Reviews
In a book that's akin to Charlie LeDuff's Detriot , Barbassa combines history and personal interviews in an informative and engaging work, showing a nation whose people desire a better country but are at odds with the government and even themselves at the best way to achieve that result., A timelytour-de-force...Drawing on the city's history, geography, social structure,culture, political intrigues, and economic disparities, Barbassa has written amultidisciplinary masterpiece. This splendid and accessible narrative is mustreading not just for the journalists, spectators, and athletes who will be inRio for the Olympic Games, but for anyone who has visited Rio - or not - andhas been caught up in the magnetic attraction of this spectacular andcomplicated city., In Julia Barbassa's fascinating new book, easy assumptions are peeled back to expose a place struggling to define its present and its future. . . . [S]he is both a knowledgable insider and a fiercely critical outsider. . . . Brazil is indeed on the brink, on a precipice ready to soar or fall, or perhaps, as Barbassa suggests, fated to remain forever poised, waiting for liftoff., Returning to Rioafter years abroad, Juliana Barbassa takes the reader on a journey of urbanexploration beyond the tourist clichés of Ipanema and Carnival. Her book, Dancingwith the Devil in the City of God , seamlessly melds deep reporting withnuanced memoir, providing an insider's guide to a global city of immenseenergy, appetites, heartbreak and danger. To understand Rio's prospects for the21st century, come with Barbassa on her voyage of inquiry andrediscovery. It's a trip worth taking. I savored every moment., Ibecame unexpectedly choked up not once but twice in the introduction alone andfound myself sucked into the most in-depth, personal and thorough unfolding ofBrazil's history on the brink of its economic rebirth. Whether as ananticipatory read before Brazil hosts the Olympics in 2016 or to better grasp acountry so rich, complex and divided by extreme dualities of lifestyles, thisis a book that you will be unable to set down. Juliana Barbassa brings usboth a journalistic and introspective vantage point of a country in the midstof a metamorphose with the unique angle of a native born Brazilian returninghome forever a foreigner after living abroad for much of her life with awell-worn passport. Contemporarily relevant, uniquely compelling, exquisitelywritten and brilliantly delivered, I anticipate many readers, like myself, willfind our passport soon bearing the stamp of Brazil thanks to Barbassa., A powerful work ofreportage. Eloquent, heartfelt, and thorough, Barbassa is a brilliant guide tothe underside of Brazil's showcase city. If you want to understand twenty firstcentury Rio de Janeiro, read this book., IsBrazil ready to take its place as the 6th largest world economy andis Rio ready to host the 2016 summer Olympics? Will the monumentalsocial and political changes currently underway last beyond the final medalceremony? Barbassa's well written and informative expose is a fascinatinglook at Rio's history and attempts to transform itself into a safe, democraticand ultimately modern city.", Returning to Rioafter years abroad, Juliana Barbassa takes the reader on a journey of urbanexploration beyond the tourist clichs of Ipanema and Carnival. Her book, Dancingwith the Devil in the City of God , seamlessly melds deep reporting withnuanced memoir, providing an insider's guide to a global city of immenseenergy, appetites, heartbreak and danger. To understand Rio's prospects for the21st century, come with Barbassa on her voyage of inquiry andrediscovery. It's a trip worth taking. I savored every moment.
