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Overview
An extraordinary adventure, set against a forgotten event of the Renaissance: the French colonization of Brazil.
Brazil Red tells the story of two orphaned children, Just and Colombe, who are dragged off on the French colonizing expeditionthey are meant to learn the native languages and act as interpreters. Everything in this novel is outsized: the setting, a jungle still populated by cannibals; the characters, including Villegagnon, the expedition's eccentric leader, who might be a model for Cyrano or d'Artagnan; and the events, a dress rehearsal for the Wars of Religion ten years in the future. Packed with portraits, landscapes, and action, Brazil Red is a novel about coming of age and discovering love. On a deeper level, the story follows the destinies and decisions of Just and Colombe, presenting two conflicting views of man and nature. On one hand, a conquering European civilization, offering liberation but delivering death. On the other, the Indian world, with its sensuality, its harmony, its sense of the sacred, its continual call to happiness.
Synopsis
An extraordinary adventure, set against a forgotten event of the Renaissance: the French colonization of Brazil.Brazil Red tells the story of two orphaned children, Just and Colombe, who are dragged off on the French colonizing expedition—they are meant to learn the native languages and act as interpreters. Everything in this novel is outsized: the setting, a jungle still populated by cannibals; the characters, including Villegagnon, the expedition's eccentric leader, who might be a model for Cyrano or d'Artagnan; and the events, a dress rehearsal for the Wars of Religion ten years in the future. Packed with portraits, landscapes, and action, Brazil Red is a novel about coming of age and discovering love. On a deeper level, the story follows the destinies and decisions of Just and Colombe, presenting two conflicting views of man and nature. On one hand, a conquering European civilization, offering liberation but delivering death. On the other, the Indian world, with its sensuality, its harmony, its sense of the sacred, its continual call to happiness.
Author Biography: Jean-Christophe Rufin is a founder of Doctors Without Borders and author of The Siege of Isfahan and the prize-winning novel The Abyssinian. He lives in France.
Publishers Weekly
A page-turner that won the Prix Goncourt in 2001, Rufin's third offering (after The Abyssinian and The Siege of Isfahan) fits neatly into the romance novel mold of beautiful maidens, brave knights and dastardly villains. The story centers on the plight of two 16th-century French orphans, Just and Colombe, who are tricked into joining a colonial expedition to subjugate Brazil. The enterprise is commanded by Chevalier Durand de Villegagnon, a colonist whose actual memoirs provided Rufin with some of the details that inspired this novel. Once across the ocean, Villegagnon prematurely dubs Brazil the "New France" and sets about combating his enemies: the hot Brazilian sun, the native residents and the Portuguese, who claimed sole right to Brazil long before. Years roll by and as the action proceeds, a question hovers portentously over the book: will the orphans grow up to be cruel colonialists or secular humanists who appreciate the Indians' wisdom? Rufin provides plenty of rousing action, yet somehow, despite the author's historical research, the book never rises far above melodrama. This is partly due to tired word choice and to the playlike structure of scenes that end with a conveniently chiming clock or thunder in the distance. Mostly, however, it is the natural consequence of the novel's overly neat divide between good and evil. Agent, Lucinda Karter. (Aug.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.