B8
B Jonathan Yardley
Planting roots in Brazil T
WHERE THE ROAD ENDS
A Home in the Brazilian Rainforest By Binka le Breton Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s 285 pp. $25.99
wenty-one years ago Binka and Robin le Breton left a comfortable life in suburban
Washington — she was a concert pianist, he an economist with the World Bank — and went to southeastern Brazil to start anew: “We’d educated our children, paid our mortgage, and found a country where it never snowed. Still in our forties, we had time and energy on our side. It was now or never.” They bought an “isolated farm in the mountains” of the state of Minas Gerais; called it Iracambi, “the Tupi Indian name for Land of Milk and Honey”; and moved into the old farmhouse, which “had been empty for several months and looked forlorn.”
Both of them British, they’d lived all over the world and were accustomed to trying circumstances, but Binka’s feelings about moving into the rainforest were “decidedly mixed.” She assumed that this change in their lives was yet another passing experience and that soon enough they would be back in the comforts of the developed Western world. She knew that having a farm of his own had been her husband’s dream for as long as she’d known him, and she assumed that this adventure would get it out of his system. That was 1989. Now it’s 2010, and there they are, still at Iracambi, surrounded by (mostly) friendly natives “of mixed blood: European, African, and South American Indian,” conducting their daily business in Portuguese, a “difficult language, and even educated Brazilians don’t always speak it properly.” They’ve added significantly to their acreage, established a thriving dairy farm and built what certainly sounds like a lovely house. They’ve also established the Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research and Conservation Center, which provides educational opportunities for Brazilian children as well as research programs for people from all around the world. How all this came to pass is told in “Where the Road Ends,” an engaging if somewhat suspect book. On the one hand, the le Bretons obviously are terrific people who do exemplary work, but on the other hand, this memoir contains frequent and extended passages of dialogue. Though no memoirist can (or should) be expected to include only those conversations that can be documented down to the last syllable, one can’t help wondering whether le Breton possesses a photographic memory or, in the likely event that she does not, how much is accurately remembered and how much is sheer invention. My own suspicion is that a significant amount of it is the latter. It’s possible to enjoy and learn from le Breton’s story while remaining skeptical about the dialogue, but this does undermine the book’s credibility. The farm the le Bretons call Iracambi “wasn’t
large by Brazilian standards, where some properties are larger than small countries in Europe; it was supposed to be somewhere around five hundred acres, though it hadn’t ever been properly surveyed.” It “didn’t currently
BINKA LE BRETON
produce anything, but Robin was convinced it had potential, largely because of its abundant water.” It came complete with a 30ish inhabitant named Albertinho, who occupied a more modest house on the property and quickly became an absolutely invaluable right-hand aide, a “man of parts” and a “born fixer.” His skills were matched by his loyalty, and in time he lured numerous others to work on the farm as its operations grew more sophisticated and widespread. The real marvel, though, was and remains Robin, who appears to have limitless resourcefulness and energy. Throughout the couple’s two decades at Iracambi, he has kept elderly motor vehicles of various descriptions running, designed and built a “Mexican-style hacienda with thick earthen walls,” operated a consulting business that takes him to various countries and keeps the couple solvent, taken a vigorous role in local efforts to preserve the rainforest and come to the aid of any neighbor in need of help, no matter how disruptive to his own schedule. Though from time to time his enthusiasm and can-do spirit leave his wife nonplussed, she clearly loves him, and with good reason. For Binka, life in the rainforest has been a challenge. Early on she “discovered . . . that I was missing my music,” and “even when my piano finally arrived I found I couldn’t play without an audience, and it was only later that I settled into my new career as a writer.” (“Where the Road Ends” is her fifth book.) At first, she felt a little guilty that she had none of the skills of a Brazilian farmer’s wife: “Farm wives looked after the pigs and
chickens, grew wonderful vegetables, cooked hearty meals, made jams and preserves, bottle-fed orphan calves, helped in the coffee fields, raised large families, and still found time to crochet dishcloths. And what about me? I hated chickens. I forgot to water the vegetables, burned the jam, was a distracted cook, and doubted if I could even lay hands on a needle and thread. And I had absolutely no ambitions in the field of crochet dishcloths. No, as a farm wife I wasn’t up to par.”
She proved, though, to be both a good sport and an apt student. By the time Robin began making occasional consulting forays to bring in money, she knew enough to run the farm on her own. She attended an “insemination course” taught by a smart young woman whose “passion
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in life was cattle: cattle breeding, calf rearing, animal health, pasture rotation, dairy management — anything and everything to do with cows,” and at the end of the course she passed muster “with a big grin on my face.” Robin, by contrast, revealed a squeamish side and wanted nothing to do with it. Still, after barely a year at Iracambi, she “was
suffering from a monstrous case of the blues.” She tried to shake it, but couldn’t: “Sometimes I found life at Iracambi wrenchingly difficult. I missed giving concerts, I missed my friends, I was lonely and frustrated, and I felt that life was passing me by. And, although I knew we could use the money, I couldn’t help being resentful that Robin was the one who got to go to exciting places and I was the one who stayed back to mind the store.” She deeply disliked Brazil’s macho culture and the difficulty of getting anything done: “We were trying to lead a twentieth-century life in a nineteenth-century environment, and while Robin was accustomed to the leaden pace of the developing world, I found it hard to adapt to. I was used to being in a situation where if you worked hard you could change things. Here we worked hard and things didn’t change. I kept asking myself if we were having fun yet.” What she needed, she came to realize, was a friend, and miraculously she soon found one: Luiza Gardner, who had come to Brazil with the Peace Corps in the 1970s, returned to the States when her hitch was up but “found she was missing Brazil” and came back. She “kept busy by creating finely detailed paintings of birds and flowers and giving English lessons — resulting in a small but significant group of young Brazilians in town who spoke with the courtly tones of the Deep South.” She proved to be exactly the friend Binka needed, she contributed beautiful painted tiles to the house-in-progress, and Binka could talk to her in English — a welcome escape from the pressure of making herself understood, and understanding others, in Portuguese. So now she’s fully settled in at Iracambi, apparently for the duration. What she and her husband have done is remarkable, an act of transformation at which the rest of us can only marvel. Having some experience at living in a Latin American country with a different language and different culture, I take my hat off to them.
yardleyj@washpost.com
LITERARY CALENDAR JUNE 7-12, 2010
7MONDAY | 6 P.M. Michael J. Hanmer, an assistant professor in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, discusses and signs his new book, “Discount Voting: Voter Registration Reforms and their Effects,” at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St. NW, 202-727-1200.
8 TUESDAY | 6:30 P.M. Senior Newsweek editor Jonathan Alter discusses and signs his new book, “The Promise: President Obama, Year One,” at Borders Books-Downtown, 18th & L Sts. NW, 202-466-4999. 7P.M. Local pastry chef and entrepreneur Warren Brown, owner of the bakery CakeLove and its sister establishment Love Café and author of “CakeLove: How to Bake Cakes from Scratch,” discusses and signs his new book, “United Cakes of America: Recipes Celebrating Every State,” at Barnes &Noble-Tysons Corner Center, 1961 Chain Bridge Rd., McLean, Va., 703-506-2937. He will also speak on Saturday, June 12, at 2 p.m. at Borders Books, 8518 Fenton St., Silver Spring, Md., 301-585-0550. 7P.M. Karl Marlantes reads from “Matterhorn,” his new novel of the Vietnam War (and a 30-year labor of love), at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-364-1919. He will also read on Thursday, June 10, at 7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble-Annapolis Harbour Center, 2516 Solomon’s Island Rd., Annapolis, Md., 410-573-1115. 7:30 P.M. The 2010 season of the Joaquin Miller Cabin Poetry Series opens with readings by Jericho Brown, author of the collection “PLEASE,” and Julie R. Enzer, author of “Handmade Love,” at Miller’s Cabin, Picnic Grove #6, Beach Dr. at the Military Road overpass in Rock Creek Park,
703-820-8113. An open reading (sign-up at 7 p.m.) will conclude the program.
9WEDNESDAY | 6:30 P.M. Syndicated political commentator and columnist Bill Press discusses and signs “Toxic Talk: How the Radical Right Has Poisoned America’s Airwaves,” at Barnes & Noble-Metro Center, 555 12th St. NW, 202-347-0176. 6:30 P.M. Writer and politcal commentator Farai Chideya, a former host of NPR’s “News & Notes” and the author of “Don’t Believe the Hype: Fighting Cultural Misinformation About African Americans,” reads from and discusses her first novel, “Kiss the Sky,” at Busboys and Poets, 1025 Fifth St. NW, 202-789-2227.
10 THURSDAY | 3 P.M. James T. Patterson, the Ford Foundation Professor of History Emeritus at Brown University and the author of “Grand Expectations” (winner of the Bancroft Prize), discusses his new book, “Freedom Is Not Enough: The Moynihan Report and America’s Struggle over Black Family Life—from LBJ to Obama,” at the Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. RSVP at
www.brookings.edu (click on “Upcoming Events” on the homepage). 7P.M. Critic Christopher Hitchens, a contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine, discusses and signs his new memoir, “Hitch-22,” at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 202-364-1919.
12 SATURDAY | 2 P.M. Dr. David Dosa, a geriatrician and an assistant professor of medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, discusses and signs his new book, “Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat,” at Borders Books-Tysons, 8027 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, Va., 703-556-7766.
For more literary events, go to
washingtonpost.com/gog/ and search “book event.” GASPER TRINGALE
BOOK WORLD THIS WEEK
COMING IN STYLE
MONDAY Stephenie Meyer adds a novella to her “Twilight” vampire saga with The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner.
TUESDAY Isabel Allende’s new novel, Island Beneath the Sea, follows a slave-owner and his favorite female slave from Saint-Domingue to New Orleans.
WEDNESDAY Justin Cronin’s new vampire novel, The Passage, lives up to the hype that has made it the summer’s most eagerly anticipated novel. In Elizabeth Hand’s fantasy novel Illyria, two cousins discover a miniature theatre. And New in Paperback.
THURSDAY Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook, by Anthony Bourdain.
FRIDAY Elsie and Mairi Go to War: Two Extraordinary Women on the Western Front, by Diane Atkinson.
SATURDAY Nobody’s Angel is a gem of a mystery by Jack Clark, who worked for 30 years as a cabbie.
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Join us as we debate the issues and authors making news today.
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SUNDAY, JUNE 6, 2010
WASHINGTON BESTSELLERS PAPERBACK
FICTION 1 THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
2 THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE 49
(Vintage, $14.95). By Stieg Larsson. First book in the late Swede’s “Millennium Trilogy”; basis of new film.
10
(Vintage, $15.95). By Stieg Larsson. Sex trafficking between Sweden and Eastern Europe is exposed.
3 MARRIED BY MORNING (St. Martin’s, $7.99) 4 BLACK HILLS (Jove, $7.99) 1
By Lisa Kleypas. Forced to marry or else lose his ancestral home, a lord opts for his willful governess.
1
By Nora Roberts. Childhood sweethearts who recently reconnected are targeted by a serial killer.
5 TEN THINGS I LOVE ABOUT YOU (Avon, $7.99) 6 THE MCKETTRICKS OF TEXAS: GARRETT 7 HONEYSUCKLE SUMMER (Mira, $7.99) 8 LITTLE BEE (Simon & Schuster, $14) 9 SAVOR THE MOMENT (Berkley, $16) 10 SOUTH OF BROAD (Dial, $16) 1
By Julia Quinn. An earl aims to marry a young lady his nephew covets to prevent an inheritance.
1
(Harlequin, $7.99). By Linda Lael Miller. More romance and intrigue with the handsome Texas clan.
1
By Sherryl Woods. A recently divorced woman, guarded and still smarting, is confronted with a new romance.
15
By Chris Cleave. This wry second novel from a British journalist explores the state of war and refugees.
5
By Nora Roberts. A longtime crush reaches fruition in this third chapter of the “Bride Quartet.”
4
By Pat Conroy. The writer’s first novel in 14 years centers on a disparate group in Charleston, S.C.
NONFICTION/GENERAL 1 EAT PRAY LOVE: ONE WOMAN’S SEARCH FOR
THINKING (Back Bay, $15.99) 130
EVERYTHING ACROSS ITALY, INDIA AND INDONESIA (Penguin, $15). By Elizabeth Gilbert. Forthcoming film.
2 BLINK: THE POWER OF THINKING WITHOUT By Malcolm Gladwell. Behind our snap decisions.
3 MENNONITE IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS: A MEMOIR 4 TEACH LIKE A CHAMPION: 49 TECHNIQUES THAT
PUT STUDENTS ON THE PATH TO COLLEGE (Jossey-Bass, $27.95). By Doug Lemov
5 DRINK THIS NOT THAT!: THE NO-DIET WEIGHT LOSS 6 WITH THE OLD BREED: AT PELELIU AND 1
SOLUTION (Rodale, $19.99). By David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding. Calorie-saving swaps for beverages.
3
OKINAWA (Presidio, $16). By E. B. Sledge A harrowing eyewitness view of WWII’s Pacific Theater.
7 THREE CUPS OF TEA: ONE MAN’S MISSION
TO PROMOTE PEACE (Griffin, $19.95) By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
8 MY HORIZONTAL LIFE: A COLLECTION OF
(Simon Spotlight, $16) By Chelsea Handler. Irreverent essays.
5
ONE-NIGHT STANDS (Bloomsbury, $14.95) By Chelsea Handler. A litany of assignations.
9 ARE YOU THERE, VODKA? IT’S ME, CHELSEA 10 THE BLACK SWAN: THE IMPACT OF THE HIGHLY
IMPROBABLE (Random House, $17) By Nassim Nicolas Taleb. The book’s second edition.
Rankings reflect sales for the week ended May 30, 2010. The charts may not be reproduced without permission from Nielsen BookScan. Copyright © 2010 by Nielsen BookScan. (The right-hand column of numbers represents weeks on this list, which premiered in Book World on Jan. 11, 2004. The bestseller lists in print alternate between hardcover and paperback; the complete list can be found online.)
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Hardback Bestsellers at
voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm
17 1 159
OF GOING HOME (Holt, $14). By Rhoda Janzen Coping, all at once, with a stray husband and car crash.
4 72 6
WEDNESDAY IN STYLE: Justin Cronin
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