In Lost Days, the author doesn't solely determine the length of the plot or the fabric of the fictional space on the hidden morbidity of his characters. As can be seen, aside from the complexity of characters like Clara and Sílvio, who contrast, for example, with the linearity of Áurea and Jaques, the novel's realistic approach exposes the inner uncertainty of its characters and brings them, sometimes lyrically, closer to a context in which the outcome is predictable and the past serves as a lesson. As the reader will see, the plot of this work does not conjure up the endless nightmare that characterizes his later works. Quite the opposite: the conception of his characters, more than a delve into mystery, stems from the author's autobiographical experience, as confirmed by the memoirs of his sister, Maria Helena Cardoso. Full of clues and revealing allusions, they show us, for example, that the Jaques of this novel, with his wandering life, always open to the uncertainties of adventure, could well be a literary reconstruction of Joaquim Cardoso, the novelist's father, also a changing and visionary spirit in the trajectory of his many wanderings. Thus, the realism of his atmosphere is rather the realism of a simple and limited life, full of boredom and monotony—not that of the novel's Vila Velha, but that of Curvelo itself, where the author lived with simplicity, but also with violence and frustration.
