When an unemployed poet finds himself thrown in jail after raping his
neighbor, his time in the slammer is mysteriously cut short when he's
abruptly taken to a new home -- a countryside manor where his every need
seen to. All that's required of him is to . . . write poetry. Just who
are his captors, Kurt and Otávio? What of the alluring maid, Amália, and
her charge, a woman with cancer named Gerda? And, most alarmingly of
all, why does Kurt suddenly appear to be aging so much faster than he
should?
Reminiscent of the films of David Lynch, and written in João Gilberto
Noll's distinctive postmodern style -- a strange world of surfaces
seemingly without rational cause and effect -- Quiet Creature on the
Corner is the English-language debut of one of Brazil's most popular
and celebrated authors. Written during Brazil's transition from military
dictatorship to democracy -- and capturing the disjointed feel of that
rapidly changing world -- Quiet Creature is mysterious and abrupt,
pivoting on choices that feel both arbitrary and inevitable. Like Kazuo
Ishiguro, Noll takes us deep into the mind of person who's always
missing a few crucial pieces of information. Is he moving toward an
answer to why these people have taken him from jail, or is he just as
lost as ever?
