It would be a dark secret night

Pernambuco-born journalist, playwright, and musician Raimundo Carrero made his literary debut in 1975 with the book "The Story of Bernarda Soledade." But Carrero's connection with quality literature began much earlier, when, as a boy, he read everything from Graciliano Ramos to Dostoevsky. Coincidence or not, his prose would also win critical acclaim. Carrero is one of the most important contemporary Brazilian authors, with numerous awards, including the Jabuti Award for Best Book of Short Stories in 2000 and the Best Novelist of the Year from the São Paulo Association of Art Critics in 1995. In 2010, he received the Machado de Assis Award from the National Library Foundation and the São Paulo Prize for Literature for the novel "My Soul is God's Sister." But with the story finished, the writer felt some characters had more to say. He chose Alvarenga and Raquel, and thus began his latest work, "It Would Be a Dark Secret Night." A book about absolute love, which even prescinds from the presence of the beloved, something so peculiar to the lover's longing and passion. The camel Alvarenga and the prostitute Raquel live a mismatched and confused love, devoid of sexual desire, driven by the immense tenderness they've felt for each other since adolescence. Alvarenga lives off the scraps of food he finds in the trash, and Raquel has become a prostitute since becoming enthralled by French theory of the social body during her history class at the university. The two live in a boarding house in Recife's bohemian neighborhood, deeply alone and harboring hopeless dreams. Alvarenga is a strange character: he plays the trumpet to summon Raquel's lovers and can't even tell if she's beautiful or ugly because he confuses the aesthetic elements of the contemporary world. For him, beauty is either a solitary bird, full of colorful plumage, or an old and decaying bird. By bringing together new texts, characters, and situations with those from his other novels, which repeat and advance throughout the plot and harmony of the text, Carrero creates a unique and singular novel. "The traditional novel wants to tell a story, but the writer must seek new techniques and find new paths. The reader understands, yes," argues Carrero.