A selection of journalistic pieces from 1999 to 2007 by accomplished Brazilian journalist, Eliane Brum. Brum captures the myriad voices of her subjects, in missives ranging across current issues such as the human cost of exploiting natural resources, the Belo Monté Dam’s eradication of a way of life for those on the banks of the Xingu River, and the contrast between urban centers and remote villages.
... a sweeping collection committed to making the voice of the Other heard ... Perhaps most striking in Brum’s work is her prose ... Brum asks readers to identify with the humanity she reveals in each of her subjects ... Brum’s collection shows the dance that occurs between a journalist and her subjects in the course of their shared conversations. Her writing is an exercise in compassion in its truest form—she’s willing to 'suffer with' and to reveal the suffering of both her subjects and herself. Readers are not spared the painful details ... In confirming the humanity of those whom we might easily overlook, Brum’s writing is a call to greater awareness of the lives around us ... is both reportage and a challenge to those of us living lives of comfort and privilege. She asks us to step out of our worlds, to join her in her quest of becoming an 'intimate foreigner' in the lives of others. In the worlds we enter in these stories, our task is to be the reporter Brum strives to be: one who mostly listens.
... readers glimpse the everyday of 'ordinary' Brazilians ... For Brum, who carefully explains in her introduction that 'a news story means stripping off the clothes of ourselves to don the Other,' every report is a chance to demonstrate compassion and love for the people who manage to invent a meaningful life from near impossible beginnings ... Beautifully translated from Portuguese by Whitty, these accounts make up an unforgettable compilation documenting the lives of those largely underrepresented in literature. While the stories are specifically Brazilian, the insights they reveal are universal.
The Collector of Leftover Souls can seem like an idiosyncratic hodge-podge, but therein lies its charm; it contains as much life and oddball personality as Brum's subjects. The collection puts particular focus on the victims of so-called progress--the economic modernization that has made Brazil a global player. The stories also showcase Brum's lyricism, perhaps a surprising quality for a reporter ... While...not an oral history, the pieces heavily feature quotations from their subjects, the source of many of the collection's most devastating, poetic lines ... While Brum does not shy away from the violence and poverty that sometimes overshadow Brazil's reputation, her talent is in profiling and humanizing people who are too often treated as an undifferentiated mass. In the process, she honors their pursuit of joy and justice—their everyday insurrections.
