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SAUDADE
SAUDADE: A Novella | Suneeta Peres da Costa
13 posts | 12 read | 15 to read
Long-awaited new work by the acclaimed author of the novel Homework, published by Bloomsbury in the UK, US and Australia A coming-of-age story set in Angola in the period leading up to the colony's independence, Saudade focuses on a Goan immigrant family caught between complicity in Portuguese rule, and their dependence on the Angolans who are their servants. The title (saudade means 'melancholy' in Portuguese) speaks to the longing for homeland that haunts its characters, and especially the young girl who is the book's protagonist and narrator. Suneeta Peres da Costa's novella captures with intense lyricism the difficult relationship between the daughter and her mother, and the ways in which their intimate world opens up questions about domestic violence, the legacies of Portuguese slavery and the end of empire. The young woman's intellectual awakening unfolds into a growing awareness of the lies of colonialism, and the violent political ruptures that ultimately lead to her father's death, and their exile.
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
SAUDADE: A Novella | Suneeta Peres da Costa
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Thank you for all the love @catiewithac 💗💗💗 These are the 3 cards I got free from Hallmark!! 📝

#LitsyLove

Allylu I got my cards yesterday! 5y
catiewithac 😍 5y
59 likes4 comments
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BarbaraBB
SAUDADE: A Novella | Suneeta Peres da Costa
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#TOB2020

Saudade has been the underdog making it to the Semifinals. This little gem has won from The Testaments and Fleishman is in Trouble. Today it is up against Lost Children Archive. I think it‘s about time Saudade steps aside for my personal favorite today 😀

AceOnRoam I have picked LCA to win. Fingers crossed! 5y
BarbaraBB @AceOnRoam Me too! Are you somewhere safe now! I miss your updates! Take care ⛵️ 😘 5y
AceOnRoam @BarbaraBB yes, Brisbane! Am well and healthy. Hope you are too 😘 5y
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BarbaraBB @AceOnRoam Good to know! I am well too, staying inside most of the time but we fortunately don‘t have a complete lockdown so I am still working and going outside as much as possible! 5y
AceOnRoam @BarbaraBB yes, it's good to get fresh air, I'm trying to keep active. All the best and stay safe x 5y
BarbaraBB Well that is disappointing - although I sympathize with the judge‘s reason to vote for Saudade. And I didn‘t even zombie Lost Children Archive since I was sure it didn‘t need my vote 😳 (edited) 5y
Suet624 Oh this decision was such a bummer. I don‘t agree at all and even after reading the methodology of the judgement I don‘t understand it. 5y
BarbaraBB @Suet624 I like that she chooses the author from a Latin American country because it needs more support but nevertheless it is a bummer for sure! 5y
64 likes8 comments
review
catiewithac
SAUDADE: A Novella | Suneeta Peres da Costa
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Pickpick

Finished my March #bookspin early this morning. I received this novel through my subscription to Transit Books. There‘s an emotional distance to the novel. The narrator expresses this strange sense of timelessness as she grows up in pre-independent Angola. Her notion of home is complicated by her status as an Indian immigrant living in Portuguese-controlled Angola. There‘s a lot of ideas in this little novel. 🇦🇴 🇵🇹 🇮🇳

TheAromaofBooks Sounds like a lot of layers!! Great review! 5y
61 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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BarbaraBB
SAUDADE: A Novella | Suneeta Peres da Costa
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#TOB2020 Anyone who read my review this weekend won‘t be surprised that I wholeheartedly hope that The Testaments won‘t survive the first round. And I do trust the judges so I‘m quite positive that the lovely Saudade will be today‘s winner. Any thoughts?

BarbaraBB Well the judge stated it friendly but I am sure she wasn‘t a fan of The Testaments either. So glad the victory went to (edited) 5y
Suet624 I thought of you immediately. I‘m glad too. Thanks for letting me be able to read it! 5y
BarbaraBB @Suet624 😘 (edited) 5y
thebluestocking I just read the judgment and cake over to comment! I haven‘t finished The Testaments, but I really loved the judgment. (Though The Testaments has a lot of love in the comments.) 💙 5y
Hooked_on_books I saw the result and thought of you right away! I‘m glad it went the way you had hoped. 5y
69 likes5 comments
review
UnabridgedPod
SAUDADE: A Novella | Suneeta Peres da Costa
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Pickpick

I finally got my hands on Suneeta Peres da Costa's Saudade, one of the finalists in the Tournament of Books. At only 120 pages, it's a tight, powerful novel focusing on life in 1960s Angola. I had to do some research as I read, as the context here is important: The family at the center of the narrative is from Goa, an Indian state, and they are caught up in the Portuguese rule over Angola. ⬇️

UnabridgedPod The focus of the novel is on the coming of age of the narrator, a young girl who--at the beginning of the novel--admires her mother deeply. By the end of the book, she is disillusioned, questioning all that she took for granted as a child about her place in the country of her birth. The novel is beautifully written, and there's so much depth here, but I did find myself yearning for more. ⬇️ 5y
UnabridgedPod I wanted to learn more about the world in which the narrator lives and to have a little more to ground me in her situation. ⠀

With that said, this is a gorgeous book. I'll be really interested in how it does in the Tournament of Books--it's up against Margaret Atwood's The Testaments.⠀

What's the last super-short book you read? Do you like short reads?
5y
27 likes2 comments
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Ruthiella
SAUDADE: A Novella | Suneeta Peres da Costa
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1️⃣ Of course! An interesting cover can make me pick up a book I normally would not otherwise.
2️⃣ The tagged book was for the #tob2020 & the only one I could not get through the library.
3️⃣ I still get physical newspaper delivered every morning...old fashioned, I know!
4️⃣ Snooze! I am not a morning person.
5️⃣ @nanuska_153 @MySharonaK

Thanks for the tag @readordierachel 😀 #friyayintro

MySharonaK Thanks for the tag! 🌷 5y
Ruthiella @MySharonaK You are welcome!😀 5y
CarolynM Hi Ruth👋 I've missed seeing you around. Hope all is well with you. 5y
Ruthiella @CarolynM Hi Carolyn! Thanks for asking! I‘m well. Hope you and yours are doing OK too! 😊 5y
CarolynM Good to know🙂 The situation is worrying but we're OK. Take care😘 5y
29 likes5 comments
review
CindyE09
SAUDADE: A Novella | Suneeta Peres da Costa
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Panpan

I seem to be in the minority here, but I really didn‘t connect with this #novella from the #ToB shortlist. I honestly got bored and was skimming by the end. I probably should have read this on my kindle instead of in print so that I could look up the historical people, events, and places mentioned, but I just couldn‘t be bothered to get up and google them. Interesting time period and story, but the execution wasn‘t for me.

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review
ReadingEnvy
SAUDADE: A Novella | Suneeta Peres da Costa
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Pickpick

Saudade is a feeling of loss, or not belonging, and this is well captured by the narrator of this novella, which is on the Tournament of Books shortlist. It is set in 1960s pre-independence Angola, and the narrator and her family are Goan, although she has never lived anywhere but Africa. They are being pushed out even as they cling to the power that comes from being the self-imposed merchant middle class. ⤵️

ReadingEnvy This is well written and a quick read, but I do get tired of books written from the perspective of the people bemoaning a loss of privilege and power that they should never have taken in the first place. The narrator grapples with it but as a child/teen clearly doesn't understand what the reader might, and this could be a disservice. I'm not sure. Maybe a longer work would have had more opportunity to discuss these themes.
5y
66 likes1 comment
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BkClubCare
SAUDADE: A Novella | Suneeta Peres da Costa
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Coinky-dink! When a poem references something that is unconnected officially with another book you are about to read! #poetry #tob #tob2020

Suet624 That's cool! 5y
BkClubCare I should acknowledge the poet: Tracy K. Smith of collection called Duende 5y
20 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Suet624
SAUDADE: A Novella | Suneeta Peres da Costa
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Barbara noticed I was having trouble finding this book from the #tob2020 shortlist. So all the way from Amsterdam comes a package filled with sweet things. Thank you so much!! @BarbaraBB

saresmoore Lovely! 5y
BarbaraBB I hope you‘ll enjoy it! 😘 5y
Suet624 @BarbaraBB You know I will!! 😀 in your opinion, which should I read first: GWO or Mary Toft? 5y
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BarbaraBB I haven‘t read Mary Toft either so I don‘t know. I did enjoy GWO but not as much as most people did. 5y
Suet624 @BarbaraBB I‘m that case I think I‘ll start Mary Toft first. 💕 5y
BarbaraBB Good choice I think! By the way, the puppet I sent you is Vincent Van Gogh 😀🌻 5y
Suet624 @BarbaraBB Oh! I should have realized that. Leander (age 3] thought it was a logger and Gracie (aged 2) thought it was Santa. I just am trying to keep it high enough so they don‘t hurt him. 😀 5y
BkClubCare This title was the only one not listed in my library system and then.... I saw a button to request so I did. It wasn‘t 24 hours later, I got a notice that it was on order. (Yet to see it arrive, but was quite amazed.) Hope you like it. Best on all the #TOB reading 5y
Suet624 @BkClubCare oooh, exciting. Hopefully it gets to you soon. 5y
66 likes1 stack add9 comments
review
Redwritinghood
SAUDADE: A Novella | Suneeta Peres da Costa
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Pickpick

This short coming-of-age story with an intriguing premise and setting ultimately left me wanting a little more heft. The narrator is a young woman whose family has immigrated from the Goa region of India to Angola during the time it was a Portuguese colony. As the Portuguese rule falls apart, so does the narrator‘s family. Excellent writing, but I would have liked to see more of the strife and everyday life in Angola at this time, though. 3.5⭐️

thebluestocking I felt similarly about this one in that I would‘ve enjoyed a lot more of it. I also loved the writing and the glimpses we were shown. 💙 5y
51 likes1 stack add2 comments
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thebluestocking
SAUDADE: A Novella | Suneeta Peres da Costa
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Pickpick

I loved this short but lush book that takes place in Angola. This is the coming of age story of Maria during a time of civil war and unrest. It‘s a story of growing up, of being from an immigrant family, and of watching your world collapse. And it‘s all told in beautiful language. #tob2020 #tob

BarbaraBB Great review. I enjoyed it too! 5y
thebluestocking @BarbaraBB Thank you! You inspired me to snag it and read it immediately. 💙 5y
51 likes2 comments
review
BarbaraBB
SAUDADE: A Novella | Suneeta Peres da Costa
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Pickpick

In short chapters a girl tells in a lyrical way about growing up in Angola while it still is a Portugese colony. The tension grows while she comes of age like any other girl; the Angolan population wants independence, her father is pro Portugal, her boyfriend a communist. In between all of this and all of them she feels saudade: “a lostness, a feeling of not having a place in the world.”

#ToB2020 #Booked2020 #LiveAndLearn #Pop20

Cinfhen Great review! I don‘t even recall this title from the #ToB2020 5y
BarbaraBB @Cinfhen It‘s shortlisted but I am indeed the first to review it on Litsy so it is a rather obscure one I think 😊 (edited) 5y
Cinfhen Do u think it deserves to be on the list?? Do U want it to advance?? 5y
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BarbaraBB @Cinfhen I‘m not sure yet, there are so many I still need to read. But I do think it‘s worth reading and it is very well written. Plus, it‘s a shortie 😉 5y
Cinfhen Hurray for Shorties!!!!! I‘m a fan of less is more in storytelling 🤓 5y
thebluestocking I‘ve been eying this one. Now I definitely need to obtain it! 💙 5y
Kalalalatja Great review! I‘m definitely going to keep my eyes out for this 👀 5y
BarbaraBB @thebluestocking You must, of course 😉 5y
BarbaraTheBibliophage I love reading books about time periods and places that are historical but new to me. 5y
BarbaraBB @BarbaraTheBibliophage Me too, I love it when books learn me something about the world 5y
Suet624 @BarbaraBB that‘s so nice of you! I‘ll do that right now. 5y
BarbaraBB @Suet624 I received it, thank you 😘 5y
Suet624 Barbara, After reading this, I have to say that your review was excellent. I‘m still trying to figure out what to say about it. @Cinfhen happy to pass this along to you if you‘d like it. Both Barbara and I are neat readers...there‘s not a wrinkle in the book. 😀 if you‘re interested, send your mailing address to me at my Litsy name at gmail. 5y
Cinfhen I would love that @Suet624 I‘m going to share my daughter‘s address in NY as I‘ll be there in March and I‘ll have better luck hopefully with US postal service xx Thank You!!! 5y
Cinfhen I still have not received your package, Barbara 😭😭hopefully soon!!!! 5y
Suet624 @Cinfhen So happy to pass it along to you. With many thanks to @BarbaraBB for starting the exchange. 5y
BarbaraBB @Suet624 I am glad you read it and that you‘ll pass it on to @Cinfhen 💙. Cindy, my package has been cleared by Israelian immigration. It should reach you soon now! Probably when you‘re off to London and Poland! 5y
Cinfhen That‘ll be lovely 😊 Thanks @BarbaraBB @Suet624 ❤️❤️ 5y
86 likes7 stack adds18 comments