The Brothers

Introducing a major new voice in Brazilian letters. Set among a Lebanese immigrant community in the Brazilian port of Manaus,The Brothersis the story of identical twins, Yaqub and Omar, whose mutual jealousy is offset only by their love for their mother. But it is Omar who is the object of Zana's Jocasta-like passion, while her husband, Halim, feels her slipping away from him, as their beautiful daughter, RGnia, makes a tragic claim on her brothers' affection. Vivid, exotic, and lushly atmospheric,The Brothersis the story of a family's disintegration, of a changing city and the culture clash between the native-born inhabitants and a new immigrant group, and of the future the next generation will make from the ruins. Milton Hatoumwon Brazil's leading literary award, the Jabuti Prize, in 1990 for his first novel. He is a professor of French literature at the University of Amazonas, and lives in Spo Paulo. Introducing a major new voice in Brazilian letters. Set among a Lebanese immigrant community in the Brazilian port of Manaus,The Brothersis the story of identical twins, Yaqub and Omar, whose mutual jealousy is offset only by their love for their mother. But it is Omar who is the object of Zana's Jocasta-like passion, while her husband, Halim, feels her slipping away from him, as their beautiful daughter, RGnia, makes a tragic claim on her brothers' affection. Vivid, exotic, and lushly atmospheric,The Brothersis the story of a family's disintegration, of a changing city and the culture clash between the native-born inhabitants and a new immigrant group, and of the future the next generation will make from the ruins. "What we have inThe Brothersis fiction in the truest sense, a sustained and brilliant exercise in deceiving the reader, by turning what at the outset promises to be an easygoing, mildly humorous tale of family tension into a drama of Hardyesque gloom and resignation, where all happiness is evanescent, redemption and punishment are not guaranteed and a sense of sombre exhaustion overhands the poignant final glimpse of Omar, half-mad and directionless, padding barefoot through a rainswept garden."--Jonathan Keates,Times Literary Supplement "Desire, jealousy and envy . . .The Brothersdeals with universal themes . . . Once you start reading you won't want to stop."--Mauricio Stycer,Epoca

Milton Hatoum won Brazil's leading literary award, the Jabuti Prize, in 1990 for his first novel. He is a professor of French literature at the University of Amazonas, and lives in Spo Paulo.

"Desire, jealousy and envy . . . The Brothers deals with universal themes . . . Once you start reading you won't want to stop." --Mauricio Stycer, Epoca