Phenotypes

Federico and Lourenco are brothers, with their father being black and their mother being white. Federico, who has light skin, has devoted his life to racial justice, while Lourenco, who is dark-skinned, is well-liked in their hometown. As Federico's fiftieth birthday looms, he joins a governmental committee in the capital to quell violent student protests. His niece has been arrested at a protest carrying a stolen police service revolver that Federico and Lourenco hid for a friend decades before. Paulo Scott's novel "Phenotypes" probes the old wounds of race in Brazil and the loss of a black identity independent from slavery. It is an exploratory, satirical novel of crime, street-life, and regret.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 04 January 2022
Publisher: And Other Stories

Longlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize, Winner of the 2023 Jabuti Prize in the Brazilian Book Published Abroad category, Federico and Lourenco are brothers. Their father is black, a renowned forensic pathologist for the police, and their mother is white. Federico, distant, angry, and analytical, has light skin, which means he has always been able to avoid the worst of the racism that Brazilian culture has to offer. He can pass as white, and yet, because of this, he has devoted his life to racial justice. On the other hand, Lourenco is dark-skinned, easy-going, and well-liked in the brothers' hometown of Porto Alegre and has become a father himself. As Federico's fiftieth birthday looms, he joins a governmental committee in the capital. It is tasked with quelling the increasingly violent student protests rocking Brazil by overseeing the design of a software program that will adjudicate the degree to which each university applicant is sufficiently black to warrant admittance under new affirmative-action quotas. Before he can come to grips with his feelings about this initiative, not to mention a budding romance with one of his committee colleagues, Federico is called home: his niece has just been arrested at a protest carrying a concealed gun. And not just any gun. A stolen police service revolver that Federico and Lourenco hid for a friend decades before. A gun used in a killing. Paulo Scott here probes the old wounds of race in Brazil, and in particular the loss of a black identity independent from the history of slavery. Exploratory rather than didactic, a story of crime, street life, and regret as much as a satirical novel of ideas, Phenotypes is a seething masterpiece of rage and reconciliation.

Weight: 274g
Dimension: 129 x 198 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781913505189