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Book Summary and Reviews of Sergio Y. by Alexandre Vidal Porto (Author), Alex Ladd (Translator)

Sergio Y. by Alexandre Vidal Porto (Author), Alex Ladd (Translator)

Sergio Y.

by Alexandre Vidal Porto (Author), Alex Ladd (Translator)

  • Published:
  • May 2016, 160 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A startling and inspirational work of transgender fiction by a leading figure in Brazil's "New Urban" fiction movement.

Armando is one of the most renowned therapists in São Paulo. One of his patients, a 17-year-old boy by the name of Sergio, abruptly interrupts his course of therapy after a trip to New York. Sergio's cursory explanation to Armando is that he has finally found his own path to happiness and must pursue it. 

For years, without any further news of Sergio, Armando wonders what happened to his patient. He subsequently learns that Sergio is living a happy life in New York and that he is now a woman, Sandra. Not long after this startling discovery, however, Armando is shocked to read about Sandra's unexpected death. In an attempt to discover the truth about Sergio and Sandra's life, Armando starts investigating on his own. 

Sergio Y. is a unique and moving story about gender, identity, and the search for happiness.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Winner of the Paraná Literary Prize for Best Novel

"Starred Review. Porto's captivating, impeccably structured novel is a detective story wrapped around a deeper exploration of identity." - Publishers Weekly

"Sergio Y. is one of the best books I've read in a long time...I gush about it to everyone I meet." - Zoë Perry, translator of Paulo Coelho

"With Sergio Y., Alexandre Vidal Porto makes clear why he is one of the essential writers in Brazilian contemporary literature." - Luiz Ruffato

"Readers will find it impossible to put this book down." - José Castello

This information about Sergio Y. was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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More Information

Alexandre Vidal Porto was born in São Paulo. A career diplomat, a Harvard-trained lawyer, and a human rights activist, he writes a regular column for Folha de S. Paulo. His fiction has appeared in some of the most respected literary publications in Brazil and also abroad. Sergio Y. was the winner of the Parana Literary Prize for best novel.

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