Jeferson Tenorio

Bruna Dantas Lobato

Dark Side of Skin

Aisha Mugo

Never think that a boy black and poor may have other problems besides hunger and drugs.

This was my first read of contemporary Brazilian literature and Tenório delivered a truly compelling piece of work. Before reading the book I believed I had a firm understanding of race and class in Brazil, but setting the story in Porto Alegre took it that much further. Tenório is unapologetic in his storytelling, if anything, it is matter-of-factly, but it is that sense of normalcy in the storytelling of Black lives in Brazil that makes the story of Henrique even more heartbreaking. Race punctuates everyday life for Black people, from how they dress to how they make love. A book I will remember for a long time. 

Kudos to Bruna Dantas Lobato for a fantastic translation, I felt the essence of the novel in the words and the translation of urgency in the story. 

This was my first read of contemporary Brazilian literature and Tenório delivered a truly compelling piece of work. Before reading the book I believed I had a firm understanding of race and class in Brazil, but setting the story in Porto Alegre took it that much further. Tenório is unapologetic in his storytelling, if anything, it is matter-of-factly, but it is that sense of normalcy in the storytelling of Black lives in Brazil that makes the story of Henrique even more heartbreaking. Race punctuates everyday life for Black people, from how they dress to how they make love. A book I will remember for a long time. 

Kudos to Bruna Dantas Lobato for a fantastic translation, I felt the essence of the novel in the words and the translation of urgency in the story. 

Dark Side of Skin

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