The Sun on My Head

Review Every so often a writer blasts a hole through a wall. Geovani Martins is that writer. The Sun on My Head is a blaze of heat, love and risk that will leave you reeling. -- D B C Pierre, author of VERNON GOD LITTLEGeovani Martins is an extraordinary writer... The Sun on My Head is one of the most important imaginings of the devastating inequality that plagues Brazilian society since City of God. -- Misha Glenny, author of McMAFIAThese stories are explosive. Razor sharp, funny, full of desperation and longing, Martins's voice catches you and doesn't let you go. He writes with dry-eyed clarity and unbeatable heart. -- Akil Kumarasamy, author of HALF GODSTense, colourful snapshots of the life in these bustling communities, with their heavily armed drug gangs, police oppression and relentless poverty . . . [Martins] riddles his phrases with favela slang, freestyling into hazy existential monologues when his characters succeed in scoring marijuana - a constant preoccupation in the city he describes. ― ObserverGeovani Martins's vibrant debut The Sun On My Head offers so much: a sense of urgency which is both collective and stylistic; a set of voices searching for another world and another kind of language; a personal, sensorial poetics that manages to produce epiphanies at the very heart of social conflicts. -- Andrés Neuman, author of TRAVELLER OF THE CENTURY'Martins shows us that the language of the favelas is just as legitimate as the language of the academy, keeping "literature" true to everyday form. Julia Sanches preserves this legitimacy in English, delivering a carefully crafted translation filled with colloquialisms, slang, and Portuguese. The result is "some real trifling shit"-a wild ride that exposes us to the complexities of life in the periphery and the complexities of translating that life from one language into another . . . This is a book that lives on the streets, among the people of Rio's favelas.' ― AsymptoteA lively translation by Julia Sanches that stays true to the spirit of the writing, the novel is the firstBrazilian book in history to sell publishing rights to translations in nine countries in anticipation ofits release . . . There are many strengths to his storytelling, not least a way with colour and energythat bring most settings and scenarios to life . . . The devaluing of human life by drug and gangculture in the city is a recurring theme, with stories such as The Tale of Parakeet and Ape andPadre Miguel Station skilfully showing the fallout . . . The collection really shines when it comesto setting. Martins is an evocative writer who knows his city well . . . The sun is most certainly onthis young author's head. ― Irish TimesA debut of real promise by an author already in full command of his craft. ― New InternationalistMartins' writing is blunt, often brutal, but not without a sense of playfulness, as he careens between visions of adolescent hijinks and hard-partying and the more sinister menace of drug lords and government militias. A tantalizing haze of fear and paranoia hangs over Martins' stories, as oppressive and mind warping as the Rio heat ― Vanity FairWhat binds the tales here is the voice - with its street-smart bravado, bitter edge and an emotional intelligence that proves compelling. Martins handles masculinity and fragility with equal commitment. In the conflicting imagery of drugs, guns and butterflies, readers are made to appreciate the importance and weight that each object holds within the pages of this slim but substantial volume. ― IndependentSanches's extraordinary, reeling, translation is a patchwork creation, drawing from disparate Englishes - and Portuguese - to create an entirely new linguistic texture . . . Martins has written something masterful and kind, oral and literary, stretching time between the present and the generational. With beauty and generosity, Martins tells us about the world we live in. -- Yara Rodrigues Fowler ― The White ReviewMartins shines a lig