Details:
- author: Stênio Gardel
- full title: The Words That Remain
- narrator: André Santana
- genre: literary fiction, romance
- topics: #lgbt, #memories
- publisher: Dreamscape Media
- publish date: 30 Jan 2024
- timing: 3:54:00
My Rating of the Audiobook:
- content: 💙💙💙💙💙
- narration: 💙💙💙💙💙
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| Goodreads |
Excerpt from the Book:
“Raimundo Gaudêncio de Freitas,” in a tentative stroke, barely touching the paper. He tamed that damn pencil and wrote, for the first time, his full name. Seventy-one years old and he starts getting ideas, as he likes to say, about learning to read and write as an old man. Raimundo came easy. But Gaudêncio was complicated, dense with longing, with its five vowels and an accent. Freitas was made of blood.
Not for lack of wanting, ever since he was a boy. But his father said writing was for people who don’t need to put food on the table. Raimundo went to work young. At night, his arm, tuned to the rhythm of the scythe, needed rest, there was more the next day. His desire to learn slowly gave way to need. His future was written out in front of him, a gift from his father, a family man who owned a bit of land, who signed with a thumbprint when his word wasn’t enough. What couldn’t be said, was kept silent, a thought. Raimundo never became a family man or owned any land. He pulled up his roots, carrying the letter in his shirt pocket.
My Thoughts:
Raimundo, at the age of seventy-one, finally decides it’s time to learn to read and write. He is encouraged to do so mainly by a letter received over fifty years ago by his youthful love, Cicero. At a young age, he wanted to continue his education. But his father thought it better for him to help the family by working. The story consists of current life and memories from the past. Raimundo recalls his forbidden love and his father’s beatings. Now he’s living with Suzzanny, a dear friend who went through a lot like he did.
The Words That Remain is a very moving novel that deals with the violence and homophobia in the rural part of Brazil. It is a very well-written novel, lyrical, with beautiful language. It is also a very emotional read. The narrator did an excellent job bringing this story and feelings of Raimundo to life.
About the Author:
Stênio Gardel was born in 1980 in the rural northeast of Brazil. The Words That Remain is his first novel. It was nominated in two major Brazilian literary awards: São Paulo Literature Award 2022 for best debut novel and Jabuti Award 2022 for best literary novel.
About the Narrator:
André Santana is a Brazilian-born voice actor based in New York City. As an audiobook narrator, he's recorded dozens of titles including award-nominated and award-winning projects like Building a Second Brain (2022, Audie Finalist 2023) and The Sunbearer Trials (2022, YALSA Top Ten Amazing Audiobooks 2022. André also voices in dubbing, commercials, animations, podcasts, and video games, and can be heard as the protagonist in Recursive Ruin (2022), as Zara in Runner (2022), and as the narrator on episode 7 of Hulu's How I Caught My Killer (2023).
