Xico Sá discovered the tragedy of sentiment in his adolescence, through letters from listeners of "Temas de Amor" (Love Themes) on Rádio Vale do Cariri (Juazeiro), where he helped announcer Gevan Siqueira soothe the world's pains. The role of sentimental consultant fit this journalist, conversationalist, and swindler like a glove, still a regular counselor to over a hundred women, both friends and passersby. In "CHABADABADÁ," with the evocative subtitle "Adventures and Misadventures of the Lost Male and the Female Who Finds Herself," Xico analyzes romantic relationships, the role of the modern male, and women's grievances. But he immediately warns: "Yes, the male's perdition is real, but I'm not the one who's going to seek him out, as I say in the book's opening anecdote." The last of the bohemians, it is precisely from bohemia, the source from which he drinks without fear of a hangover, that he draws all his narratives, jokes, puns, maxims, and catchphrases. The self-deceptions of women, the despair of men—all sorts of semantic trickery, heartfelt sincerity, Waldick Soriano-style love pains, confessions of unloved women, boleros, tricks of false Don Juans, and other subgenres are found in the chronicles of CHABADABADÁ, most of which are unpublished. To these, Xico added a wealth of texts previously published in the magazines Folha, Bravo!, TPM, Vogue, Continente, and the newspapers Diário de Pernambuco, Diário do Nordeste, and O Tempo. Xico creates his own nomenclature: the Tupperware macho, a guy who saves himself for morning meals; and he parades pearls of pure wisdom: Life is boxing. A handsome man tries to win a woman by knockout; the ugly men's fight is always on points, sapping the damsels' resistance. With a great sense of humor, he tackles thorny topics in texts that he himself defines as more cheesy than bossa nova: "Only mud or self-deprecation can heal us in certain tragic moments, like the misfortune of betrayal, being cheated on, or being kicked in the back," he argues.
