Socorro Acioli

I read this aloud to my six and nine-year-olds. The six-year-old got a little bored but the nine-year-old and I were both fully engrossed. What a wonderful introduction to magical realism for elementary or middle grade readers! Gives us a sense of life in Brazil, Brazilian Catholicism, the musings of a somewhat jaded boy as he comes of age, and a light touch of magic that does true justice to Gabriel Garcia Marquez to whom the book is dedicated. A total page turner with engaging and humorous show more characters, lots of mystery and some romance too. Absolutely loved it! show less

Anabela mal podia conter a empolgação quando seu pai foi o arquiteto escolhido para coordenar uma obra no Theatro José de Alencar, em Fortaleza. A proposta era que aquela casa de espetáculos maravilhosa mantivesse as mesmas características de quando foi inaugurada há mais de um século, em 1910. Em pouco tempo vira rotina para Anabela passar as tardes naquele teatro antigo fazendo a lição de casa enquanto o pai trabalha. Mas essa reforma acaba desenterrando mistérios escondidos há show more muitos e muitos anos… Para a surpresa de Anabela, uma bailarina translúcida e vestida de azul aparece dançando no palco e passeando pelos corredores, perseguindo Anabela. O que será que ela está fazendo ali? E por que será que apenas a garota consegue enxergá-la? Quem é essa bailarina e por que ela aparece? show less

When his mother unexpectedly dies, Samuel treks across several Brazilian towns to find the grandmother and father he never knew. Instead of a warm welcome, he is banished to the woods where he takes shelter in the head section of a fallen statue of St. Anthony. But there he is plagued by the sounds of the town's women praying to St. Anthony; soon he hatches a plan with a local teen to make money by causing "miracles" to happen based on this insider information.

With its highly religious show more overtones, I was surprised to find I liked this book more than I thought I would. Acioli is a very talented writer whose prose flows smoothly and easily. The book is a quick read populated with lively characters and following an unlikely and unusual plot. There are, however, two big issues that I had with it:

- The women of the small town as well as those from neighboring towns are all obsessed with marriage. That's all. The "miracle" that every woman prays for is to find a man to marry. It's rather obnoxious.
- One woman who is a minor character was raped in the past. I felt this was an unnecessary violence to add to the book as it did not contribute to the plot at all, and the character's empathy for single mothers could have been easily arrived at another way (e.g., she herself could have been a single mother as a product of consensual sex instead).

The ending of the book felt a bit abrupt and open-ended, although enough loose threads were tied up for it to feel satisfactory enough.

I'm not sure that I would rush out to recommend this book as it is unusual, but if you're looking for something to read from a South American culture, this isn't a bad choice. show less

O Dia Escuro foi lançado no Mês das Bruxas do ano passado, mas perdi de lê-lo então, mas sanei isso agora na Semana do Halloween de 2025.
Como toda coletânea de autoras díspares, tem seus altos e baixos, mas amei particularmente dois contos que sagazmente começam e encerram o livro: os da Micheliny Verunschk e o da Socorro Acioli, para variar duas das maiores escritoras em atividade hoje, o da Micheliny me lembrou muito um ótimo filme dos anos 2000 que não nomearei por conta de show more spoiler, já o da Socorro me deu uma vibe O Estudante de Praga, ambos em seus ápices como estranho familiar que nos lembra Freud. show less