If there is one thing mostly everyone who reads this book will agree, is that it doesn't feel like it was written almost 150 years ago. I read it in my native Portuguese language when I was a teenager but couldn't appreciate it fully. Then read it again as an adult and bingo! fell in love with it and read it yet again recently.

Hey, I like your comments. About the butterfly episode, it is much much deeper than it seems at first. It also symbolizes Eugenia and her poverty. There's an association between black and poverty here (black meaning poor and blue, noble). The butterfly at some point lands on the picture of his father, which suggests that her background could smear or sully his reputation. But the meaning goes much further. Bras Cubas said he decided to leave Eugenia because she limped, but the sharp reader knows otherwise. Before Brás Cubas discovered she was lame (she limped), he had decided to leave her, once he saw the black butterfly before finding out about her condition. So it means that he blames nature (her handicap) for leaving her, when the reason was social (her poverty and background), represented by the black butterly. Brás Cubas is a great pretender. And he pretends all the time. He pretends to be supersticious, but he just uses it to justify his cruelty or indiference to other peoples' conditions.

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 I loved your humor in this pleasant review. And yes, Machado was a genius. ❤

Deep and fantastic review! Although having read this novel several times myself, you brought new and interesting points of view.

As teenagers, in high school in Brazil, we are forced to read the work of Machado de Assis among the classics. Posthumous Memoirs of Braz Cubas, Quincas Borba and Dom Casmurro are mandatory. I always thought Assis's formal language a bit boring. He writes in a formal and old language typical of the 2nd Empire and the beginning of the Republic, only when I got older when I reread Braz Cubas I realized how fun it is. Good reading. If you allow me to make a recommendation among the classic works, my favorite is The Devil to Pay in the Backlands by Guimarães Rosa and The Time and The Wind by Érico Veríssimo.

We are all worms........"we come and go unknown, each so deep and superficial between the forceps and the stone" (Joni)

I met an old man in Rio who was surprised I had read Machado de Assis. I try to imagine what Old Rio was like when he wrote his books..........areas like Catete, Gloria and even Centro. Maybe this book could not have been written by anyone other than a Carioca. This is where Quantum Physics meets the Master of Arts. A fantastic writer................magical realism 100 years before its time

WHAT A GREAT REVIEW!! I loved it, also your interpretations about the dedicatory was very interesting.

Machado de Assis realism movement is the cream of the cream of Portuguese literature. Is the history being tell by the losers, it's all sentiments that tries fit closest to any human reaction in the world. The way that Machado can write about feelings in such naturality and his narrative is always so close to the reader, like he breaks the 4th wall to talk directly to you. Machado also loves to performed cross books, so he really loves to use characters that he already wrote about, that way he can always go deep in the character and also brings a little bit of nostalgia for the readers. One of his favorites is Aires, that will make appearances "Memorial de Aires" and "Esaú e Jacó" (Other two great books). Quincas Borba also has his own book, I've never read.

I read this in October and loved it. What a book! This is a wonderful video

Li "memoria...", li "Quincas...", li "Dom Casmurro" (na verdade, acho que, dos nove romances dele, só não li "A Mão e a Luva", esse, da fase romântica) e sua analise é bastante válida. Gosto de todos, mas no "Memorial de Aires", o ultimo romance que ele escreveu, há essa síntese do cansaço com o mundo e com a aceitação dele. A soma dessas duas coisas, gera uma notável leveza. A vida, tal como ela é. Dos contos, obviamente, destaca-se "O Alienista". Esse conto foi devastador na minha vida. Outro conto nessa "categoria", mas de outro autor desse mesmo período, Lima Barreto, é "O Homem que falava javanês".

😱Amazing Review! I feel the same about the affair of the protagonist with Virgília :) Ooh now, definitely, I'll reread this book. Like... immediately haha

What a great review! As a Brazilian myself, I'm in love with you, hahahaha! Keep up the great work! Cheers from Brazil o/

For me this is the best book ever written, but I'm Brazilian so there might be some bias

Great review. Been meaning to get to this one.

love the focused review! Great analysis! just found you and excited to watch more!

I can see how the reader could be the worm in the dedication. Great thoughts on this book.

Awsome review! I'm just reading it now and you've perfectly encapusated my impressions and your review has prompted further interpretations. Loved how you explored the "worm" analogy with such depth! This book will have a big impact on my thinking for a long time and I'm so grateful to have come across it. "The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest men of past centuries."- René Descartes

OMG! beautiful review. I love this book.

What a great review.

Amazing book

Great review. Please read more so you can review more and I can watch more.

Quincas Borba u can try spell borba as bourbon but change the n for s

Hi Estela, great review as always. I will try to get this book but in spanish, the translation should be way closer to the original. You read this book in english, couldn't you get a copy in portuguese or do you feel more comfortable reading in english?

What do you make of his being more popular among teens than taken as adult literature in Denmark?

Quincas Borba's Humanitism is Machado mocking Auguste Comte's Positivism. It's not meant to be taken seriously

It is heavily implied Marcela was a prosititute.

O Brasil devia voltar a falar latim ❤