The Seamstress
Frances de Pontes Peebles
2008
641 pages
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For the FTC: Me. A fist of moolah. The bookstore. You figure it out.
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Picture the Wild West transported to Brazil in the 1930s and you’ll have a vague idea of the setting of this book.
Emilia and Luzia are sisters being raised by their aunt in a small, rural mountain town in northern Brazil. Their aunt trains them to be seamstresses. Emilia longs for the fashion and excitement of the city while Luzia is content with a quiet, pious life devoted to her saints.
However, the arrival of cangaceiros (think of bandits wandering through the scrub and sometimes stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, sometimes just stealing and murdering) changes everything. Luzia is abducted and their aunt dies shortly thereafter. Emilia finally escapes to the city life she yearned for. What follows are the stories of the sisters’ radically different lives.
This is the type of book I love…a historical novel rooted in fact, with lots of historical details woven into the lives of fictional characters. In this case there was the Brazilian presidential election of 1930 and the resulting revolution, the drought, and the cangaceiros.
There were times when I wondered if all the detail was really necessary, because the book weighs in at 641 pages. But Peebles does a great job of making everything relevant. Mostly. Last weekend at the Festival of Books when I was at dinner with a group of fellow bloggers, My Friend Amy mentioned that she’s starting to wonder if books need to be more than 300 pages. And I’m tending to agree. Because it seems like lately I start to hit a wall with these longer books. For this book it came somewhere around page 400, when I figured out where we were going and what was going to happen and how it was all connected. And after that point, I confess I started to rush the story. So yeah, I think some things could’ve been culled, and others tightened up, and the ending, for all I liked it, could’ve been a bit more reflective in regards to the dichotomy that was The Seamstress.
However, I still think it’s worth reading, especially if you like historical novels.
This sounds like an interesting book — I don’t know much about Brazil.
I agree that some books don’t need to be as long as they are, but then there are others that seem too short at 500 pages (A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry comes to mind).
.-= Suzanne´s last blog ..The Queen of Palmyra =-.
I enjoyed this book and was fascinated by it’s setting – both place and time – but did feel like it got bogged down in details at times. It’s definitely worth reading though.
I picked up this book on sale at a bookstore a few weeks ago so I am really glad to see you liked it, Jill.
I love chunksters – I don’t know what it is, but I love cracking the spine of a huge book. Although, I will agree with you that some of them COULD stand a little editing!
.-= Wendy´s last blog ..Adding Books To My Wishlist…AGAIN! =-.
If you don’t mind an even bigger book about backwater 19th century Brazil, I recommend Mario Vargas Llosa’s The War of the End of the World.
.-= EL Fay´s last blog ..Post-Modern Disney =-.
I admit I’m put off reading long books. It’s such a commitment and time is precious. The good ones are worth it, certainly, but the bad ones can throw me into a reading rut that lasts for weeks. I’m not sure 300 pages is my threshhold, and dare I say, the book I’ve reading now is less than 300 pages, and it started to turn around page 150. It’s picking up again, but the middle is not as entertaining as the beginning and end have been.Ultimately, it’s not size that matters for me, but content. There are books that are justifiably 800 pages, and there are books that are 200 pages and too long. It’s all even more baffling considering the lack of difference among the prices of these books.
As for the actual book, anything less than a glowing review of a book more than 500 pages won’t get me to add it to my list. Thanks for the warning! If it’s long, it needs to be great rather than just good or enjoyable.
.-= nomadreader´s last blog ..book review: Love in Infant Monkeys by Lydia Millet =-.
I don’t think books need to be over 300 pages, ESPECIALLY adult books. It exacerbates me that now that I’m an adult and have less free time than I did when I was younger, I’m expected to read these huge books. Sorry, not going to happen. If it takes me more than five days to read a book, I want to chuck it just on principle.
.-= heidenkind´s last blog ..Zola: Photographer, by Francois Emile Zola and Massin =-.
Oh I think I’ll enjoy this book!
I think some books don’t need to be as long as they are. But it really depends on the book. There are some books that I wish would go on forever. I don’t have any sort of ideal book length, if a book is very strong I’m okay with it being long.
.-= Victoria´s last blog ..Wuthering Heights Wednesdays Chapters 10-12 =-.
I have to admit to groaning when I saw 641 pages!
.-= Amy @ My Friend Amy´s last blog ..Review: Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt =-.
Great review Jill. I like historical novels, and this book is on my shelves (unread). Thanks for the great/honest review.
.-= diane´s last blog ..57 – Caught; Harlan Coben =-.
It does seem like most historical fiction books tend to be really long though for some reason! This one sounds pretty good I am pretty sure I’ve never read a book set in Brazil. I’m intrigued!
.-= Amused´s last blog ..Restrictions =-.
I am hesitant to pick up the longer books, especially these days because I don’t think that books are edited in the same fashion that they used to be. I am all for long books that you don’t want to end, but long doesn’t have mean filler or rambling, and with a lot of those books seem to have both at some point no matter how promising they start out. That being said, this does look interesting.
.-= Nicole´s last blog ..Shelf Discovery Challenge Wrap Up Post =-.
That sounds really different and interesting. Yes we need super long books over 300 pages, but I’m not convinced we need so many mid length ones (400 or so pages). They tend to be unsatisfying because they feel like shorter novels that have been over stuffed, or don’t have enough to carry them.
.-= Jodie´s last blog ..Oh We’ve Been Walking Barefoot All Summer… =-.
Ooooh. I need a South American book for Dorte’s Global Challenge. This might do it. I wonder if it’s available in audio ….. (see comments to your Vowell review)
.-= Beth F´s last blog ..Weekend Cooking: A Taste of Traditional Brittany =-.
I actually didn’t feel too bogged down by the length of this book. I was really surprised by how quickly I finished it, because it was among the first books I got back to after Daniel was born. However, I do generally agree with you that books should be under 350 pages. If it is longer than that (280-330 is my sweet spot), I start to wonder when it will be over.
.-= Jen – Devourer of Books´s last blog ..Claude and Camille by Stephanie Cowell – Book Review =-.