Dulce: Divas, Drugs and Desires

I finished this wonderful Brazilian literary work, called Whatever Happened to Dulce Veiga? by Caio Fernando Abreu. (Original title: Onde Andará Dulce Veiga?) It was simply a pleasure to read this book, with its glamourous and anti-glamourous characters clashing on every page.

The main story line is about a music journalist in São Paulo, who lost his joie de vivre and gets obsessed by the idea of finding Dulce Veiga, a celebrated singer who suddenly vanished 20 years earlier.
The writer created characters with personalities that form a big contrast with the main character, all in their own way. An addicted punk princess, a fortune-telling neigbour with a slutty tranny son, a lesbian biker chick with a weakness for astrology, a testosterone-driven newspaper owner with all the money but zero taste and so on, and so on…

I even used one of the minor characters as an inspiration for the picture. Lilian Lara is a socialite, soap opera actress and old friend of the missing Dulce Veiga. Caio Fernando Abreu describes her as a woman with a passion for alcohol, a headscarf and large sunglasses to cover up the recent cosmetic surgery.
I’m not going to tell much more about the story, because I think you should really read the book yourself. I warn you: it’s quite naughty from time to time.

You can check some extracts in English over HERE. It’s translated in lots of languages, including Dutch, so sit back, relax, open the book and get blown away!

Vincent