The book delicately explores the relationship between a man and his father, a truck driver who spent much of his life on the road in Brazil. With his father now facing health issues, including cancer and heart disease, the author reflects on both his father's past and their present dynamic as he becomes his caregiver in old age.

Interesting little family memoir in which Bortoluci describes the recent history of Brazil on the basis of his father's adventures as a truck driver between the 1960s and 2010s. Especially during the early years, being a truck driver in Brazil has very little to do with bringing goods from A to B; it means building highways, repairing mudholes, spending days on river ferries and contributing to many of Brazil's megalomanic projects.

I read this together with the novel Crooked Plow, which has a very different perspective but covers similar Brazilian themes: inequality first and foremost, but also economic development, environmental degradation and deforestation, landgrabbing and violence.

Thanks to Fitzcarraldo and Netgalley for the ARC.