The Tragedy of the Street of Flowers

One night at the theater, Vitor da Silva falls head over heels in love with the beautiful Genoveva de Molineux, newly arrived from Paris, a woman with a mysterious history, a less than respectable past, and a secret that will bring both her and Vitor's life into turmoil and, for one of them, a tragic end. This was posthumously published 80 years after the author's death and although it isn't quite as perfectly polished as his other novels, it is still undoubtedly Eça, with beautiful descriptions of 19th century Portugal life with a huge amount of satire and societal critique layered thick on top. Eça's characters are wonderfully passionate, ridiculous, and naive, and their over-the-top proclamations and behaviors are so very show more entertaining, especially when juxtapositioned against the distinctly Realist style of writing. Eça is a huge favorite of mine and this, somewhat unpolished, work only strengthen my admiration. As Dedalus Books' other Eça-publications, this has been masterfully translated by the brilliant Margaret Jull Costa. NOTE: Read the introduction last, as it gives away part of the plot! (I don't understand why publishers insist on not making introductions such as this afterwords instead.) show less

I've loved the two other books by de Queiro I've read, The Maias and The Crime of Father Amaro, but this one not so much. It was discovered in manuscript form after the author's death, and was not published until 1980. Perhaps there was a reason it was unpublished in his lifetime.
The focus of the book is 19th century Portuguese society, and in particular relations between men and women. Genoveva, a beautiful courtesan, shows up in Lisbon, and becomes the focus of attention of many men. She becomes the mistress of one, and is deeply loved by another, the somewhat innocent Vitor. There are hints about Genoveva's mysterious background as she manipulates the various men swarming about her. Most of the men are pretty horrible. For example, show more here's Vitor's good friend, a painter, describing his wife, "She's the ideal woman for an artist. She's stupid and passive. She eats, obeys, takes her clothes off. She's just a body that takes orders. She doesn't bother me or interrupt me, doesn't speak to me, she's just there. When I need a female I call her."
I didn't find much depth or insight in this book, although some of de Queiro's descriptions were razor sharp. I liked this one, stating that a particular society man "had the imbecilic opinions of a mannequin, but he expressed them with majestic certainty."
Please read The Maias if you want to experience de Queiro.
2 1/2 stars show less

Absolutely brilliant. Notwithstanding the beautiful prose, the author, in my opinion, revealed the ending in a very subtle way...however, one can be remiss and totally ignore it. If detected, in retrospect, it does not diminish the quality of the work. I am glad that I arbitrarily grabbed this book off the shelves in my library.