The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas

The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas reads like a modern day satire, even though it was published back in 1881. The whole book is very meta with short punchy chapters that are stylistically unique, ahead of its time and something I think resonates today.

One of the things that drew me to this book was that so many authors and artists cite Brás Cubas as one of the greatest novels they’ve read, including Susan Sontag, Dave Eggers, Salman Rushdie, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The other reason was because I had been visiting Brasil quite a bit for work, and felt I needed to read some literature from there.

The novel is essentially a ‘break the fourth wall’ satirical memoir written beyond the grave by a dead Brasilian aristocrat named Brás Cubas. He’s completely ridiculous in how he addresses the reader, and manages to keep us engaged the whole time.

Over 150 chapters and in less than 300 pages, you’ll learn about Brás Cubas’ life starting from how he developed his priveleged and spiteful tone, absurd beliefs that he treats higher than gospel, and the performative stage he likened to imagine himself to be on in front of his family, friends, compatriots. His ridiculousness sort of put a mirror back up to society, and for us the reader to be exposed to the theatrics and politics around him. I think because the memoir is ‘posthumous’, he doesn’t have to pull punches in his critique of the world around him.

“Perhaps I’m startling the reader with the frankness with which I’m exposing and emphasizing my mediocrity. Be aware that frankness is the prime virtue of a dead man.”

There are so many juicy things in this book, I’ll never be able to cover it all, such as chapters just full of ellipses, or a chapter he starts and then tells you to skip ahead. There there’s the comical philosophy his best friend invents, and even his short stray into politics and ridiculous theatrics put on during it.

I gave it four stars instead of five because the qualities that make it brilliant also work against it. The plot is nearly nonexistent by design, so its not always compelling and the fragmented structure and absurd amount of chapters throw you off. I took him to be an unreliable narrator which leaves you wondering what happened versus what Brás wants you to believe. Overall, I recommend you read it, I’m so glad I discovered it.