SOURCE: "Passionate Tales," in Américas, Vol. 44, No. 5, 1992, pp. 60-1.

In the following review, Mujica praises Amado's The Golden Harvest and asserts that "Thanks to the superb translation by Clifford E. Landers, English-speaking audiences can now appreciate the skill and wit of the young Jorge Amado and gain insight into the evolution of a truly great novelist."

The creator of classics such as Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon, Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, Tieta, and Tereza Batista, Brazil's Jorge Amado is one of Latin America's greatest storytellers. Even in this 1944 novel, translated now for the first time into English, Amado's narrative powers are remarkable.

While the author's later works feature lusty women, macho men, juicy plots, and lots of humor, his early novels are highly political. The later novels provide a panoramic view of northern Brazilian society and capture the warmth and vitality of the people of Bahia...