Carolina Maria de Jesus

An uneducated Black woman exposes the squalid living conditions and savage human relationships that she experienced in a Brazilian slum.

The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus

Child of the Dark

3.5 stars, rounded up for historical importance.

This is a tough book to review, to be honest. I found the preface and the afterword very interesting, but the diary less so. At first, I had a hard time getting into it because of the short, choppy sentences, which are understandable because Carolina had only two years of education AND it was written as a daily chronicle of life in the favela, not as a piece of literature. It's not meant to be an example of great writing; rather, it is incredibly raw and serves to really transport the reader to what life was like in the favela for Carolina. It's important to note that this was not her intention in writing the diary: she wanted the reporter to take her novels and her poetry for publication, not the diary, but the reporter insisted that the diary would be better. The diary was not started for public consumption, but the reporter's opinion did impact how she wrote the diary going forward, such as leaving out the name of Vera's father by his request.

I am really intrigued by the question presented in the afterword: is the diary more important as a historical document or as a work of literature? It's partly the reason I'm having such trouble with my review. I will say that I like it a lot more as a historical document than as a work of literature. It is incredibly repetitive with her details about getting water, selling paper and other scrap material, and the fights that occur in the favela. The reader is introduced to a wide cast of characters, some of whom only appear once and others who appear randomly throughout the diary, and it's very hard to remember who is who. These issues plus the writing I mentioned earlier make it a bit of a tedious read, as there's no real flow or climax to the story. But again, this is the nature of reading a diary that chronicles the mundane day-to-day life of anyone, really.

As a historical document, it offers quite a lot more in my opinion. It was really interesting to read her impression of politics in Brazil and the way prices began to rise for her daily items. It was also a very sobering snapshot of how people in the favela lived. As a fairly privileged white American, it's almost unthinkable that so many people lived (and still live!) this way. I honestly think that the closest thing we ever learned about in school were Hoovervilles during the Great Depression, and probably the only reason we learned about them is because white Americans lived in them.

Child of the Dark The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus

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