As constant (some may say obsessive) readers, we have all come to know our individual tastes rather well. We know what books will hit our literary G spots and which will leave us feeling cold and dirty, like the regretful afterglow of a one night stand. We learn to savor those reads that are a “sure thing,” that guaranty a night of debauched pleasure. This is how it was when I first heard of the publishing of Ian McDonald’s Brasyl. There is no doubt that I am a scifi junkie. Few books scratch my itch for excitement and intelligent reflection like the worlds of the future, especially those books set in the near future which concern themselves with the cultural and social ramifications of our constant technological advancements- those books that help us to make sense of the present by extrapolating current trends into a fantastic and extreme future. Of course, what is to happen once you’ve read everything that the godfathers of cyberpunk (William Gibson and Bruce Sterling) and the scribes that they have inspired (Neal Stephenson, Richard K. Morgan, and Pat Cadigan) have written?If you’re anything like me, you scan the newly released books like a hawk in search of new authors breaking ground in a subgenre that many claim is outdated. This is how I first came across Ian McDonald’s River of Gods, a rollicking cyberpunk tale set in India as it celebrated its centennial anniversary as a nation. A week or so later, having summarily disposed of that magnificent work, I heard of his follow-up, Brasyl, set among the favelas and shanties of Rio de Janeiro. Still, knowing how necessary it is to hoard a sure thing like this, I kept putting off actually reading it until I could stand it no longer and my imagination fairly cried out for a book like this one. They say that pleasure delayed is pleasure heightened and, if this book was any indication, this is an axiom well worth repeating.Set in three very different eras, Brasyl forms a wondrous triptych of vibrant detail and a glimpse into the Brazil that was, is, and could be. In the past we are introduced to Father Louis Quinn, a Jesuit priest sent up the Rio Negro to investigate whether one of his brethren has given in to Kurtz-ian impulses. The Rio of 2006 gives us a glimpse into the life of Marcelina Hoffmann, a producer of reality shows that even Fox would hesitate to air and erstwhile capoeira enthusiast whose search for a missing Soccer legend turns up a doppelganger of the most nefarious sort. Most exciting of all, though, is the Rio of 2032, as introduced through up-and-coming favela talent manager Edson, who has the poor luck to fall in love with a black market quantum computing specialist. McDonald weaves their stories together with careful precision, never revealing too much but just enough to keep the reader frantically turning pages.While the plot is exciting and the descriptions of quantum realities are probably the most readily accessible that this lay mind has ever read, what makes this book so special is its setting and McDonald’s skill at evoking crystal clear images from only a few words. More than any of the protagonists, it is Rio who is the star of this book. McDonald describes everything perfectly: the capoeiristas practicing in the shadow of the Jesus on the mountain, the walls built up to keep the residents of the favelas from spreading their violence into Rio-proper, the early morning beaches populated only by saggy-skinned fishermen and sun-worshipping cariocas, the fevered excitement and communal pride that grips the nation during the World Cup, even the giant trash mountains of ewaste (discarded computer equipment, etc.) that is continuously picked over by families of scavengers in search of circuit boards to be melted down for their trace amounts of copper and gold. Early in the book Edson attends a baile (think dance party) and the way that McDonald describes the art of turntablism- the dropping in of a rhumba rhythm, how the addition of a guitar squeal at the right minute can amp the audience to ever-higher peaks of joy- is more spot on than any other description of DJing I’ve ever come across in fiction.So I loved this book. It hit every tried and true trope of cyberpunk without ever feeling derivative or dull and, most of all, it brought to life a region of the world that I have been endlessly fascinated with in recent years. Music lovers who have been enjoying the sounds of baile funk that have been trickling up from our Southern neighbors in the form of groups like Bonde do Role and CSS or the mixes from Diplo will thrill to the playlist of great and hard to find music that McDonald appended to the end of the book. Also, I loved McDonald's adoption of old-school newsgroup terminology to refer to modern extended circles of friends and acquaintances as alt-dot-families. While a lot of the science fiction that I’ve attempted of late has left me feeling a little put out, Brasyl has exceeded even my wildest hopes and crafted a story so eminently enjoyable that I’m already thinking of reading it again.
Con sus tres arcos argumentales, Ian McDonald lleva a cabo en ‘Brasyl’ malabarismos con tres pelotas, pero antes de llegar al final del camino, y por ende del espectáculo, McDonald no puede evitar que alguna de dichas pelotas se le caiga al suelo, por lo que recibe un aplauso de circunstancias, y no el esperado aplauso unánime. No es bueno lo que hacen muchos editores, eso de comparar el libro presente con otros libros que se han convertido en verdaderos clásicos. En este caso, se habla en la portada de “un universo tan complejo como el de ‘Los Cantos de Hyperion’ de Dan Simmons”. Y, por supuesto, ‘Brasyl’ pierde en la comparación, ya que Simmons es capaz de mantener siete pelotas (las de los siete peregrinos de ‘Hyperion’) en el aire, haciendo filigranas, y sin que se le caiga ninguna, por lo que al final no puede esperarle más que una sonora y merecida ovación.En el año 2006, en Río de Janeiro, conocemos a Marcelina Hoffman, ambiciosa productora de realities que rozan lo obsceno, y que son considerados televisión basura. Pero Marcelina, tiene una nueva idea para su próximo proyecto, relacionado con Barbosa, el famoso portero que no logró parar el balón en la final del Mundial de Fútbol de 1950. Al mismo tiempo, la vida de Marcelina se está viendo afectada por hechos inexplicables que no hacen más que ponerla en problemas.En el año 2032, en São Paolo, conocemos a Edson Jesus Oliveira de Freitas, un joven favelista, que al conocer a la quantumeira (especialista en computación cuántica) Fia Kishida, se verá envuelto en mil y un problemas. En este arco argumental se juega mucho con la física cuántica y algunas de sus posibilidades aplicadas tanto a ordenadores cuánticos como a múltiples universos, pero tratados desde una óptica nada o muy poco hard. Ian Macdonald aplica más bien la fantasía a la física cuántica que la ciencia ficción propiamente dicha.En el año 1732, también en Brasil, conocemos al padre jesuita Luis Quinn, al que se le ha encomendado la misión de encontrar al Padre Diego Gonçalves, que ha estado construyendo su pequeño reino personal en pleno Amazonas, y pararle a toda costa. En el viaje le acompañará el doctor Robert Falcon, que debe realizar ciertos cálculos. Esta parte de la historia recuerda en parte a ‘El corazón de la tinieblas’, de Joseph Conrad, y es de las más interesantes.Y estas tres tramas, irán convergiendo según se acerque el final de la novela, que a mí personalmente no me ha parecido el más satisfactorio. La estructura de la novela suena demasiado a la obra maestra de David Mitchell, ‘El atlas de las nubes’. Igualmente, las partes sobre física cuántica no llegan a cuajar del todo, como sí sucede en otros libros con la misma temática, como por ejemplo ‘Cuarentena’, de Greg Egan.Ian McDonald ha escrito una novela exótica y atractiva, con muy buen ritmo, a veces realmente trepidante, pero que para mi gusto se queda en algo que podría haber sido mucho mejor. McDonald escribe muy bien, pero esta historia me ha parecido interesante sin más, y no creo que mereciese una relectura.
What do You think about Brasyl (2007)?
I loved it until the Brazilian martial dance capoeira thing happened. Ian was certain that I as a reader knew all about it. Even with a background with karate I'd never heard of it and his decision to use the word as though I knew it, but not enough clues to figure it out just made me angry and feel stupid for not knowing. I'll confess that I'm much touchier this way when I love a writer. A new writer can't annoy me this much, I just stop reading. My recent read of Ian's amazing stories in Old Mars and Old Venus have me ready to return though. And there's always Wikipedia....
—Jeff Doten
Like most of Ian McDonald's books, I didn't appreciate "Brasyl" until I finished it. He asks a lot of his readers by frequently using the lexicon of his chosen locale and, even with the glossary in the back, I was still confused by many Portuguese and Brazilian words used with no clear context or English equivalent nearby. (I'm not faulting him for it; I'm sure some people love that habit of his.) But once I read the last page and thought about everything, I smiled. IMO, McDonald seems to like to show the reader an issue, theme or idea from multiple perspectives. In this case, Brasyl is helped by using only three points of view. River of Gods, by contrast, told seven story lines and I felt the characters weren't fully developed as a result.I am glad to say I look forward to reading another McDonald book.
—Tim Fiester
My younger son gave me this book to read. It irritated me with lazy grammatical faults and sloppy writing - repeated words in sentences and short-hand sentence construction that often had me reading a sentence several times to make sense of it. Written in alternating sections dates 2006, 2032 and 1732 it took a long time before I remembered which characters were from 2006 and which from 2032. I preferred the slower style and descriptive passages in the 1732 chapters, and found the 2032 parts the most annoying, having many things have already proved out of date when we are only six years past the publication date of the book. Ian McDonald can construct plot and there were parts of the action which were exciting and encouraged one to read on, but on the whole I think I shall not go looking for more of his books, there being ones I far prefer to spend my time on, out there.
—Gill
