What Is Mine

In this riveting debut, sociologist Bortoluci presents six interviews he conducted with his father, Didi, a long-haul truck driver in Brazil. Bortoluci opens with a portrait of his childhood, which was economically precarious but emotionally tender, even as his father was absent for long stretches of time. In the 2010s, as Didi’s health declined due to cancer, Bortoluci sat down to record the details of his father’s adventures. From the 1960s through the early aughts, Didi saw more of Brazil than most of its citizens. He illuminates for Bortoloci how regime changes influenced the country’s infrastructure, and how his and his friends’ attitudes about social mobility shifted as they learned just how perilous their work was and how underpaid they were for it. Didi’s evocative account of life on the road touches on the obstacles (mudholes) and distractions (brothels) faced by time-crunched drivers, but most memorable is his chilling description of the 1970s construction of the Trans-Amazonian Highway connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, which tore through small towns and caused massive deforestation. With its twin focus on family and country, this unique memoir makes for moving and edifying reading. (Oct.)