Hill, Lloyd E. The Village of Bom-Jesus. Algonquin
Books, Apr. 1993. 238.p. ISBN 0-945575-88-2. $17.95
[FICTION]
This wonderfully written collection of tales is set in
the verdant, humid, spider-infested village of Gaujara, Brazil. A
cat is the connective thread of the tales as well as the town
conscience. Bom Jesus is a "calico cat most enigmatic. A
vagary in a land that forbade vagaries. A cat who thought that he
was a dog." Hill's stories are rich in detail: he describes
the exorcism of a girl by a village medicine man; the hunt for an
elusive prize whose pelt would bring great wealth; and a
daughter's finding her soul and destiny through her mother's
struggle with insanity. Readers will appreciate Hill's respectful
and accurate depictions of rural Brazilian life and dwell on his
mysterious and haunting images of the Amazon. Essential for
fiction collections.
Kevin M. Roddy, University of Hawai'i at Hilo