Pedro and Marques Take Stock A Picaresque Novel

For fans of Kevin Smith's Clerks; a debut modern picaresque novel and a vivid satire on social mobility set in the favelas of Brazil about two supermarket stock clerks whose lives are upturned when their small-time marijuana business takes off

A modern-day Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Pedro and Marques stumble through their days in the rough and rundown favelas of Porto Alegre unloading trucks, restocking shelves, and dreaming of a better life, of breaking the cycle of poverty that has afflicted their families and their community. Well-acquainted with the drug dealers in their neighborhood, and seeing an opportunity to earn a little extra cash, they decide to start a weed-dealing business. 

Almost too easily, the two men build a thriving enterprise and get rich, quickly. As their sales grow from dime bags to kilos, the wit and charm they once used to run their business turns into violence and intimidation. Cracks in their carefully crafted and seemingly untouchable world begin to show, culminating into one final, lethal showdown. 

A witty, voice-driven, and electrifying portrait of poverty; a canny examination of the ethics of drug dealing and low-wage labor in the underbelly of Brazil, Pedro and Marques Take Stock is a contemporary picaresque novel of class and crime.

José Falero lives in Porto Alegre, Brazil. His first book was Vila Sapo (2019), a collection of short stories about everyday life in the favelas of Southern Brazil. His short fiction is published regularly in the weekly digital publication Parêntese, and will soon be collected in a new book by Todavia.