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A Hero for the People: Stories of the Brazilian Backlands
"Set in the vast and sometimes violent landscape of contemporary Brazil, this is a gorgeous collection of stories-wise, hopeful, and forgiving, but clear-eyed in its exploration of the toll taken on the human heart by greed, malice, and the lust for land." -Debra Murphy, Publisher of Idyll's Press, Founder of CatholicFiction.net
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
190 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 2013
About the author
Arthur Powers
9 books12 followersArthur Powers went to Brazil in 1969 as a Peace Corps Volunteer and lived most his adult life there. From 1985 to 1992 he and his wife (with their two daughters) served with the Franciscan Friars in the eastern Amazon, doing pastoral work and organizing subsistence farmers and rural workers' unions in a region of violent land conflicts. Later they directed relief & development projects in the drought-ridden Brazilian Northeast. Currently they live in Raleigh, NC.
Mr. Powers received a Fellowship in Fiction from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation & many other writing awards. His collection of short stories set in Brazil, A Hero For The People, is forthcoming from Press 53. His short novel, The Book of Jotham, winner of the 2012 Tuscany Novella Award, is published by Tuscany Press. Tuscanhttp://www.amazon.com/The-Book-of-Jot...
Mr. Powers received a Fellowship in Fiction from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation & many other writing awards. His collection of short stories set in Brazil, A Hero For The People, is forthcoming from Press 53. His short novel, The Book of Jotham, winner of the 2012 Tuscany Novella Award, is published by Tuscany Press. Tuscanhttp://www.amazon.com/The-Book-of-Jot...
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 18, 2017
The joy of this book was not just becoming familiar with the genuine issues of a distant country, understanding how the problems of greed and limited resources developed over the last 70 years or so, and finding yourself with a better understanding and compassion for the situation, but to experience it through the eyes of the different people involved: the indigent farmer, the corrupt land surveyor, the affluent and curious first world visitor, the missionary, the military warlord, the frequently uprooted laborer, or the slum lord who is king of the samba dancehall by night.
At all times I felt in synch with whatever short story I was reading, neither struggling to make sense of what I read a few pages ago nor anticipating the ending. I can vividly remember all of the stories after finishing them, and I'm glad they're with me.
At all times I felt in synch with whatever short story I was reading, neither struggling to make sense of what I read a few pages ago nor anticipating the ending. I can vividly remember all of the stories after finishing them, and I'm glad they're with me.
July 3, 2013
This is a book I stumbled upon. I didn't expect it to be good, much less at the "write to the author and ask for an interview" level. I didn't expect much from it.
I found myself, about a third of the way through the book, checking to see if it was a memoir or a collection of stories. For me, this speaks to a few things.
First, it was so well-written that, as fiction, it seemed real. As in, "pinch me, I'm riding shotgun across Brazil" real.
Second, I'm not a big fan of most memoirs (but yes, I love a good story, so there's that). The fact that I was LIKING this even though I thought it was a memoir (or I wasn't sure) was a big thumbs up for the writing and storytelling.
I always forget how much I enjoy collections of stories. They're like assorted hard candies...if you don't like one, it's not such a big deal because there's a good one coming up soon. In this bag of stories, though, there weren't any bad ones.
Each story in this is crafted and fine-tuned. They leave you satisfied and yet wanting more.
There's an adventure and, within that, a deeper theme. You almost get the sense that you're traveling along through Brazil's backlands, and that the people there, while delightfully unique, aren't so different from you. There's a taste to this book that made me look up Powers's other work.
Dare I say this is literature? Maybe. At the very least, it's a book I really, really, REALLY enjoyed, with a wow on top.
I found myself, about a third of the way through the book, checking to see if it was a memoir or a collection of stories. For me, this speaks to a few things.
First, it was so well-written that, as fiction, it seemed real. As in, "pinch me, I'm riding shotgun across Brazil" real.
Second, I'm not a big fan of most memoirs (but yes, I love a good story, so there's that). The fact that I was LIKING this even though I thought it was a memoir (or I wasn't sure) was a big thumbs up for the writing and storytelling.
I always forget how much I enjoy collections of stories. They're like assorted hard candies...if you don't like one, it's not such a big deal because there's a good one coming up soon. In this bag of stories, though, there weren't any bad ones.
Each story in this is crafted and fine-tuned. They leave you satisfied and yet wanting more.
There's an adventure and, within that, a deeper theme. You almost get the sense that you're traveling along through Brazil's backlands, and that the people there, while delightfully unique, aren't so different from you. There's a taste to this book that made me look up Powers's other work.
Dare I say this is literature? Maybe. At the very least, it's a book I really, really, REALLY enjoyed, with a wow on top.
November 30, 2014
Arthur Powers is one of those authors who could write just about anything, and I'd be enthralled. "A Hero for the People: Stories of the Brazilian Backlands" is certainly no exception. After finishing just the first short story in this amazing collection, I realized this was no ordinary sellection of stories. The descriptions are rich, vibrant, and detailed. The narrative makes you feel like you're standing in the hot sun on a dusty road--next to its characters. There is also something else to it... One can easily recognize that this place means something tremondously important to the author, and that he has a special love for its people. That love and the humanity of the author are clearly reflected within each well-crafted page. Wonderful book!
November 3, 2021
Arthur Powers's skills as a lawyer slip into these stories presented as evidence to us, the reader jury. With seasoned grace, he allows the stories of Brazilian natives and the injustice they suffer to permeate our sensitivities. He grants us the freedom to draw our own conclusions and treats the reader with an assumption of intelligence and rationality. I find that as refreshing as the crispness of his writing style. Like a song whose melody you can't shake, these stories reverberate in one's soul, where they belong.
April 30, 2024
Lovely collection of short stories infused with the insight that comes from living among a people for a long time. The memorable characters and their lives will stay with me for a long time.
December 10, 2014
Suppose a young man is shot during a gunfight and paralyzed from the neck down. And suppose you're an Evangelical pastor who has a gift of healing. You're humble about it, saying "Jesus is the healer, and I am only a tool in his hands."
Also suppose the young man repents of his sins, believes God can heal him, and asks you to pray for him. Could there be a situation in which it would be wrong to pray for the man's healing?
Author Arthur Powers explores this question in his short story "The Healer." It's part of his book of fictional narratives titled A Hero for His People: Stories from the Brazilian Backcountry, published in 2013.
Powers, an American lawyer, spent many years in Brazil as a Peace Corps volunteer. Later he worked as a layman for the Catholic Church in Brazil. The stories in this book are based on those experiences.
In the story "The Bridge," a priest suffers from something like post-traumatic stress, apparently because his work is so demanding. The church sends him back to the United States, to a place "for people who work too hard and care too much." There is a happy outcome for this priest, though it turns bittersweet in the end.
In the story titled "Come into My House and Stay," an unprincipled or misguided person sets fire to a slum. As the slum-dwellers watch "with dead faces," a Baptist minister looms like a giant on the road. His voice booms out a single phrase: "Forgive them, God. They don't know what they're doing." The slum-dwellers echo these difficult words even as their homes burn.
Mistreatment of the poor by the rich is a recurring theme in these narratives. The story
"Hate" is about a land-hungry businessman bilking an illiterate farm couple out of their few acres. When he visits the unsuspecting couple, he is greeted with the words "We have very little, compadre, but what we have is yours."
This is a customary way of welcoming guests. However, the author keeps repeating the same words in different contexts till we readers grasp their deeper meaning. The couple mean they are happy to make a cup of tea for the visitor, and share whatever they have to eat. They don't understand—until too late—the heartbreaking truth that what little they have really will become the visitor's property.
The author of A Hero for the People is excellent at description. He knows how to convey a lot in a few words. For example, he describes one man as being "stubborn as a fence post." Of nightfall, he says: "Between 5:55 and 6:30 p.m., it switches from afternoon to complete dark." Describing the Bible reading in a church service, Powers says "Slowly—in the voice of a man newly practiced in reading—he proclaims the passage."
A number of these stories have specific religious content. Others do not. However, each story contains a message, or lesson. Powers doesn't ladle these on. He lets readers draw their own conclusions, and displays an exquisite sense of where to end a story.
Many readers will be sorry to see Powers' book end. It's a powerful document. A Hero for the People, published by Press 53, is 190 pages long. It's available from the publisher, and from Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Barnes and Noble.
Also suppose the young man repents of his sins, believes God can heal him, and asks you to pray for him. Could there be a situation in which it would be wrong to pray for the man's healing?
Author Arthur Powers explores this question in his short story "The Healer." It's part of his book of fictional narratives titled A Hero for His People: Stories from the Brazilian Backcountry, published in 2013.
Powers, an American lawyer, spent many years in Brazil as a Peace Corps volunteer. Later he worked as a layman for the Catholic Church in Brazil. The stories in this book are based on those experiences.
In the story "The Bridge," a priest suffers from something like post-traumatic stress, apparently because his work is so demanding. The church sends him back to the United States, to a place "for people who work too hard and care too much." There is a happy outcome for this priest, though it turns bittersweet in the end.
In the story titled "Come into My House and Stay," an unprincipled or misguided person sets fire to a slum. As the slum-dwellers watch "with dead faces," a Baptist minister looms like a giant on the road. His voice booms out a single phrase: "Forgive them, God. They don't know what they're doing." The slum-dwellers echo these difficult words even as their homes burn.
Mistreatment of the poor by the rich is a recurring theme in these narratives. The story
"Hate" is about a land-hungry businessman bilking an illiterate farm couple out of their few acres. When he visits the unsuspecting couple, he is greeted with the words "We have very little, compadre, but what we have is yours."
This is a customary way of welcoming guests. However, the author keeps repeating the same words in different contexts till we readers grasp their deeper meaning. The couple mean they are happy to make a cup of tea for the visitor, and share whatever they have to eat. They don't understand—until too late—the heartbreaking truth that what little they have really will become the visitor's property.
The author of A Hero for the People is excellent at description. He knows how to convey a lot in a few words. For example, he describes one man as being "stubborn as a fence post." Of nightfall, he says: "Between 5:55 and 6:30 p.m., it switches from afternoon to complete dark." Describing the Bible reading in a church service, Powers says "Slowly—in the voice of a man newly practiced in reading—he proclaims the passage."
A number of these stories have specific religious content. Others do not. However, each story contains a message, or lesson. Powers doesn't ladle these on. He lets readers draw their own conclusions, and displays an exquisite sense of where to end a story.
Many readers will be sorry to see Powers' book end. It's a powerful document. A Hero for the People, published by Press 53, is 190 pages long. It's available from the publisher, and from Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Barnes and Noble.
June 21, 2014
A Hero For the People turned out to be not at all what I was expecting from this story collection, but really glad that I got a chance to read them. Many stories have a haunting beauty quality to them and could easily be classified as thrillers. Since Arthur Powers spent his time in Brazil serving with the Franciscan Friars, I was expecting more stories of helping people and hopefully some stories of the landscape. These stories are in here, but my favorites were more of the chilling variety. Here are short recaps and reviews of the stories I thought were the most intriguing:
The Bridge sets the tone of the work that Arthur is doing in Brazil, some of the desperate situations that people in the area are in as well as the setting of the backlands and the character of the people who live there . This story is a bit of a whopper to begin with, but definitely grabbed my attention.
The story Hate alone is well worth the read. A haunting story of hate and greed and how it can affect a person. Definitely worth it, even if it read as a stand-alone.
Two Foxes is an endearing story of a farmer's relationship with the animals around him, for better or for worse.
Another chilling story, Famine shows the power of hunger and how far a group of people will go for the opportunity to eat.
Overall, a collection of heart-wrenching, heart-pounding and heartbreaking stories from the far reaches of Brazil that opened my eyes to what life is like in that region of the world.
This book was provided for free in return for an honest review.
The Bridge sets the tone of the work that Arthur is doing in Brazil, some of the desperate situations that people in the area are in as well as the setting of the backlands and the character of the people who live there . This story is a bit of a whopper to begin with, but definitely grabbed my attention.
The story Hate alone is well worth the read. A haunting story of hate and greed and how it can affect a person. Definitely worth it, even if it read as a stand-alone.
Two Foxes is an endearing story of a farmer's relationship with the animals around him, for better or for worse.
Another chilling story, Famine shows the power of hunger and how far a group of people will go for the opportunity to eat.
Overall, a collection of heart-wrenching, heart-pounding and heartbreaking stories from the far reaches of Brazil that opened my eyes to what life is like in that region of the world.
This book was provided for free in return for an honest review.
September 5, 2014
A Hero for the People" is a collection of short stories by Arthur powers, an American gentleman who spent a lot of time and Brazil, both in Peace Corps and working throughout the country with other organizations. Each of these stories are fictional stories that take place in the wilds of Brazil. These aren't stories about Rio or any of the other big cities throughout Brazil. These are truly stories most definitely off the beaten path!
I know you all probably know that I always like visiting new places through my reading. This book definitely allowed me to do that! I haven't read too much fiction that it is set in Brazil and any of the fiction I've read I feel has been mostly been set within the cities. I really enjoyed died the location of the stories were so foreign to me. I definitely loved learning about these places through the stories.
Overall, the writing of the stories is pretty good I really liked how the author was able to capture so many different personalities and so many different places with in Brazil. The author uses a lot of detail in order to make these places and these people really come to life. One of my favorite stories is a story about gratitude and choices and involves two foxes. That's all I'm going to see you so I don't give anything away. You're just going to have to read this book for yourself!
I really enjoyed this book. I think anyone who enjoys armchair traveling and really getting to know different people will enjoy this book.
I know you all probably know that I always like visiting new places through my reading. This book definitely allowed me to do that! I haven't read too much fiction that it is set in Brazil and any of the fiction I've read I feel has been mostly been set within the cities. I really enjoyed died the location of the stories were so foreign to me. I definitely loved learning about these places through the stories.
Overall, the writing of the stories is pretty good I really liked how the author was able to capture so many different personalities and so many different places with in Brazil. The author uses a lot of detail in order to make these places and these people really come to life. One of my favorite stories is a story about gratitude and choices and involves two foxes. That's all I'm going to see you so I don't give anything away. You're just going to have to read this book for yourself!
I really enjoyed this book. I think anyone who enjoys armchair traveling and really getting to know different people will enjoy this book.
September 17, 2014
I love to read books about different cultures and people. I enjoy learning about the differences and similarities I share with them. This collection of short stories is varied. There are some happy endings, sad endings, chilling endings and no endings. Some of the people involved were good and some were downright evil. The author spent most of his adult life in Brazil and these stories take place in the various places where he lived.
There are sixteen short stories and they are fiction but feel like they could be real. I usually read stories that have a definite ending or at least I have a good feel for where it's going by the end. Some of these stories ended abruptly, and I felt like there was more, so I had to determine my own ending to the story.
The stories are great to discuss since they deal with human issues, like love, loss, greed, envy and revenge so they made me think. Overall, this is an interesting read. If you like reading about other cultures and people, this is a book you will enjoy!
I received a copy of this to review. My opinion is 100% my own.
Mel's Shelves
There are sixteen short stories and they are fiction but feel like they could be real. I usually read stories that have a definite ending or at least I have a good feel for where it's going by the end. Some of these stories ended abruptly, and I felt like there was more, so I had to determine my own ending to the story.
The stories are great to discuss since they deal with human issues, like love, loss, greed, envy and revenge so they made me think. Overall, this is an interesting read. If you like reading about other cultures and people, this is a book you will enjoy!
I received a copy of this to review. My opinion is 100% my own.
Mel's Shelves
October 9, 2014
The stories show a history of Brazil and the differences that existed and may still exist between the wealthy and the poor in the jungles and remote areas, the backlands of this vast country. What I gleaned from the variety of stories is that rich landowners, farmers and ranchers have killed and driven off the native population from lands their families have occupied for generations, land that legally belongs to the backlanders because of the length of time they have lived on it. However, ignorance of the law and their legal rights and fear of those more powerful in terms of money and political influence kept the indigenous and poor people downtrodden.
A close look at the people in these revealing and well told stories show some of their superstitions, their way of life, and how they cope with their situation. What they needed and need in order to keep and benefit from their land, according to Powers, is a "hero for the people."
See my full review: http://bookdilettante.blogspot.com/20...
A close look at the people in these revealing and well told stories show some of their superstitions, their way of life, and how they cope with their situation. What they needed and need in order to keep and benefit from their land, according to Powers, is a "hero for the people."
See my full review: http://bookdilettante.blogspot.com/20...
July 26, 2013
Mr. Powers’ writing style reminds me of Tobias Wolff’s and Raymond Carver’s. It is sparse and unadorned, but lavishly rich in quality and meaning. His stories give me the feeling of kinship with the characters and a familiarity with their experiences. I love the way Mr. Powers catches the simple and seemingly insignificant slices of human experience and leaves me to divinize them. In his story 'Hate', I picked up a part of a dialog which sums up why I find Mr. Powers’ stories successful: “…somehow we cut through the superficiality that most of us mouth most of the time, and talk about things that matter, muddling along to see if we can find out what life is all about…. Which, I suppose, is what life is all about.”
Whether his stories are set in a familiar place or not, it’s still the human experience that remain to be the core of his stories. He’s a brilliant writer and storyteller. 'A Hero for the People' is a collection of must-read stories.
~Yen Valencia-Dalisay
Whether his stories are set in a familiar place or not, it’s still the human experience that remain to be the core of his stories. He’s a brilliant writer and storyteller. 'A Hero for the People' is a collection of must-read stories.
~Yen Valencia-Dalisay
August 18, 2014
copy received from: http://bookjunkiepromotions.com/ for an honest review
What a great book! I really enjoyed the short stories. I was surprised by this sense I tend to stay away from books that are not novels. The short stories were very well written and interesting. The author is a talented storyteller and knew how to provide just the right amount of information. Although I enjoy learning about different countries like Brazil, I especially loved that the stories were focused on the backlands. The stories were very difference and each one a unique experience. I really enjoyed the collection of short stories and found it to be very informative and moving.
August 18, 2013
Arthur Powers is a marvelous wordsmith, with the ability to bring to life a place that I have never been to. Reading this book, I can almost feel the heat of the sun, smell the aromas of cooking, and hear the arguments between the main characters.
These are intense stories about real people, combined with Arthur's passionate dislike of how the rich maltreat the poor, not only in Brazil, but around the world. His love and care for the poor and their struggles shines through every page.
Get this book, read it, and try not to be touched deeply by it. It is marvelous work!
These are intense stories about real people, combined with Arthur's passionate dislike of how the rich maltreat the poor, not only in Brazil, but around the world. His love and care for the poor and their struggles shines through every page.
Get this book, read it, and try not to be touched deeply by it. It is marvelous work!
August 29, 2014
A Hero for the People by Arthur Powers is a powerful look at a less affluent society that is no less worthy of prosperity and happiness than the next. Hearts will break, families will falter, but in the end faith and love hold them together through the toughest parts of their lives. Powers has crafted harrowing stories that dig at the root of all human societies when they are beginning anew.
Read the full review on Sept. 8, 2014: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2014/09/a...
Read the full review on Sept. 8, 2014: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2014/09/a...
December 23, 2014
A very powerful set of stories which leave the reader with some serious questions. How is our world affected by what we do and by what we fail to do? I believe the characters were drawn true to life and that made them quite personal - brought their experiences close to home. I was impressed by the flow of the writing and the level of artistic beauty embedded even in the more tragic elements of the stories. Certainly makes one think, and perhaps feel, a little deeper.
October 5, 2014
This is a really inspiring book, with references to real characters, to real life situations, but above all, we can see in the course of this book the action of God in all the things that happen to us.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews