Description: Saga of Brutes draws together three confronting and darkly comic stories: "Between Dog Fights and Hog Slaughter," "The Dirty Work of Others," and "carbo animalis," published in one volume for the first time. Ana Paula Maia's no-holds barred narrative pulls few punches, describing a shocking reality of the lives of the invisible workingmen who, like Atlas, are forced to carry society's burdens. These heroes of vile circumstance--coal miners, firemen, garbage collectors, crematorium workers--are the soot-covered supermen who risk their lives performing difficult and dangerous work for others. But in the end, they, too, amount to nothing but carbo animalis--notwithstanding the impure relation of coal to diamonds. Despite their straightforwardness, Ana Paula Maia's stories are filled with great insight and compassion for the lives of the men who live on the edge of a society built with their own sweat.
Brief description: Ana Paula Maia was born in 1977 in the Nova Iguaçu suburb of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She has published five novels, among them: Entre rinhas de cachorros e porcos abatidos, Carvão animal, and De gados e homens. Her books have been published in Serbia, Germany, Argentina, France, and Italy, and are forthcoming in the United States and Spain. Her novel, A guerra dos bastardos was deemed one of the best foreign police-thrillers published in Germany in 2013. She is also a screenwriter.
Review Quotes: "A bleak vision that offers glimmers of compassion amid the unremitting despair." --Kirkus