The Nature of the Bite — Portable Edition

Biá, a retired psychoanalyst and book lover, approaches the young journalist Olívia, devastated by a recent loss, with a provocative question: “What do you no longer have that makes you so sad?” Sitting at the table, Olívia accepts this unexpected challenge, as well as the affection and interest shown by this woman who is, after all, merely a stranger, and a series of meetings begins, marked by a rapidly developing intimacy between the two women as they gradually reveal their stories. “Our friendship began like that, while we were drowning,” Olívia recalls.

With a sensitive interplay of voices, Olívia’s compelling, straightforward, and linear narrative is contrasted with Biá’s scattered and sarcastic notes. Fragments of a faded and unreliable memory lead to a turning point in the story, revealing events that shaped each woman’s harrowing past and highlighting the subtle connection between the different forms of abandonment they have both suffered and inflicted on one another.

Following the resounding success of Tudo É Rio—adapted for the screen—which made Carla Madeira the most-read author in Brazil, A Natureza da Mordida underscores the writer’s preeminent status and her remarkable ability to bring her characters to life.