Um belo retrato da classe média carioca da década de 40, da vida de uma mulher que sofre os pesares de ser mulher, mas nem tanto quanto outras mulheres pinceladas no livro, que não tiveram a felicidade de nascer bem. Nem por isso deixa de ser brilhante e triste e cômico a vida invisível de Eurídice. A leitura é fluida e agradável, as personagens são bem apresentadas e descritas. É impossível não pensar nas vidas invisíveis que passaram, que passam e passarão pelo mundo. ( )

Crítica | A Vida Invisível de Eurídice Gusmão, de Martha Batalha: https://www.planocritico.com/critica-a-vida-invisivel-de-euridice-gusmao-de-mart... ( )

“She considered marriage something rather endemic, something that men and women caught between the age of eighteen and twenty-five. Like the flu, except not quite so bad. What Euridice truly wanted was to travel the world playing her recorder. She wanted to be an engineer and work with numbers. She wanted to transform her parents’ greengrocer’s into a general store, the general store into a franchise, the franchise into a conglomerate. But she didn’t know she wanted all that.”

Set in 1940s – 1960s Rio de Janeiro, sisters Euridice and her sister, Guida, grow up in a patriarchal society where roles for women are severely restricted. Euridice follows the traditional path. She marries and has two children. She attempts a few independent projects but bows to pressure from her husband to be the dutiful wife. Euridice quietly endures. Guida rebels. She becomes involved with a wealthy young man studying to be a doctor and runs off with him, which eventually leads to serious repercussions. It is a story of life and of attempting to overcome societal barriers.

The book involves a series of vignettes, with multiple brief appearances by quirky characters. Euridice disappears from the storyline for a significant portion of the book, almost as if she is disappearing from her own life. I enjoyed this look into the life of a repressed woman who feels she must restrain her spirit and ambitions.
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I had wanted to read this book for years. I forgot how I came upon this book but it sounded like a fun read. Euridice is a woman in Rio de Janeiro during the 1940's who watches her sister Guida run off and elope. So Euridice settles down, gets married and lives her life with husband and family. But Guida returns one day with a sad tale.

Or, something like that. It started off very well, talking about Euridice's life and times, marriage and eventually setting into family life. And then the book kind of goes off the rails, then detailing Guida's life and the lives of other family members. As other reviews note, there is no plot, really (I thought somehow there would be some big deal about the sisters reuniting or they go off and have an adventure or something) but overall the book just kind of drifted.

I guess it was really supposed to be more about the lives of housewives in Rio during this time period but in the end I'm not really sure what invisible life we were supposed to be observing or that Euridice missed, etc. Would say this is definitely a book that would probably make for an amazing miniseries adaptation if it hasn't been already.

Borrowed from the library and that was definitely best. ( )

Rio de Janeiro, anni quaranta. Quartiere di Tijuca. Bellissima e ribelle, Guida è fuggita di casa per coronare il proprio sogno d’amore con il rampollo di una famiglia che si opponeva al fidanzamento. Mentre Eurídice, la sorella, figlia modello rimasta a consolare i genitori, è una moglie devota e attenta, salvo poi, di tanto in tanto, lanciarsi in qualche bizzarro progetto. Ma ogni sua iniziativa è destinata al fallimento. La società carioca non è ancora pronta per dare spazio alle donne intraprendenti e nessun uomo è interessato ad avere una moglie che pensa. Finché, un giorno, Guida si presenta alla porta della sorella. Infelice e sventurata, è disposta a tutto per sopravvivere. Sullo sfondo di una città che brulica di vita, si dipana il rocambolesco percorso di emancipazione delle due sorelle. Perché ogni grande rivoluzione comincia sempre tra le mura domestiche.