Book Review: Crooked Plow by Itqmar Vieira Junior

 Crooked plow was not on my radar.   I saw a new novel from this author on Net Galley and decided instead of requesting the new novel that perhaps I should explore Crooked Plow- on audio from my local library. This is an award winner, winning the Brazilian LeYa Award and in 2024 it was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.  I did remember seeing some reviews for this in 2024 and then... it seemed to fizzle out.  I fully took advantage of that fizzle and found that the audiobook was immediately available from my library! 

This is a novel that I probably won't soon forget for many reasons. 

   This story is set in an Afro-Brazilian farming community living on Fazendas.  While technically these Fazendas were basically plantations, the post slavery situation resembled strongly the sharecropping situation in the US  after the Civil War and Emancipation. Folks were free to leave, but the technicalities really left them in poverty and with few options. 

Our story opens with two sister's exploring their Grandmother's secret luggage and enduring an event so traumatic that one sister loses her ability to speak.  Readers watch the two sister's grow and navigate life within their limited choices. Their lives, intertwined with their relatives and with the land, serve as a way for the author to also bring forward the changes that Brazil, and particularly the Sertao area of Bahia Brazil was facing, as tenant farmers grappled with their relationship to the land and their rights as tenants. With relevant themes of generational poverty and trauma, economic and racial injustice and the power of community, it's no wonder this book sparked interest.  I found the writing to be engaging, and the multilayered, multigenerational story to draw me in.  The non-linear style was slightly confusing to me, but I suspect that was because I chose an audio version and the division between chapters where the time switches did occur were not very clear via audio. 

  I found the descriptions of the Jare religious ceremonies to be particularly engaging, and I do want to learn more about this area and time- although passively- i admit, as in, I am more attuned and sensitized to this and will likely prick up my ears if the topic comes up.  Rather than say, going to the library to do a deep dive into the topic.  

  One thing that fascinated me is that the author, a man, chose to center his tale primarily around the lives of women. He writes a great deal about women's work, relationships and struggles, as well as the role of children in the lives of women. I'm always a little skeptical about men writing main character women, though it can be done well.  in this case, I feel that he did capture what life was like as a woman in these areas - essentially - it was a hard row to hoe- with a crooked or straight plow. I do not feel like he really captured the inner lives of women, however, so that area, was sort of flattened, but with so much going on in the novel, I didn't really feel that it was missing, as introspection wasn't the main point as far as I can tell.  I should note that this book is also a translated work, so some of the spark and meaning may not have hit just right. 

     Overall, I enjoyed this book, and will likely read more from this author.  I don't know that it would reach my top 12 for the year, but I think it's an excellent piece of fiction- again another I'd recommend for book clubs - lots of themes and history to discuss, as well as all the relationships, revenge, and resilience that a reader may want. 

STATS

First Published  6/2023 (English edition) 

Pages: 288

Available as an Audio Book : Yes

Trigger Warnings:  Domestic violence, poverty, misogyny, child death, 

(this is not a full list, read responsibly)