"Barren Lives" by Graciliano Ramos

• Brazilian author
• Originally published in 1938, this translation published in 1973
• Quotes:
• p.10...."Tomas too had fled from the drought and the wheel of his mill had ceased to turn. He, Fabiano, was like the mill wheel."
• p.20...."If drought came, not one green plant would be left.  A shiver ran over him.  Of course it would come.  It had always been that way, as long as he could remember.  And even before he could remember, before he had been born, there had been good years mixed with bad years.  Misfortune was on the way; perhaps it was near at hand.  it really wasn't worth while working."
• p.21..."Everything around was dry and harsh.  And the boss was harsh too, peevish, exacting, thieving, and as ticklish to handle as a spiny cactus."
• p.34..."What softened him was the thought of his wife and boys."
• p.100..."If he could at least recall some pleasant things life wouldn't be all bad."
• Review:  If Graciliano Ramos' intention was to convey the reason that "....to the city from the backland would come ever more and more of its sons, a never-ending stream of strong, strapping brutes....", then he was absolutely  successful!  Painting  the backland family headed by Fabiano and Vitoria, along with their two boys, the reader cannot help but feel despair and an intense desire for change from the drought-ridden, hard-scrabble existence of this family.  Simple people, depicted essentially as beasts of burden who are following their basest instinct for survival, this family tries tirelessly to survive and get ahead.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature and the wealthy, smarter locals conspire to make it almost impossible.  Yes, it is a dark, barren story.  Yes, it is deceptively simple.  Yes, it is profound.