Numéro July Book of the Month
Summary from the book cover
A modern-day Don Quixote and an exile in his own hometown, the protagonist of Teeth Under the Sun is kept from writing by a conspiracy (real? imagined?) designed to prevent him from revealing the truth about the town's strange status quo and violent past. In a place where people have abandoned their houses for tiny apartments inthe confines of new high-rises, the narrator walks the almost empty streets, remembering better times and meeting figures from his past: his ex-wife, his son, writers, friends, and revolutionaries. And all of this is interspersed with his memories of the movies. Fact and fiction, past and present, all meet in this story of the narrator's attempts to engage more fully with a modern world forcing him into isolation.
About the author
Ignacio de Loyola Brandão began his career writing film reviews and went on to work for one of the principal newspapers in São Paulo. Initially banned in Brazil, his novel Zero went on to win the prestigious Brasilia Prize and become a controversial best-seller. Brandão is the author of more than a half-dozen works of fiction, including Anonymous Celebrity and Angel of Death.
Questions for discussion:
How significant is the setting in this novel?
How does the time period affect the characters’ decisions?
How authentic is the culture or era represented in the book?
How did you feel about the characters? Who did you like or not like and why?
What are some feelings you had about one of the characters in the story? Their traits? Feelings? Attitudes?
