Camilo

The protagonist of the novel—and its primary narrator—is a man named Camilo, who begins the novel by reflecting on his childhood in 1970s Brazil. Camilo, who sustains a physical disability at a young age, spends much of his child in a stage of ignorance and isolation, forbidden by his parents from leaving the walls of the family's compound for many years. Eventually, Camilo's father, Pablo, brings home an orphaned boy named Cosme from his work as a doctor with the Brazilian military regime; this kicks off a series of events that finds Camilo expanding the boundaries of his knowledge and beginning to explore his queerness and sexuality.

Although Camilo maintains a curmudgeonly attitude toward the world—and, initially, toward Cosme—because of his status as a social outcast, he eventually falls in love with Cosme following a violent outburst that Camilo has toward him. Camilo also...