming, quirky, witty novel. I look forward to additional stories by this innovative and unique author. I'm in luck because according to her website she's currently working on her second novel. WOOHOO :-)

      Thanks to Edelweiss and ONEWorld Publications for providing an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review. Another book I added to my personal library. :-)
    • 3/5
      This was an original book, and a rather fast read, once I was able to read it for more than a few pages at a time. While I enjoyed reading this book, I didn't Love it. However, I am happy to have read it. I must give a big thank you to Librarything for supplying me with a copy.
    • 4/5
      Euridice is a treasure. Early in the book I relaxed as a reader, having experienced the pleasurable anticipation I recall from reading Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate. Batalha has created a memorable main character surrounded by side stories with background and appeal for even minor sidekicks.There is nothing invisible about Euridce, though, as she is fleshed out in intellect, detail, humor, and great interest.
    • 3/5
      I'm conflicted about this book; I didn't dislike it, and I didn't not enjoy it, but I also thought its tone was misleading: the tone of the book seemed to be saying that the ending was uplifting, but it wasn't. Every woman in this book had a life of sublimated desires and talents, which is the point of the book, but the only escape is death, and that's fine (well, not really, but it's okay to have that be the message of the book), but let's not act like this is a good outcome. Overall, not a bad read, but...well, men oppress women and women oppress other women and that snake eats its own tail forever and ever.
    • 4/5
      A bored Brazilian housewife tries to find interesting ways to amuse herself but is stymied by her "no wife of mine is going to..." husband. Things get better when her run-away sister returns to the fold with a son and tales of a marriage gone bad. Not great literature but an interesting look at Brazilian life from the point of view of women. Advance review copy
    • 3/5
      This novel felt to me like a throwback to the fiction of the 1960s inspired by Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. Euridice Gusmao is the wife of a rising bank official and the mother of his two children. Highly intelligent, she is frustrated over and over by her husband in every attempt to do something with her life from publishing a book of recipes to starting a business as a dressmaker. I found her lack of self-esteem incredibly annoying. When her sister Guida arrives at her door with her young son in tow and the story of a deserting husband things get a bit more interesting. But basically this novel is chick-lit, not really my cup of tea. Another reader might find it more satisfying.
    • 3/5
      For many years, the work of women, the unpaid work that they did or do, has been invisible. There is, of course, the old joke that a husband comes home from work one day and sees that the house is a mess, the kids are running rampant, and there's no dinner waiting for him because his wife has taken to heart that he thinks she does "nothing" all day long and so has decided to live up to his belief and therefore has actually done nothing that day. It's a scenario that makes a point very clearly. He never saw the work she did until the day she chose not to do it. Her work, important as it was, was invisible until it was left undone. Martha Batalha's novel The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao comes from this same place of women's work and lives being invisible unless they buck what society expects of them.Euridice marries her husband Antenor because that is what is expected of her. She will become a housewife and mother in 1940s Rio. And she plays her role but she doesn't embrace it or truly enjoy it. Instead she spends a long time looking for her purpose in life within the societal constraints placed on her. Before her marriage she was an exceptional recorder player. The hope of a musical life had to go by the wayside as she married and became a mother. Then she learned to cook exotic and impressive dishes. But that wasn't her calling either, and unusual foods didn't please her children or her husband. Then she taught herself to sew and became quite an accomplished seamstress, dressing first herself and then neighborhood women. But her husband objected to her working from home. Finally she becomes an author, tickety tapping away on her typewriter, either destined for greatness or for obscurity as she retells the story of her life. She is a determined and intelligent woman who finds her prescribed role boring. Her beautiful sister Guida took a different, less conventional path through life but she cannot tell her story completely any more than Euridice could live her story completely as she wanted even after she came back to the path society required of her.This is very much a domestic novel filled with quirky, often frustrated characters. Euridice is strong, flexible, and yearning as a a character. She absorbs the disappointments of her life, which are all of the spiritual variety rather than the physical disappointments and trials her sister weathers, as best she can while still being a woman of her time. She is different in her striving for more, in her quest to be seen, and sometimes that opens her up to gossip and innuendo from others but she perseveres in creating in herself the accomplished and fulfilled woman she needs to be. No matter where she is in her journey to herself, she remains a sympathetic character. The novel definitely has the feel of contemporary South American literature, a certain sensibility that comes through tying it to a long tradition of Latinx writing. Quite character driven, this novel is an interesting and insightful look at the life and dreams of one eccentric mid-twentieth century Brazilian woman as she becomes visible to her family, her neighbors, and most importantly, to herself.
    • 5/5
      Set in 1940's Rio de Janeiro, Martha Batalha's The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao follows a brilliant and passionate woman through her days of preparing food, tending to children, and altogether being overlooked and underappreciated. With a successful banker for a husband, she need only tend to the house and her offspring, passing her days with aimless monotony. While she struggles to find and develop an identity and talent of her own, we are introduced to many colorful characters along the way, namely women in the surrounding areas , some who have it better than Euridice, many who have it far, far worse. Their unspoken hardships and aspirations are woven throughout this rich tapestry of humor, pride, and perseverance.At a time and place when women are to be beautiful, dutiful, and little more, Euridice exemplifies the restlessness of the modern woman. She loves her children and is grateful for her husband and the comfortable life he has provided for them but longs for more- for what exactly she is not certain. Batalha provides many foils to Euridice- other women who cannot bear what they perceive to be Euridice's arrogance and disdain for duty while others are so destitute that they can only aspire to have the type of problems Euridice has. Batalha introduces us to a chorus of women- those who have love and lost, those embittered by fate, those who refuse to be kept down, those who are brimming with undiscovered potential and passion. Many of them have little dialogue within the story, bearing their burdens with an admirable if not enraging silence.  I thoroughly enjoyed The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao. I saw myself not only in the restless yet determined Euridice, but in the deranged poetess who serves bananas for dinner- refusing to be the domestic goddess society would have her be- in Guida, Euridice's sister, who will do absolutely anything to ensure her son's well-being, and in countless other women who move relatively unseen through Batalha's book. They are a reminder to talk to people and to truly listen to what they have to say.  
    • 4/5
      Im Leben der Brasilianerin Euridice Gusmao, Mutter von Alfonso und Cecilia, verheiratet mit dem rechtschaffenen Bankangestellten Antenor passiert rein gar nichts. Verdammtdazu ihre Erfüllung als Hausfrau und Mutter zu finden, versucht Euridice einfallsreich ihrer Tristesse zu entkommen in dem sie zu einer versierten Köchin wird - was die Familie kaum honoriert - und anschließend hinter den Augen des Ehemanns eine Schneiderei eröffnet. Antenor verbietet derlei Aktivitäten, schließlich kann er die Familie allein ernähren und Euridice verfällt in Lethargie.Erst das Wiedersehen mit ihrer Schwester Guida, die mit demreichen Medizinstudenten Marcos durchbrannte bringt eine neue Wendung. Guidas schweres Schicksal als alleinerziehende Mutter berührt Euridice und beide Frauen gehen mit Hilfe der Guerilla Techniken der Ehe (Zermürbungs- u. Unterlassungstaktik) den eigenen Weg der Emanzipation. Leidenschaftlich, feurig, zu Herzen gehend und witzig zeichnet die Autorin in ihrem Debüt das Leben der Frau im Brasilien der 40er - 60er Jahre. Beste Unterhaltung im Retrocover; ab mittleren Beständen