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There's No Point in Dying

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( 16 ratings, 9 reviews)
Brief Description
Alluring... powerful... an indelible depiction of a community on the brink of disaster. Publishers Weekly In this kaleidoscopic novel set in a favela of Rio de Janeiro, 'in the city of stray bullets, in the land of lost opportunities', a gang member runs wildly through the... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Alluring... powerful... an indelible depiction of a community on the brink of disaster. Publishers Weekly

In this kaleidoscopic novel set in a favela of Rio de Janeiro, 'in the city of stray bullets, in the land of lost opportunities', a gang member runs wildly through the streets not knowing he has only seven minutes left to live. Barflies, prostitutes, immigrants, a gay couple, a taxi driver, cops, a mobster, and more populate Francisco Maciel's first book to appear in English.

Leaping back and forth across time and spiralling into the surreal, the novel coalesces around a brutal massacre. Maciel's multiracial characters write poetry and discourse on soccer, insects, samba, and climate change. Gritty, unpredictable, and percussive, There's No Point in Dying is translated by National Book Award winner Bruna Dantas Lobato.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781954404397

Publisher: New Vessel Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 13 January 2026

Country: United States

Imprint: New Vessel Press

Contributors:

  • Translated by Bruna Dantas Lobato

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 133.0mm

Height: 203.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 312

About the Author

Francisco Maciel was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1950, the son of a maid and a shopkeeper. He became a manual laborer before age six, when he went to school to escape such work and later managed to enter an elite high school. He studied journalism at university but gave up because he felt 'too foolish and unprepared for life', before hitchhiking around South America.

Bruna Dantas Lobatoby Stenio Gardel won the National Book Award for Translated Literature.

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