Carolina Maria de Jesus (1915–1977)

3.5 stars

De Jesus was a black woman living in a Brazilian slum in the late 1950s, and a single mom of three. She writes about slum life in her diary; she had only a second-grade formal education, but that was enough to develop a love for reading and writing.

It was obviously sad to read about such extreme poverty, and discouraging to realize that after fifty-some years, slum life is the same as it's always been, no matter where the slum is located. The events and attitudes de Jesus recounted were strikingly similar to those described in "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" about a slum in Mumbai in more recent years.

There is some profanity and the author references sex fairly often, as she reports on the goings-on in the favela (slum), and sadly, there's a lot of prostitution and abuse.

The entries all run together, so it's frustrating to find a good stopping place. It would have been nice to have a page break for each month.… (more)

My copy of this book is a Signet Classics 50th Anniversary Edition and what's unusual about it, is that for a signet classic it's poorly written. What makes it a classic however is that it's written by an impoverished Brazilian woman who despite only having two years of formal education was still able to produce this harrowing account of horrible conditions that existed in the favelas of Sao Paulo Brazil. And while the writing itself might be sub par, the determination and courage displayed by Maria de Jesus is anything but. This book was a sensation in Brazil when it came out in 1960 but then sadly, soon faded into obscurity. The fact that favelas still exist more 50 years later shows just how hard it is end poverty. It is so easy to dismiss poverty and put it into the back of our minds, but thankfully books like this continue to circulate and hopefully, will one day, play at least, some small part in ending poverty not only inn Brazil, but worldwide.… (more)

Excerpts from the diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus, the illegitimate child of an illegitimate mother from the little town of Sacramento in the state of Minas Gerais, in the interior of Brazil. She only had two years of primary school, but when she learned to read and write, it changed her life.
When she was 16, she "ran away to sing in the circus, sold beer and cleaned hotel rooms." Then she went to São Paulo looking for work.
She worked as a maid in white women's houses, but they grew angry and fired her when they saw her reading newspapers in their kitchens. In her spare time she went out with young men, and when her lover discovered she was pregnant, he left her. She moved with her baby to the favela, and the only way she found to get food for her and her baby, was to scavenge newspapers to sell to the recyclers.
She spent her life looking through garbage, picking up scraps from the streets, in order to feed her children.

Originally published 1960
Paperback 2003 Signet Classics
P.xiv:
"Carolina is not really the main personage in her diary. It is a bigger character - hunger. From the first to the last page he appears with an unnerving consistency. The other characters are consequences of this hunger: alcoholism, prostitution, violence, and murder. The human beings who walk through these pages are real, with their real names, but with slight variations they could be other men who live with hunger in new york, buenos aires, rome, Calcutta, and elsewhere."

Carolina Shared one thing with me:
P.17:
"... When I got home it was 10:30. I turned on the radio, took a bath, and heated some food. I read a little. I don't know how to sleep without reading. I like to leaf through a book. The book is man's best invention so far."
P.18:
"Everyone has an ideal in life. Mine is to be able to read. . ."

P.23:… (more)

As a testimonial writing, “Dump room”, it reveals the cruel situation living by the author, a resident of the Canindé slum located in Sao Paulo, and her neighbors. Black woman and cardboard picker, Carolina Maria de Jesus writes in her diary the routine of what it is like to be poor and marginalized, at the same time, denounces the political sphere of the time. The writing is simple and easy to understand, with some spelling errors, a sign of the author's lack of education, but which does not interfere the understanding of the content.
In fact, Dump Room is not an easy read, the indignation, poverty, and corruption addressed in the book, while can awaken a feeling of empathy, also take the reader out of his comfort zone by being exposed to all sorts of social ills.
It is a necessary reading, the human and institutional criticisms are urgent, and despite 60 years from the date of its writing, social problems are still present today, often veiled in the most privileged eyes, but still present.… (more)