A multi-talented Rio de Janeiro native, writer, journalist, musician, and painter Rodrigo de Souza Leão died prematurely on July 2, 2009, at the age of 43, in a psychiatric clinic. Author of the novel "Todos os cachorros são azul" (All the dogs are blue)—a finalist for the 2009 Portugal Telecom Prize and which will be adapted for the stage—and the collection of poems "Caga-regras," the writer lived with schizophrenia for over 20 years. This didn't stop him—quite the opposite—from producing intensely, especially in the virtual world: he was co-editor of the online magazine Zunái and authored a series of e-books and blogs. "ME ROUBARAM SOME DAYS CONTADOS" (They Stole Some Days from Me Counted) is the last substantial narrative written by Rodrigo de Souza Leão, which hits bookstores through Editora Record on the one-year anniversary of his death. The unpublished text, edited by poet and journalist Ramon Mello, curator of his work, is a novel that borders on autobiography, in which Rodrigo is simultaneously author and character in his own stories. But he skillfully ignores and extrapolates these limits in which the notion of reality is constantly expanding, producing a community of many protagonists. In "ME ROUBARAM SOME DAYS CONTADOS," the polyphony of voices weaves bonds, more than just emotional ones, created by the characters. There is not just one Rodrigo; there are many, each distinct from the other. But among so many characters, the reader will surely spot similarities, and it is these similarities that make the book—his dizzying story—flow with the naturalness of a fairy tale, sometimes a detective novel, as explained by poet and friend Leonardo Gandolfi, who wrote the book's introduction. Humor, irony, and derision make the often harsh words flow spontaneously amid wry smiles. As the author unfolds into characters, this book unfolds into other books – which only makes sense if they are gathered within the same chaos: virtual sex, orgasm phones, electroshocks, CIA or KGB persecutions, films, music, paintings, poems and emotional shards... ME ROUBARAM SOME DAYS CONTADOS is a beautiful dive into the human condition; in particular, into the hard task of existing for a writer, who lives not only with his ghosts, but also with his remedies.
