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Dom Casmurro (Trilogia Realista #3)

4.17 of 5 stars 4.17 · rating details · 4,550 ratings · 148 reviews

A classic story of love and jealousy, Dom Casmurro is the story of Bento and his childhood love, Capitu, who overcome their parents' reluctance to marry. But Bento jealously suspects that their son is not his. But beyond this straightforward plot, Machado plays with the reader's expectations and comments on the structure of the story, blurring the line between fiction and...more

Paperback, 176 pages

Published February 1st 2005 by Luso-Brazilian Books (first published 1900)

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Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas by Machado de Assis

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Jan 10, 2013 K.D. Oliveros rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to K.D. by: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2012)

Shelves: 1001-core, latin-american, unreliable-narrator

My arms and my hands were practically shaking yesterday while I was in the last 50 pages of this book. One of those novels with perfect denouement. I immediately sent a text message to my brother (who gave this 5 stars) and our friend (who wants to borrow this book so I had to squeeze this in to my already tight queue of to-be-read books) telling them how beautiful this book was. I am glad I forced myself to read this now. I also told them that I was planning to dislike this book to avenge Rober...more My arms and my hands were practically shaking yesterday while I was in the last 50 pages of this book. One of those novels with perfect denouement. I immediately sent a text message to my brother (who gave this 5 stars) and our friend (who wants to borrow this book so I had to squeeze this in to my already tight queue of to-be-read books) telling them how beautiful this book was. I am glad I forced myself to read this now. I also told them that I was planning to dislike this book to avenge Roberto Bolano's 2666 that I rated with 5 stars and excitedly lent it to my brother. He read it and gave it a 1 star. You see, Dom Casmurro, got 5 stars from him and so when I was about to start this, I thought why not do the same to him? But I COULD NOT. This novel is too brilliantly-written especially the last 50 pages. It would have been a big injustice to Machado de Assis if I used him just to appease my hurt feelings for my idol Roberto Bolano. Anyway, there are other 5-star books in my brother's read folder that I am still to read hahaha. May araw ka rin, kuya!

Why I do I like the last 50 pages? Because I shook in anticipation. The book is told in first person by the BEST unreliable narrator that I've read so far in my almost four years of voracious reading. Prior to this, I thought that the best in my book was the guy in Julian Barnes' 2011 Booker winner, The Sense of an Ending (4 stars). This 1899 book by Machado de Assis truly pushed to the edge the meaning of unreliable narrator for me. Bentinho a.k.a., Dom Casmurro is wicked, childish yet funny and he has this habit to withholding his secrets until your hands and arms are shaking in excitement murmuring what now? come on. what's the truth? tell me!

But, why am I not giving this a full 5 stars? Take note that I am not giving you any hint on what was revealed in those last 50 pages. That part was the "real deal" in this book and I want you to enjoy it as much as I did. However, the book's composition for me is like this:

first 1-50: 3 stars (interesting)
middle 155 pages: 2 or sometimes 1 star (it's okay to sometimes boring.)
last 50 pages: 5 stars (amazing!)

You really have to finish the book to appreciate the story. I have a feeling that those who gave this a 1-star rating were those who were not able to bear the arduous and tiresome middle. For those who don't care about spoilers, here is the breakdown for those 155 pages comprising the middle of the book:

(view spoiler)

Reading this book is like passing through a long dark tunnel. You appreciate more the bright light at the end of it because of the dark boring path that you want to pass through.

I love this book!(less)

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Feb 10, 2010 Whitaker rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canon, 2009-read

Cuckold: A man whose wife has committed adultery, often regarded as an object of scorn.

O! beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey’d monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger;
But, O! what damned minutes tells he o’er
Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet soundly loves!
- Othello, Act III Scene iii, lines 91-196

When tears come down like fallin' rain
You'll toss around and call my name
You'll walk the floor the

...more

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Dec 10, 2010 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, reading-through-history, unreliable-narrators

Machado de Assis is apparently Brazil's best-loved author and an antecedent of the magical realist style, and I'd never heard of him until this year. It's exciting when I find things like this. Well, that and a little humbling.

Dom Casmurro is a weird and wonderful book. It's about a lifelong love affair in which one person betrays the other; the mystery is who has done the betraying. The narrator doubles back on himself, loses track of his thoughts, lies both to us and to himself, and generally...more

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Nov 20, 2012 [P] rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sharing is good, I am told, so let me tell you about a girl I once knew. We were in a relationship for perhaps 18 months. In the beginning things were wonderful, physically we were very attracted to each other and our personalities were well matched. Furthermore, she enchanted me; she was spontaneous, exciting, and, yes, quite clearly crazy [unfortunately, I like crazy women].

After about a year, however, I started to become suspicious of some of her behaviour. For example, her phone seemed to b...more Sharing is good, I am told, so let me tell you about a girl I once knew. We were in a relationship for perhaps 18 months. In the beginning things were wonderful, physically we were very attracted to each other and our personalities were well matched. Furthermore, she enchanted me; she was spontaneous, exciting, and, yes, quite clearly crazy [unfortunately, I like crazy women].

After about a year, however, I started to become suspicious of some of her behaviour. For example, her phone seemed to be constantly receiving text messages. Not out of the ordinary for most girls, but then she began dropping the name of a boy into conversations with an unusual regularity. Around this time I got a late night phone call from her. Her voice was distant and quiet, there was an echo in the room from which she was calling me. To my mind, she was quite obviously calling me from a bathroom and yet she said she was at home in bed. Why would your girlfriend call you from a bathroom? Why would she whisper? Why would she lie about it? Ah, at such times all men become Columbo.

Eventually, mentally clutching my evidence, I confronted her, and of course she denied any wrong doing; vehemently, and with tears and curses upon my person. In fact, although the relationship ended soon after she never once admitted that she had been cheating. I, on the other hand, as is most often the way with these things, could never prove her guilt beyond doubt. And it is that doubt that is the killer. Is your partner being untrue or are you being a jealous fool? It is this age-old conundrum that is at the heart of Dom Casmurro.

An unreliable narrator [is there ever a reliable narrator? All human beings are unreliable to some extent], Bento, explores the story of his possible cuckolding by his wife Capitu. Dom Casmurro is most often likened to Othello, but, unlike the gullible Moor, Bento is not manipulated into a state of homicidal jealousy by some Machiavellian villain. Truer to life, he is himself both Othello and Iago; he has no one to whisper his hate to but himself, no one’s mind to corrupt but his own. You see, a man doesn’t need any help in ruining his happiness, he is quite capable of doing it by himself.

In this sense, Machado’s novel is closer to Proust’s Swann’s Way than Shakespeare’s great play [and that rhymes!], but is refreshingly lighter, less obviously anguished, than both. The tone of Dom Casmurro [although less so than some of his other work] is distinctly comic. Don’t get me wrong, I find Proust and Shakespeare very funny too, but here the characters are, to a large extent, whimsical, and often driven by unusual interests or motivations. Furthermore, it is Machado’s voice [and it is his voice, it being the same voice in all his work] and the idiosyncratic structure of the novel that set it apart from other jealous-man-gone-crazy literature.

As with Tristram Shandy [a clear influence] Dom Casmurro starts from a single, seemingly innocuous, point and, like ink on blotting paper, spreads outwards from there in numerous directions; it is a digressive work, with the story presented in brief chapters by a narrator who is easily distracted from the main narrative. Bento, also, seasons his tale with memorable aphorisms and witticisms; his voice is almost always tender and wise, despite the subject matter, which helps prevent the novel from descending into melodrama.

In conclusion, this is a charming, deceptively slight and deceptively lighthearted, novel, that is, despite its age, easy to relate to as its themes and concerns are universal. Moreover, it is as fresh and delightful to read now as it must have been upon its publication. As for whether Capitu did or not did cheat on Bento, just like Bento we’ll never know.(less)

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Apr 25, 2013 Emir Never rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wasak.

***

Somewhere it was written that all stories are love stories. That’s one way of looking at it, I say. You and me, we’re a love story. (That, my friend, is a watered-down pick-up line version of A Beautiful Mind classic. (view spoiler))

W...more Wasak.

***

Somewhere it was written that all stories are love stories. That’s one way of looking at it, I say. You and me, we’re a love story. (That, my friend, is a watered-down pick-up line version of A Beautiful Mind classic. (view spoiler))

Well, let’s say everything is a love story: tragic, comic, happy, complicated ™, etcetera. It all boils down to variations and the way the story is told. I guess to set apart your story from other essentially similar stories, you’d resort to some tricks, anything but a simple narration or approach to storytelling.

Machado de Assis in Dom Casmurro blundered into a simple first-person approach, although he managed to infuse some sort of novelty with odd chapter headings. Here, his narrator Santiago relates how he acquired the moniker ‘Dom Casmurro’, retracing his love story with a childhood friend Capitu up to the present time, his old age. To give you some idea about this beautiful Capitu, here’s Casmurro’s description of her eyes:

”Grammar of lovers, give me an exact and poetic comparison to describe the eyes of Capitu’s. I can find no image—without breaking the dignity of my style—to convey what they were and what they did to me. Eyes like the tide? Yes, the tide. That’s what they were. They had some mysterious and force-giving fluid that drew everything up into them, like a wave that moves back from the shore when the undertow is heavy. In order not to be swept under, I grasped at other, neighboring parts, her ears, her arms, at her hair that was spread over hershoulders; but as soon as I sought the pupils of her eyes again, the wave that came from them kept growing, cavernous, dark, threatening to engulf me, to pull me, drag me into itself.”

This is a love story and also a story of friendships and the joys and pains of being human. How de Assis made such a great work out of a simple story and narration, you’d have to read this to have an idea. One of the very best novels I've read and one I advise you not to read while waiting for a date or an interview.
(less)

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Feb 06, 2013 Bruno Lima rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, classics

As a brazilian student, I hear A LOT about Machado de Assis, but more than a century seperates his work from my time, so this can be a little disencouraging. But as I'm trying to do new and different readings, I checked it out, and let me just say I couldn't be happier about this decision.

Dom Casmurro is settled on Rio de Janeiro in the 1800's, but it's main theme is timeless: jealousy. Machado gives a purpose, a feeling and intensity to every single character, in a way that you can believe ever...more

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Jan 06, 2010 Sherry rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classicscorner

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!

Never before in reading any novel have I ever felt so much a character IN the novel. I am "dear Lady." I certainly felt like it. In the early stages of the novel, it was if I was sitting down on the front porch with a kindly old uncle and given tea and cakes and told a charming story. Oh he was so in love. Oh he loved his mother so much...she was an angel. He was, as someone pointed out, seducing me. And then I was listening to the...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Eduardo Pereira rated it 5 of 5 stars

"O penteado" é em certo sentido o livro inteiro pra mim. As preliminares do amor é que contam com o tempo: essa é a lição que o capítulo parece querer passar aos outros restantes. Adoro o modo como os dois (Bentinho e Capitu) se provocam e se enroscam naquele jogo ingênuo. O amor talvez seja no fundo os seus avisos prévios. A gente percebe que já estava nele quando vem a ter notícias suas e isso faz a sua delícia propriamente. É também todo um estudo que se dá nesse trecho e que diz que ousadia...more

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May 31, 2012 Bruno França rated it 5 of 5 stars

Clássico obrigatório.
Como não se deliciar com esse belíssimo clássico da nossa literatura?
Não tenho vergonha de assumir que me encantei com este livro.
Sim, o livro é excelente, desde a forma como o eu lírico vai estabelenco um contato com a própria obra e com o leitor, até o modo com que a história vai te puxando até o final.
Para aqueles que se interessam pela história do Brasil, ''Dom Casmurro'' te leva ao período do Brasil Império de um jeito simples e encantador.
Bom, agora vamos à minha opini...more

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Aug 07, 2010 Tony rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-mainstream

Machado de Assis. DOM CASMURRO. (1899; this ed. 1994). ****. This is a novel that I have seen on bookshelves for the past fifty years and have been avoiding for just as long. In the many editions I’ve seen, it has always been proclaimed as “the masterpiece” for Brazil’s “greatest novelist.” The thought of a novel from turn of the century Brazil never really appealed to me, but it turns out that I was pleasantly surprised when I finally did read it. The novel was first published in Paris in 1899...more Machado de Assis. DOM CASMURRO. (1899; this ed. 1994). ****. This is a novel that I have seen on bookshelves for the past fifty years and have been avoiding for just as long. In the many editions I’ve seen, it has always been proclaimed as “the masterpiece” for Brazil’s “greatest novelist.” The thought of a novel from turn of the century Brazil never really appealed to me, but it turns out that I was pleasantly surprised when I finally did read it. The novel was first published in Paris in 1899 when the author was already established as Brazil’s brightest man of letters. Although not appreciated at first, it has become the subject of those high praises that I continue to see written on its covers – and deservedly so. It is a novel told in the first person by the eponymous Dom Casmurro (translated from the Portugese, it means Lord Taciturn) that reviews the history of his life from when he was a baby up through his old age. It is told with wit and irony. The focus of the story is his love and subsequent marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Capitu. Their love affair as teenagers leads to pledges of marriage when they are of age. These pledges are almost destroyed when Casmurro’s mother, honoring a pledge she made to God when Casmurro was born, wants to send him to a seminary to become a priest. He can’t become a priest and still marry his love. Strategies are developed to get out of becoming a priest, and Casmurro is very clever at devising them. He eventually finds a way of getting out of the seminary and ultimately marrying Capitu. Later, they have a son. As the son grows up, he begins to look more and more like a friend that Casmurro had while he was in the seminary. This causes him to begin to have doubts about the faithfulness of his wife. Since this tale is told after his wife is dead, we don’t get to hear her side – nor do we get to hear the son’s side either, since he had recently died also. Casmurro is persuasive in his telling, partly due to his having studied the law after leaving the seminary and now being a high ranking lawyer in Rio. How the idea of infidelity arises and how Casmurro handles it really doesn’t enter the story until probably two-thirds of the way through the book; the first two-thirds providing background on his days leading up to marriage and their early marriage relationship. Finally, however, it is a tragedy of love and painful disillusionment. Recommended.(less)

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May 22, 2010 Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly rated it 5 of 5 stars

do not know how to review this novel. Reading it was like watching a great chess master play, or show you a great game he has played. Move by move, you watch, mesmerized. Narrated in the first person, he even teases you every now and then: go here and see this beauty; go back several moves, recall the logic of what has happened; no, could this be really the meaning of what went before? But this is not a mystery novel. There is no crime to solve. Or maybe there is, but one can't be sure. Early o...more

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May 15, 2010 Greg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Oh, Google you have failed me. I wanted to find a nice list of books written in 1900, or at least in 1899. I failed though.

In 1899 though Nabokov, Hemingway and EB White were all born.

Henry James was somewhere between Turn of the Screw and Wings of the Dove in these years. Mark Twain was still kicking around. The Way of All Flesh was about this time, so was The Awakening by Chopin... I was hoping this list would sound better. But this list will do.

Nothing against any of these authors or their...more

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Jan 12, 2010 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

HEADLINE: Did Escobar and Capitu commit adultery or not? (Answer at the end of this review.)

Dom Casmurro is a startling book. How can a book published in 1899 seem so contemporary in style and content? I still ponder this. One requires only a bit of scene setting in the Brazil of the 19th Century from some other source in order to get in the swing of this novel very quickly. John Gledson's Foreword to the Library of Latin America's edition does just that. He is also the translator.

This is a fict...more

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May 29, 2009 Ben Loory rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

the guy's such a smooth and smart and fun and amazingly modern writer for a 19th century guy, i feel bad about giving this book 2 stars after loving Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas so much, but really... i just didn't care. the metaphysical comedy of epitaph of a small winner was gone, along with the postmodernist approach, and all that was left was a story about a kid who loves a girl but is destined by his mom to be a priest. i mean, really... who gives a shit? again, not to say it was bad......more

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Jul 25, 2012 Mary Soderstrom rated it 5 of 5 stars

Don't know whether I would have read this book had I not taken a Portuguese course as part of my continuing work on Portugal and the continuing influence of the Portuguese around the world. But this classic novel by a 19th century autodidact and grandson of a slave was required reading.

What a delight! The narrator is an old and crotchety member of the elite of Rio da Janeiro in the 1860s to 1880s. He expects us to take at face value his tale--of how he had been promised to the priesthood at birt...more

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Dec 21, 2012 Tamtam MaTaR rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

لو كنت رجلاً .. لما استطعت ان اعدك بالا اقع على الفور فى حب ( كابيتو ) ليس لانها مغريه كما صورها لى الكاتب بل لاننى اطمع لاقتناص مذاقها ذالك الخبث العفوى وتلك الضحكه الصبيانيه الانثويه وذالك ال..... كفا!
اعنى ان صديقى البطل قد غمرنى بشلالات من الوصف جعلتنى لوهله اُراقص شبح انثاه بعد اكثر من مائه عام
دون كامزمورو روايه ترجيديه كوميديه لهواه الواقعيه الساحره تشعر وكأنك مررت بالاحدث كمرور الماء من الاصبع ولشد ما اعجبنى نسج الصداقه الذى ابتكره الكاتب بينه وبين قارئه تلك الصداقه التى تدركك فى اللحظه ا...more

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Jul 10, 2010 Julia Boechat Machado rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, brazilian-literature, constantly-re-reading, tingle-of-the-spine, 1890s

Dom Casmurro é brilhante não apenas pelo estilo inigualável de Machado de Assis, mas por ser um romance essencialmente sobre a dúvida. Não interessa nem um pouco se Capitu traiu Bentinho ou não, o que interessa é o quanto isso o obcecou durante grande parte de sua vida.
Esse livro me faz lembrar algo que o Nabokov disse, sobre como em um livro não importa em nada se identificar com um ou outro personagem, mas se identificar com o autor.

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May 02, 2013 Daniel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autores-brasileiros, classics

O livro trata do romance entre Bentinho, mais tarde Dom Casmurro, e Capitu, um romance que começou criança, sem saber o que seria, e terminou amargamente sem saber como foi. Todo o enredo é contado na primeira pessoa por D. Casmurro, com um tom íntimo e familiar, fazendo lembrar Saramago na forma como frequentemente se dirige directamente ao leitor e partilha os pensamentos e impressões do narrador. A simpatia com que o faz serve para se aproximar do leitor, como que forjando uma amizade, talvez...more
O livro trata do romance entre Bentinho, mais tarde Dom Casmurro, e Capitu, um romance que começou criança, sem saber o que seria, e terminou amargamente sem saber como foi. Todo o enredo é contado na primeira pessoa por D. Casmurro, com um tom íntimo e familiar, fazendo lembrar Saramago na forma como frequentemente se dirige directamente ao leitor e partilha os pensamentos e impressões do narrador. A simpatia com que o faz serve para se aproximar do leitor, como que forjando uma amizade, talvez com a intenção de lhe conquistar confiança necessária para ser compreendido e validado. E assim que nos encontramos a concordar com as análises e as atitudes de Bentinho, enquanto luta por se manter próximo de Capitu sem desapontar a mãe, ou compreendemos que desconfie dos exageros de José Dias mas chore mais tarde a sua morte. Esta evolução subtil de carácter ocorre apenas com Dias e Capitu. Todos os outros são no final o que eram no início. Não deverá ser coincidência que evoluam em sentidos opostos, da mesma forma que a opinião que Jose Dias tem de Capitu também muda com o tempo.

O tema central da trama serão os ciúmes que Bentinho tem de Capitu, que vão aparecendo aos poucos e ao longo da narrativa, sem parecerem demais ou exagerados, e que vão determinar dramaticamente o desenrolar da trama. O texto justifica os ciúmes mas não atesta, nem insiste, na sua veracidade. Por um lado interessa lembrar que quem os descreve e quem os sente. Bentinho não faz mais que contar o que lhe passa pela cabeça e outra coisa mais não poderia ser. Assim, simpatizamos com tudo, mesmo sem entender exactamente o que aconteceu. Por outro lado, Machado de Assis tratou de assegurar que esse entendimento estará para sempre vedado ao leitor. Ao mesmo tempo que cria um personagem com o qual se trava amizade em poucas paginas, ele cria um nevoeiro que envolve as suas atitudes mais dramáticas. Faz isto, por exemplo, mostrando como Bentinho se enganou em relação a Jose Dias, que poderia ser apenas mais um fafarrão parasitario mas que se revelou um fidelíssimo amigo, ou insistindo na comparação entre Bentinho e Otelo.

O mistério é assim escondido por entre motivações psicológicas mais ou menos claras e ninguém para além dos próprios personagens do livro tem a chave. O que não quer dizer que ainda assim não seja interessante e divertido tentar resolvê-lo... (less)

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Aug 09, 2010 Hugo Eduardo Azevedo Fialho rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Sou chique; melhor, sou chique mais uma vez! Acabo de ler um dos muitos clássicos da literatura brasileira que se incorporaram coerentemente à literatura mundial - Dom Casmurro, de Machado de Assis. Os embates entre Bento Capitolina, mais conhecidos, respectivamente, por Bentinho e Capitu são desde muito cedo comprometidos com amor uma ao outro - as promessas da época de infância, os encontro mais e mais sensuais durante a adolescência e a resistência desse amor à entrada de Bentinho num convent...more

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Jan 18, 2011 Natacha Martins rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

Primeira palavra que me ocorre quando li as últimas palavras foi: Adorei! Gostei da escrita, gostei da história e da forma como ela é contada, gostei das personagens, sobre as quais nunca temos certezas pois são, na narração que Bentinho faz, inocentes e puras mas com um ou outro pormenor que as torna de repente ambíguas, com segundas intenções. Gostei, especialmente da contemporaneidade que encontrei na escrita. Esperava encontrar os floreados típicos do século XIX mas, ou no Brasil a tendência...more

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Mar 24, 2011 Newengland rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-newly-read, finished-in-2011

Read to the tune of "Your Cheating Heart" on Youtube.

DOM CASMURRO ambles out of the gate as a 19th-century, Brazilian coming-of-age story (I'd say it in Portuguese but my polyglot is rusty). Leisurely (thus, "ambles") in the beginning and middle, its chief interest is the tone and style. Sure, it's a translation, but a translator can't even pull this off. Machado de Assis is (cliche alert!) a man before his time if ever there was one. Short chapters. Pithy asides. Ironic humor. Frank admissions....more Read to the tune of "Your Cheating Heart" on Youtube.

DOM CASMURRO ambles out of the gate as a 19th-century, Brazilian coming-of-age story (I'd say it in Portuguese but my polyglot is rusty). Leisurely (thus, "ambles") in the beginning and middle, its chief interest is the tone and style. Sure, it's a translation, but a translator can't even pull this off. Machado de Assis is (cliche alert!) a man before his time if ever there was one. Short chapters. Pithy asides. Ironic humor. Frank admissions. Certified organic navel gazing. The whole nine Portuguese yards.

Bento Santiago, our hero, is winsome as first-person narrators tend to be. Put that in your memory bank and collect interest for the end. At a very young age he falls in love with and vows to marry a girl named Capitú (Portuguese for "captivating," for all I know). She's feisty, lovely, and has "eyes like the tide" (the gene pool at high tide, in other words). Soon after, enter a new best friend from the seminary, where the reluctant Bento is sent to be a priest by his saint-like mother. This friend, Escobar, is one of those characters who creeps up on you (if you're listening, you can hear the audience shouting warnings in the way of all dramatic ironists). His stock rises as the novel progresses. In short, he is the catalyst that builds interest, that makes a good novel a better one.

In fact, by the very end, the novel comes on gangbusters. Plot, you ask? Pshaw! (Portuguese for "no, you silly fool.") Intrigue! Jealousy! The green-eyed monster! It's no accident that allusions to OTHELLO start to drop like raindrops in Seattle as our protagonist -- the man who thinks too much -- starts to think maybe his friend and his wife have an "in" with "fidelity" or something. Ah... the age-old triangle. It's either Man, Best Friend, Wife or Wife, Best Friend, Man.

At this point the unreliable narrator card is played. We ignore him at our own risk EVERY time we read a 1st-person POV book, but who can blame us? We LIKE having a best friend in the book's numero uno. We LIKE being confided in so openly. But do we like having to second guess ourselves, much less our amiable friend? No sirree Bob (Roberto, whatever).

Now we're into strange terrain. Now we're looking around for the GPS to a lady's heart. And we (read: guys) ALL know how dependable THOSE are.

Nice finish. A thinking man's finish. And a thoroughly-readable add-to-your-near-empty-South-American resume book.(less)

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May 06, 2010 Ruth rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a fictional autobiography. I liked the style of it because it felt like a real person was telling me the story, very conversational, short chapters with a lot of backtracking and explaining from one to the other. I was thinking a moment ago that the main character was kind of crazy and I didn't care about him that much but at the same time I remember the charming funniness of some of the perpheral characters. Then I was thinking that the story itself didn't grab me, but I remembered cert...more

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Feb 02, 2010 Manussawee rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: constant-reader

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is not a long book, though it took me a long time to finish it. Let that not be a reflection of how the book is because it's one of a better books I've read recently.

The book is narrated by Bentinho (Bento) Santiago, and the story is about his life. He was in love with his childhood friend, Capitolina (Capitu) and wanted to marry her, though he couldn't because of the promise that his mom made to God that she would raise him to be a priest. Bento asked Capitu before he left for the seminary...more This is not a long book, though it took me a long time to finish it. Let that not be a reflection of how the book is because it's one of a better books I've read recently.

The book is narrated by Bentinho (Bento) Santiago, and the story is about his life. He was in love with his childhood friend, Capitolina (Capitu) and wanted to marry her, though he couldn't because of the promise that his mom made to God that she would raise him to be a priest. Bento asked Capitu before he left for the seminary that "'... Promise me that I'll be the priest that marries you?' 'No, Bentinho,' she said, 'that would mean waiting a long time; you won't be a priest for a while, it takes many years ... Look, I'll promise something else; I'll promise that you will baptize my first child.'" Sad, is it?

Then the story turned. Bento and the dependent, Jose Dias, found a way for Dona Gloria to fulfill her oath to God, but without Bento becoming a priest. He married Capitu and had a son. Then, his best friend from the seminary died suddenly in a swimming accident. At the funeral, Bento observed his wife's affectionate reaction to the death of this friend. Since then he was convinced that the son wan't his, but actually of Escobar. Capitu called Bento crazy. He wanted to kill himself, then thought that she should have been the one to die, and even tried to kill the son. He went to the distance of sending both Capitu and Ezequiel to Switzerland for schooling. He seldom visited, and Capitu died and buried oversea.

The book just isn't what I was expecting, but better. I was getting caught up on their love for each other, which led me to believe that there had to be a twist somewhere. But the twist was much better than I'd expected. I knew that there would be doubts about Ezkequiel being Bento's son, but it also left me wondering whether it was really true... That Ezkequiel wasn't really Bento's or was it just Bento's wild imagination. Like the cover said, "It's also a story about love and its obstacles, about deception and self-deception, and the failure of memory to make life's beginning fit neatly into its end." There is a thin line between love and hate. Bento loved Capitu so much and could hate her much more to the point that he left her dying far away from him. Made me sad.

There's one passage that really stuck out to me:

Before the discovery of that evil land of truth, we had other tempests, of short duration; it was never long before the sky was blue, the sun shining and the sea smooth: we would set our sails to cross it once more, and they would take us to the loveliest isles and coasts in the universe, until another squall would upset everything, and we would lower our sails, waiting for a further spell of fine weather, and when it came, it was neither slow nor uncertain, but complete, trustworthy, and sure.

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Jun 16, 2011 Ferris rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is story written by a beloved Brazilian author which explores the classic themes of love, betrayal, and relationships. Machado de Assis has a lovely writing style and delightful wit. In an afterword his writing is described as "the pen of wit dipped in the ink of melancholy", which I found to be completely a propos. The reader goes through the idealism of youth with the narrator and leaps into the disillusionment of adulthood. There were also some philosophical notions I found really intere...more

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Dec 13, 2009 Dree rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: constant-reader, 2009-reads, latin-america

I read the Library of Latin America version, translated by John Gledson.

This novel was a pleasant surprise. I had never heard of it or Machado de Assis--in spite of the fact that in college I took a Latin American History survey class from one of the Library of Latin America editorial board members. Though it wasn't a good class for many reasons--including the reason that no literature was introduced.

I plodded through the very dry introduction--and it was worth it, since I have no background wit...more I read the Library of Latin America version, translated by John Gledson.

This novel was a pleasant surprise. I had never heard of it or Machado de Assis--in spite of the fact that in college I took a Latin American History survey class from one of the Library of Latin America editorial board members. Though it wasn't a good class for many reasons--including the reason that no literature was introduced.

I plodded through the very dry introduction--and it was worth it, since I have no background with Brazilian lit. It was a good choice to do so.

I especially enjoyed the narrative style used. To have one character/narrator, who discusses writing this story in between chapters of the story--and the loops back and forth, and should I or should I not take this out, and discussing his feelings both then and now--makes you all the more aware, when reading, how manipulated you may be. It also shows his personality--his extreme manipulation of people, his arrogance, his spoiled upbringing--which left me wondering, at the end, "Did she or didn't she?" I don't know.

The characters were interesting--the dependent, Cosme, Padua, Gloria, the aunt, Escobar, Sancha. Even the boy who died of leprosy shows a side of Bento's personality in his reaction.

The afterword, by João Adolfo Hansen--is a good example of why I was a history major instead of an English major. Nowhere does he discuss my favorite theme in the novel--Bento's claiming to be religious, seminary studies (and weaseling out), and constant bargains with God (which he readily admits never fulfilling). I would love to know how this reflects Brazilian society when the book was written--or does it reflect Machado de Assis'religious views? Was it a typical upper class view? Or just a joke? Rather, the afterword is about how the narrative style is a "critique" of typical styles--but does not explain why. We are just supposed to believe the author wasn't experimenting, or reflecting another author, or just trying something new. Whatever.

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Aug 24, 2012 Clarice rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dom Casmurro é profundamente regido pelo princípio da ironia, da contradição, da incongruência. Talvez por isso alguns inadvertidos continuem achando que se trata de uma história de traição e não de ciúme. E ao contrário de Shakespeare, Machado de Assis não precisa de um outro personagem para ser Iago, pois o atiçador do ciúme está presente desde sempre no menino Bento Santiago. Como narrador-personagem, Dom Casmurro faz sua argumentação acusatória, condena e sentencia Capitu. Mas justamente por...more

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Apr 04, 2009 Isabel Maia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-2009, catalog, mine, original

Dom Casmurro conta a história de Bento Santiago, mais conhecido no seio familiar por Bentinho, apelidado de Dom Casmurro por ser calado e introvertido. Em adolescente apaixona-se por Capítu, sua amiga de infância e vizinha, abandonando o seminário e, com ele, os desígnios traçados por sua mãe, Dona Glória, que por promessa feita aquando do seu nascimento queria que este se tornasse padre. Casam-se e tudo corre bem, até o amor se tornar ciúme e desconfiança.

É esta a grande questão que magistralme...more

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May 20, 2012 Arwen56 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romanzi

Veramente un bel romanzo. L’ho letto con grande piacere e con la rapidità che di solito riservo ai racconti polizieschi. Non sempre ne ho gradito lo stile, soprattutto nei tratti in cui diventa quasi didascalico, particolarmente laddove richiama eventi accaduti in altri momenti, in riferimento ai quali si riporta pedantemente il numero del capitolo in cui sono stati raccontati. Ma, a parte questo, l’introspezione psicologica, benché limitata dall’unico e all’unico punto di vista che ci viene pre...more Veramente un bel romanzo. L’ho letto con grande piacere e con la rapidità che di solito riservo ai racconti polizieschi. Non sempre ne ho gradito lo stile, soprattutto nei tratti in cui diventa quasi didascalico, particolarmente laddove richiama eventi accaduti in altri momenti, in riferimento ai quali si riporta pedantemente il numero del capitolo in cui sono stati raccontati. Ma, a parte questo, l’introspezione psicologica, benché limitata dall’unico e all’unico punto di vista che ci viene presentato, ovvero quello di Dom Casmurro, è davvero magnifica. Vi sono molti e diversi crescendo emotivi, ciascuno dei quali si risolve nel proprio ambito, per lasciar poi lo spazio ad altri, come se fossero onde successive che muoiono e rinascono sulla stessa sponda.

Capitu ha tradito Bentinho? Ezequiel è davvero figlio di Escobar? Non lo sapremo mai e, in fondo non è importante, perché non è questo il punto. Il punto è ciò che crede Dom Casmurro. Il punto è come abbia potuto improvvisamente “scivolare fuori” e “svincolarsi” da un amore che sino a quel momento pareva essere stato la sua stessa essenza. Il punto è come abbia potuto “allontanarsi” sino a confinare moglie e figlio in un universo che diventa “altro da sé”. Estraniarli ed estraniarsi.

Dire che è stata la gelosia è riduttivo, esattamente come lo è definire il comportamento dell’Otello shakespeariano come conseguenza di quello stesso sentimento. Otello non uccide Desdemona perché è geloso. Otello uccide Desdemona perché Iago, con superba maestria, mina le basi della sua autostima. Identicamente, Dom Casmurro uccide, metaforicamente parlando, moglie e figlio perché di autostima non ne ha mai avuta. Resta dunque da identificare quale sia quel perverso meccanismo che conduce alcuni ad autodistruggersi o a farsi distruggere, ossia, in buona sostanza, resta da capire chi o cosa sia “Iago”. Quello che parla solo per negazioni (I am not what I am). Quello che alla fine si rifugia nel silenzio (Demand me nothing; what you know, you know: from this time forth I never will speak word.).

Con questo non è che intenda fare raffronti diretti tra Shakespeare e Machado de Assis, perché sarebbero fuor di luogo. A mio modesto avviso, Shakespeare ha raccontato praticamente tutto quel c’era da raccontare sui comportamenti umani. Ha dato dei “coglioni” ai coglioni, degli “ingenui” agli ingenui e dei “figli di buona donna” ai figli di buona donna. Tuttavia, questo romanzo ha il pregio di proporre una storia che affascina e cattura. Il percorso che conduce Bento a diventare Dom Casmurro è intenso e amaro.

Si parte tutti con grande entusiasmo a scoprire la vita, ma, ahimè, solo pochissimi, quando si tirano le somme, scoprono di averci guadagnato qualcosa vivendola. Forse è per questo che, di solito, quando si invecchia i ricordi recano spesso con sé l’inesprimibile dolcezza di ciò avrebbe potuto essere e non è stato. In quegli attimi finiamo per ritrovare il meglio di noi. E’ per questo che ci sono cari.

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Jan 08, 2010 Claudia rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Mar 06, 2012 Cadu Dias rated it 5 of 5 stars

É incrível e inegável a genialidade de Machado de Assis. Sem dúvida, um dos maiores escritores da literatura mundial. A narrativa é solta, leve, sempre dialogando com o leitor de uma forma, até hoje, inusitada.

A discussão sobre a traição será eterna, e o fato de que, mesmo após centenas de anos, as pessoas continuam discutindo sem poder chegar a um veredicto, demonstra o tamanho da capacidade deste gênio literário.

Polêmicas à parte, após ler o livro cultivo a opinião de que a Capitu traiu sim o...more

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About Machado de Assis

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, often known as Machado de Assis, Machado, or Bruxo do Cosme Velho, (June 21, 1839, Rio de Janeiro—September 29, 1908, Rio de Janeiro) was a Brazilian novelist, poet and short story writer. He is widely regarded as the most important writer of Brazilian literature. However, he did not gain widespread popularity outside Brazil in his own lifetime.
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“Each person is worth the value put on them by the affection of others, and that is where popular wisdom has found that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” — 5 people liked it

“Mas a saudade é isto mesmo; é o passar e repassar das memórias antigas” — 5 people liked it

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