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Title: Bitita's Diary: The Childhood Memoirs of Carolina Maria De Jesus (Latin American Realities) by Carolina Maria De Jesus, Robert M. Levine, Emanuelle Oliveira, Beth Joan Vinkler ISBN: 0-7656-0211-3 Publisher: M. E. Sharpe Pub. Date: 01 December, 1997 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $76.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.06 (18 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: An eye-opening and profound testimonial
Comment: Bitita's Diary by Carolina Maria de Jesus is a wonderful testimonial depicting the life of a poor, black, Brazilian woman. Bitita takes the reader first hand through her life from a young girl to a mature woman. Most importantly, this book opened my eyes to class, gender, and race relations in Latin America. Not only is Bitita discriminated against because she is black, but she also feels discrimination because she is poor and a woman. Despite her misfortunes and sicknesses, Bitita becomes quite educated (mainly self-taught). Through Carolina Maria de Jesus' style of writing, the reader can see just how spunky and inquisitive of a child Bitita was. The innocence of a child can see truths and wrongs quite easily, unlike us adults. Not only does Bitita question these wrongs - she argues them loudly and openly. For this, I admire Bitita. This book was an easy read because of the author's frankness and honesty. The background settings were well explained which lead to the complete understanding of why Bitita acted the way she did. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Latin American culture, or the plight of gender, class, and race issues.

Rating: 4
Summary: Review of Bitita's Diary
Comment: In the book Bitita's Diary, by Carolina Maria de Jesus, we could see the struggles of a young girl as she grew up in a poor town as a person of color. We could see the obstcles that she needed to overcome because of her gender, race, and class. This book was very enjoyable to read, because you could actually put yourself in her positon, and see how hard her life really was. In the beginning her realtives who were of higher class, took Bitita in and gave her sweets and other things that were never given to her. As the aunt realizes that she is of a much lower class, and others were noticing her generosity to someone not as important in society, she soon shuts Bitita out just like others had. On the other hand Bitita was lucky in the fact that she got to attend school and become educated. Bitita did gain many opportunities to earn money so that she could survive. This is why it seemed ironic that Bitia would leave a job or shelter that she had been taken in at. In understaning Bitia's thinking we can see why she would do such a thing. She is a descendent of slaves, therefore she would maybe have a feeling of being held captive. Her mother also beat her, but then again her mother also knew of the struggles they would encounter, but needed to overcome so that they could survive in this town, so she could relate to her. Although Bitita did have hard times, she was better off than most other people like her. Bitita did realize the gifts that were given to her, but also kept in her mind the importance of her heritage.

Rating: 3
Summary: Bitita's Diary
Comment: Bitita's Diary is the testimonial of a poor Brazilian woman named Carolina Maria de Jesus. Carolina grew up in the 1920s and 1930s. She lived in both the city as well as the countryside, and clearly recalls the rough living conditions she had to endure. This book dose not only describe what it was like to live in poverty, but also gives you the unique perspective of a poor woman in a patriarchial society. I found this book to be very informative. Carolina understandably writes about the terrible living conditions she had to endure, but also gave some thought to political policies, and their impact on society. While there was a lot of valuable information found throughout the book I feel that if the information was better organized into seperate arguments the book might be a more valid resource. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about women in latin America.