Brazil……Electric. Exciting. Hot. Brazil is famous for its world class beaches, beautiful women, Samba and soccer, but even its gently swaying palms and sultry nouveau beat can’t cover up the sound of screaming. Soon to be a major motion picture The Parrot’s Perch scores high as it weaves together a chilling tale based on actual events in a triple play of greed, deception and betrayal … betrayal conjuring up images of unsurpassed beauty and unimaginable horror.
Bright iridescent feathers, resplendent tropical hues, fast cars, and the ultra privileged life in the equestrian circuit are the lives of Catlin Lauria and her big brother, Freddy. But evil has found them, and it won’t back off until someone makes a final pay-off.
A sexy-successful-girl-next-door, an uber-cute-party-boy, drugs, Carnival and the good life; dirty cops, corruption and torture, this story has it all, and you won’t be able to put it down for a second, wondering “Can this world be real?” It is. Fasten your seat belts as you take this journey of revenge, retaliation, and redemption; it’s gonna change your life.
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This story of the authors life is told in 2013 as she sits down then at the age of sixty, to testify at the Brazilian National Truth Commission at the UN in New York. Hoping to help convict those who did these horrible thing, but also to prevent them from happening again.
Wow this is a very intense recount of her life’s story, focusing mainly on an incident she and her husband suffered in jail at the hands of the Brazilian police.
It takes us through her life of privilege, her relationships with family , and friends and how those relationships were probably an impetus for what happened to them.
This recounting, even at the age of sixty had the author very emotional as she retells of the awful torture the couple received in the 45 days in jail, as they waited for someone to free them.
The author is a very strong individual, who was able to carry on with her life although never being able to erase what had happened.
The book was hard to put down, some parts very hard to read, but I wanted to find out how each stage of her life turned out. This was really a remarkable story.
I would like to thank NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the ARC of this book
** spoiler alert **
This is the hardest review I’ve had to write to date.
This review is going to be a little different from my normal format and I will try to articulate my words as best I can.
It’s 1976 in Sao Paulo and Karen and Rick have just been married. They plan to live a long and happy life together filled with love. But when they are abducted from their bedroom early one morning in May and charged with a phony drug charge, they are plunged straight into hell. For 45 days they endured imprisonment along with starvation, torture and rape.
When they are finally released from their wrongful imprisonment their lives are anything but happy. Everyone tells them that they must be silent about the traumatic events that happened and about being imprisoned as a whole. With no one to turn to and no comfort to be found, the happy couple now finds their marriage crumbling into pieces as they drift further and further apart from each other. Yet somehow Karen has managed to survive all of it and to tell us all her story in this volume.
I personally find myself unable to find the proper words in the English language to express the gravity of this book to you all. This book did more than tear my heart out. To be quite honest with you all it gave me nightmares. It even made me physically ill at some parts. And yet it is a beautifully written and remarkable story. The fact that this was indeed a true story written by the woman who went through it all makes it even more brilliantly remarkable.
I believe that this book and books like it stand as testament to the strength of the human soul and the perseverance that we can all achieve when put through the lowest circles of hell on Earth.
This book will most definitely rock you to your core! It will make you question humanity in yourself and in others. Karen Keilt writes her story so vividly and paints the pictures so well that she puts you into her very own shoes. You are right there in the cell with her. Waiting for your next meal of sour rice and rotted meat. Counting the bugs crawling all over your skin. Sitting there waiting…. waiting for the monster to come again and take you.
This is not a book that I would recommend to everyone. The simple fact is that there are people who are not able to stomach the subjects brought to light in this book. But for the ones who can read it, I commend you. This is not an easy read in any respect. It is however very educational.
A note to the author:
Karen,
I can barely express to you the deep felt sorrow and sympathy that I feel towards you. You are an amazingly strong person. Obviously stronger than you knew. Even reading your story I’m sure does not give it justice. But perhaps it brings you some closure. I hope that it does. People know your story now Karen. It’s not a secret and you can talk about it. I hope this is a comfort to you. I wish I could give you a great big hug and tell you how strong you are that you made it through. Just know that your story will probably be with me for the rest of my life. I will never forget reading your book. You are an inspiration my dear. Please know that.
Yours truly,
Tamara
Harrowing, Horrifying, Resilience, Strength, Triumph. These are the words that flowed through my head as I read Karen Keilt’s brave memoir, “The Parrot’s Perch.” In 1976 Sao Paulo, Brazil, a wealthy, newly married young woman and her husband are kidnapped by the police in the middle of the night. They are tortured for 45 days, only released when a huge ransom is paid. This story is not a tale of imagination, but one of fact, eloquently and powerfully relayed by the woman who lived it. Ms. Keilt takes the reader through the intimate details of this experience and her relentless drive to not just survive, but fully embrace life and regain herself. Striving for truth, justice, and accountability, she tells her story to save others in her beloved Brazil from the same suffering and to help work towards bringing about reform. This clear and passionate retelling took courage and strength of spirit. It is inspiring.
I could not put this book down! The author tells a harrowing story that leaves readers on the edge of their seat. It’s almost unbelievable all she went through–the kidnapping and more (don’t want to say too much and spoil the memoir), but suffice it to say, the author is a very brave and resilient person. I took away so many different lessons about life and love and family. It’s very well written and takes readers to another place and time. I highly recommend this memoir! You won’t be able to put it down. I think it would make a great movie, too!
The Parrot’s Perch is equal parts evocative memoir and cautionary tale. A beautiful cover belies the story’s backdrop of oppression and unspeakable cruelty, but speaks to the promise and freedom of the author’s journey.
A memoir of a gilded childhood in Brazil, that child becoming a young woman with aspirations of Olympic success. But there was always a darkness around the edges, a father with film-star looks, who was also mercurial, domineering and had a ferocious temper. And there were secrets. Secrets that may have led to the newly-wed author’s arrest and imprisonment along with her husband. The torture and abuse the author and her husband were subjected to in prison was horrific, the worst a human being can do to another. Surviving that ordeal and its aftermath, both physically and psychologically, required unimaginable courage and strength.
In a country and society that didn’t want to know after her release, that didn’t want to pick at the scabs, the author had to endure an isolation that almost broke her. Putting herself back together through all the subsequent left-turns that life brings was a feat of extraordinary determination. A fascinating read from the start, it became increasingly compelling. I could not put it down.
A memoir that’s almost too graphic and horrible to be believable. Keilt and her husband, an American, were held against their will, tortured, raped, physically and mentally abused for over a month by a sadistic and evil Brazilian government. Nearly left for dead they were finally allowed to leave after a large ransom was paid. Never fully understanding why they were abducted, Keilt is told not to ask questions, put it behind her and get on with her life.
So many secrets existed within Keilt’s family and the government; secrets that she herself never learned the answers to. Was her father CIA? Was he involved in some way in her abduction? How did her brother play into it all? It must have been truly difficult not knowing who around her to trust. Keilt, thankfully, finds the strength to get on with her life, but her nightmares continued and her marriage suffered. She lived in constant fear and eventually moved to the U.S. with her son where she was able to live the life she always wanted.
Keilt’s memoir begins with her relaying her story to an investigator who planned to use her accounts, and those of others who suffered under the Brazilian government, to bring those responsible to justice. Sadly, the government continues to be corrupt and to this day human rights abuses still take place.
Like reading a horror story how sadistic people with a little political power can control their fellow citizens. Tear jerker easy to read great world builder
A must read . How someone can servive hell and humiliation . A true life ordeal.
This book grabbed me from the first page and never let go, even after I was done reading it. I don’t think I have the right words to describe how this affected me. It was heartbreaking and inspirational at the same time. Life can change in the blink of an eye and when that happens you have to decide if it is going to win or if you are going to win. Please read this book!!
Way too much torture and violence, depression and unhappiness. Couldn’t finish it.
i think it was a true account…i can;t stand torture to people..
all most wish i hadn’t read it.
A good read. Informative. I found myself wanting answers at the end.