The main body of this volume republishes texts which originally appeared in 1999 in the author's homonymous column in Porto Alegre's {Zero Hora}, arguably the most prestigious newspaper of Brazil outside the Rio de Janeiro-Sa o Paulo axis. The editors of the book contend that "journalism is an art" and Brum confirms it with her fine mix of objectivity and subjectivity, {cro nica} and report, realist description and metaphorical language, sharp criticism of the powers that be and endearing sympathy for the downtrodden. The book's title signals its main focus. By addressing {A vida que ningue m ve } ("The life that nobody sees"), the {cronista} and reporter seeks the marvelous and wondrous in the real-life stories of individuals often seen but constantly ignored in society, such as a paraplegic man who earns a living by keeping his belly and chest rubbing on the ground. He thus sustains the public posture of an exotic and pathetic man, which makes him look like a {sapo} (toad), his nickname in downtown Porto Alegre. When the day is over, he often enjoys the luxury of taking a taxi and going back to a normal life of drinking beer and barbecuing with family and friends. Israel is another person on the fringes of society. Mentally challenged, this 29-year old man was considered useless, and was abandoned by family. He was jeered, even stoned, by the neighborhood children. One elementary school teacher changes his family, and he, in turn, changes many other lives with learning and regains his dignity after being accepted in school. There is also Adail's compelling story. He was an illiterate African-Brazilian who had handled bags and dealt with racial slurs at the city's airport for over 26 years before he had an opportunity to fly. Most stories are not those of relative ease or success. In "Enterro de pobre" ("Poor people's funeral"), the death and burial of extremely poor children make the author see that the main difference between the funerals of the rich and those of the poor is how people, in the latter case, mourn much more for the hardship of the loved one's life than for the pain of his or her death. Brum's exceptional qualities in this book result from her clear language and from her sensibility and empathetic ability to express the complexity of apparently simple lives. Equally praiseworthy is the way she mingles dialogues and narration in a harmonious cohesion facilitated by a figurative language embedded, but often unnoticed, in day-to-day life. She also uses humor and irony to counterbalance staggering suffering.