The last part of the book is told through the eyes of Santa Rita the fisherwoman, an African divinity who has been summoned by the sisters' father and channels the community's anger and strength.

In this system, formerly enslaved people were still at the mercy of landowners who would grant them permission to live on their property in exchange for free labor, leaving them indebted to their employers and without much more freedom than they had under slavery.

Crooked Plow takes place in the early 20th century, during the transition years when freed slaves and their descendants worked the land they were prevented from owning.The book’s success in Brazil exemplifies a trend in the country’s literary landscape toward novels told from the perspective of the historically oppressed.

In the past five years, Vieira Junior has been an integral member of a group of Brazilian writers who, in depicting racism and slavery through the viewpoint of racial minorities and enslaved peoples, remind us of Brazil’s painful colonial history while returning agency to those who suffered under its one-sided narration.

Americas Quarterly stated the novel "captivated Brazil's literary scene" with a "tour de force of injustice, tragedy, affection and human dignity reminiscent of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables or John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath".

[4] Publishers Weekly wrote, "Vieira Junior conveys the girls' childhood confusion and wonder in hypnotic prose, and he brings the close-knit Água Negra to life.