Village Tales

Lloyd E. Hill, The Village of Bom Jesus, 1993
beeorkendurkey sent me a copy of this book because my family live in a village in Brasil called Bom Jesus. The village in this novel is also in Brasil but it's called Guajára instead - Bom Jesus in this case is the name of a cat (the only one in the village) who links the three stories together in this tiny collection. The stories take place in an Amazonian village far from civilization and its amenities. Lloyd E. Hill, an American who lived in Brasil for five years as a farmer, paints a rustic picture which is clearly based on his experiences - a community of simple people, the dangers and beauty of the forest, the culture shock outsiders experience when first arriving there. Some of the stories have a hint of Bible School about them which is mostly overcome by the passages that explore the Amazonian landscape. A nice, harmless quick read.