Chasing Bohemia by Carmen Michael
In this book, subtitled A year of living recklessly in Rio de Janeiro, Carmen recounts her adventures seeking a bohemian existence during her first year in Brazil. I was first attracted to it for two reasons: my own somewhat less adventurous attempts to embrace a bohemian lifestyle of my own, and the fact that it was about Brazil; which I found interesting given that I play in a samba band in my home town of Sydney.
Carmen’s accounts of her intrepid adventures in the favelas (slums) of Rio make for interesting reading, and her immersion in the samba culture of the lower classes seemed pretty much complete. At one point she when she ran out of money, she resorted to running tours of the favelas for overly-game tourists, who probably had no idea what they were in for. I’m not sure whether the book has made me more or … Continue reading…