Summary of the Book My Orange Lime

Plant by Chapters
First part:

The discoverer of things

A boy named Zezé had an older brother named Totoca. Totoca taught
him many things how to cross the street. Zezé admired him a lot. His
family was very poor and his father was unemployed. One day Totoca
asked his uncle Edmundo how he had learned to read. He told her that
he had learned from one day to the next. One day Zezé showed his
uncle how he read and he was shocked. Everyone knew about it and
found it a phenomenon. Uncle Edmundo had promised to give Zezé a
wooden horse if he showed him how he read.

A certain orange-lime plant

Zeze went with his brother Luis to the Zoo. He showed him all the
animals that he didn't know. Then Zeze went with his whole family to
see the new house. Everyone took a tree to be theirs. Zeze only took
one orange-lime plant. Suddenly Zeze realized that the plant was
talking to him. They talked a lot and agreed to see each other every
day when Zeze was living in his new house. The plant was called
minguito.

The skinny fingers of poverty

Zeze heard news in his neighborhood that after the Rio-San Paulo
highway they were going to give away toys. After convincing his
mother to go, he went with his younger brother Luis, on the condition
that they go with the postman. The postman took them but after a
while, he told them that his work was being delayed because of them
and left them on the Rio-San Paulo highway. They had delays due to
fatigue and when they arrived they were already gone. The next day,
on Christmas Eve, Zeze only received a few coins. It all ended very
quickly and no one received anything. The next day Zeze was still
hoping to receive some gifts but he couldn't find it and he accidentally
insulted his dad. Zeze worked hard shining shoes and with the money
he earned he bought his father some cigarettes and they reconciled.

The little bird, the school and the flower

It was that Zeze was already moving house. They transported the
things in a cart. When they got there, Zeze spoke with the orange-lime
plant. Then Zeze made a joke to a lady who was passing by by
throwing a sock and the lady thought it was a cobra. The lady
screamed and then they found out who Zeze had been and challenged
him. Totoca told Zeze that she had a bird, she loved it very much, it
was a very faithful bird, but one day it died and Totoca never wanted to
have a bird again. Zeze then enrolled in a school to attend classes. He
thought that the diligent students brought flowers to the miss. Zeze
thought and started bringing flowers to his miss. The very happy miss
admired him and loved him very much. One day the miss challenged
Zeze because she discovered that Zeze was taking the flowers from a
house. The miss told her not to bring her any more and that every time
she saw the vase she was going to imagine it full of flowers given by
Zeze.

In a cell I have to see you die

It was about Zeze knowing a traveling singer named Arriovaldo. Zeze

wanted to work with him. Arrivaldo accepted. Zeze's job was to sell
flyers to people passing by. What they gave him was given to
Arriovaldo. Then that was left to Zeze. One day when they were having
lunch a woman insulted Arriobaldo saying how could she exploit such a
young child. After a big argument, Arriovaldo tries to threaten the lady
with a knife but he did nothing to her. Arriovaldo said "I'm going to get
revenge on her."

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Second part
The bat

It was about some friends of Zeze having some kind of test. The test
consisted of climbing over the rear wheel of the Portuguese car, who
was a person with a lot of money. Zeze accepted the challenge and
climbed up the rear wheel. Then the Portuguese realized and
challenged him a lot. Then Zeze, very ashamed of not having been
able to take the test, went to school. When leaving school, Zeze met
his brother Totoca and told him to do him a favor. The favor was for
him to fight with a teammate from Totoca. Zeze accepted and was
brutally beaten. Then they were separated and went to their homes.
Then Zeze taught Luis how to play hunt.

The conquest

It was about Zeze accidentally walking through glass. He wanted no

one to know for fear of being beaten. Zeze could barely step. He
arrived home, only his sister Gloria was there. Gloria healed him and
told him to stay in his bed and rest. Zeze told him not to tell anyone,
not even his family, so as not to get hit. When her parents arrived,
Gloria didn't tell them anything about the accident she had. The next
day Zeze made an effort to go to school. On the way he met the
Portuguese. The Portuguese told him that he couldn't go to school like
that. He took him to the doctor and put some strange things on him so
that he would heal soon. Then the Portuguese bought an ice-cold one
from Zeze. Zeze realized that the Portuguese was not as bad as he
thought.

Conversations here and there

It was about Zeze going to the Portuguese's house and they were
talking about what his life was like, who the members of each family
were, what the situation of his family was, etc... Then Zeze asked the
Portuguese for permission if he could treat him as your. Then the
Portuguese took him for a drive in his car and told Zeze that his car
was also his.

Two memorable beatings

 It was about Totoca teaching Zeze how to make a balloon. Zeze was
doing it when his sister told him to come down to eat. He told her that
he was coming. His sister told him again but Zeze didn't come down.
His sister went up and took him under one ear. Zeze told him that he
wanted to continue making the balloon and left. His sister grabbed him
and started hitting him hard. In the middle of the beating, Zeze said
“whore” and his sister hit him harder. Then her other sister, Gloria, took
Zeze for her room and Zeze rested. When he was getting better he
saw his father reading. To see him smile, he sang him a song: “I want
to see a naked girl....” the father heard it and told Zeze to say it again.
Zeze did it and his dad beat him up again. The mother arrived and took
Zeze to his room and he told her “because I was born to be beaten.”

Soft and strange request

It was that Zeze had gotten better and was going to the station to see
if the Portuguese was there. He found him and told him that he had not
been able to see him these days because his father had hit him. Zeze
told him that he wanted to commit suicide because no one loved him.
The Portuguese told him not to do it because he wanted it. Zeze told
him that he was going to think about it more. Then they went out for a
drive and agreed to meet up so they could go fishing in a river. They
went fishing and Zeze got really dirty. They ate something and returned
home.

From pieces and pieces it is formed

It was about Totoca asking Zeze to borrow money. Zeze gave it to him
and Totoca told him some super important things: His dad got a job
and that they are going to cut down his orange-lime plant.

The Mangaratiba

It was about Zeze being at school and hearing that the Portuguese's
car had been hit by a train and he had died. Zeze fell into depression
and developed a very bad fever. They called the doctor and he said
that he had a shock and that if they took care of him he would live.
Many people came to see him. Then he recovered and dreamed that
the train was killing MINGUITO (orange-lime plant). Then he went with
Luis to the Zoo.
Old trees are holy

It was about Zeze reconciling with his dad and his dad told him that
they were going to move to a very big house and that all the trees that
were there were going to belong to Zeze. But he still couldn't think
about Portugal.