FELIZ ANO VELHO

Feliz Ano Velho is the debut book by Marcelo Rubens Paiva. At the age of twenty, he climbs onto a rock and dives into a lagoon, imitating Scrooge McDuck. The lagoon is shallow, he crushes a vertebra, and loses movement in his body.
Written with a sense of urgency, the book recounts the irreversible changes in the young man's life after the accident. He is transferred from one hospital to another, faces reluctant doctors, and fights to achieve small bodily responses. Gradually, he comes to terms with his new, unchangeable reality—and understands that he must fight.
The text captures the irreverence and determination of youth, even in the face of adversity, and a precocious awareness that "the future is an infinite amount of uncertainty."