Violence

Violence , Fernando Bonassi's new novel, is a raw and brutal synthesis of Brazil. With irony and precision, the plot and its characters portray the political and social violence of a nation built on colonial legacies.

It's Saturday night when a political advisor welcomes a writer and his wife, a university professor, into his home. The advisor's goal in inviting them to dinner is to secure the writer's support for his candidate's campaign. But an armed robbery surprises everyone and will reveal the deepest layers of violence that permeate daily Brazilian life—physical, political, sexual, racial, class-based, and gender-based. With a raw and brutal narrative set over a weekend, Violence portrays a Brazil built on slavery, prejudice, and social inequality.

The short chapters hiss at the hypocrisies, privileges, and vices of the ruling political class; at police corruption and brutality, as well as their vulnerability; at domestic, political, and prison racism, from its most subtle manifestations to those that kill. Fernando Bonassi, once again, constructs a plot that is extremely critical of current structures of power and control, with a comedic narrative and strong cinematic undertones, and striking characters, highly recognizable to the Brazilian imagination.

Without shying away from the brutalities, complexities, and contradictions of society, the volume concludes a sort of trilogy by the author, also comprising Lust and Degeneration . In the words of Tony Bellotto, who wrote the blurb:

" Violence is a mirror that, when we see ourselves reflected in it, shatters. From the sharp shards we will reconstruct some image, and Fernando Bonassi's redemptive cynicism will help us in this inglorious task."

Prepare the bandages and settle into the chair.

You'll bleed, but you'll laugh, and you'll certainly wonder why you're enjoying such infamy. Laughter won't drown out the silent belch of terror.