The story of the erotic intrigue between a middle-aged woman, her husband, and her precocious stepson, "In Praise of the Stepmother" engages both the reader's carnal and intellectual mind.

Interspersed throughout the text are a series of full-color reproductions of works of graphic art--Francois Boucher's "Diana at the Bath," Titian's "Venus with Cupid and Music," and others. Vargas Llosa accompanies each of the reproductions with a fictional interpretation that serves as a counterpoint to the primary narrative of the stepmother and her household. This device allows the author to take his reader across time and space, from fantasy to horror as the erotic odyssey unfolds.

In both the main narrative and the shorter embedded fictions, Vargas Llosa both shocks and seduces the reader with his sensuous detail and psychological insights. "In Praise of the Stepmother" is a multi-media tour-de-force. A delight for lovers of erotica, classic visual art, and great literature, this book confirms in my mind Mario Vargas Llosa's stature as one of the world's great writers.

This book has so much beauty and sheer writing virtuosity that it must stand separate and alone. Like the Chaconne, or the suites for unaccompanied cello, or Shakespeare's sonnets, this book takes your breath away.

An integral part of the narrative are the six paintings (handsome reproductions of world art by Fra Angelico and Francis Bacon, among others) which are woven as counterpoint to the storyline. Nowhere in literature does one encounter such a masterful and extraordinary melding of two art forms: it produces a delectable, erotic, and frightening little masterpiece.

It is a story of lust, love, revenge, of Eros, of sexual awakening, and of the punctilious attention to one's body parts. It can be spiritual or gross, refined or vulgar, hilarious or tragic, depending on who you are, how you look at it, and the mood you are in. Every time I have read it (five, so far) it has again shocked, and delighted and made me humble by the sheer force of its beauty. The flawless translation by Helen Lane detracts not one iota from the Spanish original. Of course you should read it.

This is a miraculous, intriguing, daring and unlikely book that compares with Lolita in theme and aftertaste. One is always cautious of the pitfalls of translations, but the sincere erotica of this short novel, combined with its anchoring art references and child-heart, elevates it in a way that you don't notice its foreign origins. Llosa is, of course, a masterful storyteller. He is also audacious, which may be be his lasting relevance. Here, the revelatory title tells but half the story: you have to take the journey with Fonchito to fully enjoy Llosa's sardonic take on the duplicity and ignorance of the human condition. A small classic!

Tenia razon Vargas Llosa, si pudiera salvar uno de sus libros, seria este, definitivamente. Una novela a veces dificil de leer, pero que lo mantiene a uno pegado, sin poder soltarla. Vargas Llosa es un maestro. La historia de Zavalita y su vida, que navega entre el mundo de los oligarcas y las clases bajas de la sociedad limena, es un espejo de la realidad latina, de hace 40 anios, y de hoy en dia. No ha cambiado mucho. Lectura obligatoria para el que se precie de leer autores latinos.

Una novela intensa, escrita en el estilo único que caracteriza a Vargas Llosa. Es la vida de Zavalita relatada a Ambrosio y a Carlitos, el primero esta en el bar la catedral, desde donde se desarrolla toda la historia, de atrás hacia adelante y entrecortada. Es interesante notar el estilo que utiliza este escritor en su narración, un estilo fragmentario que puede hacer que un lector inexperto se pierda o no entienda quien esta hablando sobre quien en la obra. Debemos de entender que el primer capitulo es el único que tiene orden lógico y que es ese capitulo el ultimo, no el primero. Zavalita se encuentra con Ambrosio y ambos se narran sus vidas y sus experiencias y van dejando ver la situación política y moral de un país que el escritor ve con ojos desesperanzados y grises.. Es una excelente obra narrativa, me encantó leerla por segunda vez, ya con mayor entendimiento de lo que estaba en mis manos.

Luis Mendez

En 1948, el General Manuel A, Odría toma el poder en el Perú a raiz de una revolución surgida en Arequipa, tierra de nuestro escribidor. La dictadura militar, maquillada con elecciones con candidato único unos años después, duró ocho años, que marcaron la vida del escritor, que tenía 12 años cuando empezó y 20 cuando terminó. El odio visceral que profesa Vargas Llosa contra las dictaduras latinoamericanas, a veces mal encaminado y que lo lleva prejuiciosamente a cometer excesos interpretativos cuando de analizar realidades actuales se trata, proviene de su adolescente experiencia de este periodo. La novela es tremendamente entretenida, tiene momentos gloriosos, frases célebres y picos de profunda tristeza en una multitud de historias interconectadas que van por su propio cauce e interactúan entre si. Como la vida misma. De autobiográfica tiene mucho, como casi toda la obra de Marito. Una posterior lectura de El Pez en el Agua me da la razón. El mismo autor lo dice. El amor platónico de sus tiempos universitarios era real, el círculo de estudios marxistas también, los siempre ridículos comunistas criollos que lo catalogaron de "subhumano", indiscutiblemente reales. La renuncia de clase de Santiago Zavala, aunque en él era sin compromiso político, se dió muchas veces en el Perú durante la vigencia mundial de las ideas totalitarias. Los movimientos de izquierda de mi país siempre estuvieron dirigidos por oligarcas con más de dos apellidos. Santiago manifestó su renuncia de clase con su matrimonio, a la medida para molestar a su madre, con su herencia, a la medida para molestar a su hermano, y sobre todo, yéndose a chupar con Ambrosio, descubriendo los secretos de su padre. Cómprenlo, léanlo y gocen del placer de uno de los mejores libros del boom latinoamericano, si no el mejor.

This is what the main character, Zavalita, and the author, try to find out in the book: how, when, where, why, Latin America went wrong. It is a political, social and personal novel. Without a clear answer, of course, Vargas Llosa boldly exposes before our eyes the crap, the misery, the injustice and the depravation that rule life in most parts of our continent. He is unsparing, cruel and realistic. The lives of Santiago Zavala and Ambrosio Pardo meet time and again through a conversation in "The Cathedral", a bar in Lima, Peru. As they tell to each other their stories, they tell the story of Peru in those years. Zavalita is an upper-middle class journalist, the son of a politician, who resigns his social position for idealistic reasons. He is a loser because he refuses to fit in a world like that, where in order to succeed you have to be a part of corruption, pervertion, and immorality. He prefers to be marginalized and isolated.

To tell a chaotic story, Vargas Llosa uses a complex style: jumps in time, different voices from separated times speaking simultaneously. But it is not a hard reading, once you get used to it. The author is superb at eliciting suspense, progressive revelations that give an additional clue into the whole picture. It is fascinating how he reproduces the way people talk in an informal conversation at a bar. Think about it and try to remember your conversations with friends, when sharing a complex story.

If the style is great, the substance is chilling: it is a glimpse into the reality most of us refuse to acknowledge. Wherever you live, you will recognize people in almost every character. While MVLL is an excellent writer, this is definitely one of his best. It is certainly one of my favorite novels of all times, and I strongly recommend it.

Conversation in the Cathedral is a novel of power and politics in 1950s Peru. Two of the main characters meet in an inexpensive restaurant (the "cathedral" of the title) and spend the afternoon conversing about the past. The novel is, for the most part, encapsulated within their conversation, although we are occasionally reminded of some events accessible only to the omniscient narrator.

While somewhat unusual, the structure of Conversation in the Cathedral is most impressive. The vast bulk of the book is dialogue, and a common occurrence is for different dialogues to be interlaced at the level of the sentence with no overt marking in a kind of point and counterpoint. There also exists an hierarchical layering, with events described in individual conversations recounted within the meta-conversation that spans the entire novel.

The narrative includes many jumps in time, with significant events that take place in the middle of the story often not being recounted until near the end of the book. The result is an almost "fractal" narrative, but one that is singularly impressive.

Despite its somewhat complicated structure, Conversation in the Cathedral has an irresistible feeling of movement and once readers become used to Vargas Llosa's sophisticated style, the book becomes more than engrossing. Conversation in the Cathedral also presents the clearest picture of exactly how a Latin American military dictatorship actually works.

While all of Vargas Llosa's books rate five stars, Conversation in the Cathedral is certainly his most impressive.

This is a great novel. At the beginning I found it a little hard to follow the story but once I got used to the author's narrative style, I was spellbound.

It is just amazing how much knowledge the author (in his early 30s when he wrote this novel) displays about Peruvian, and by extent Latin American, society and people's psychology, especially those in positions of power (since this is also a political novel).

The narrative revolves around the story of Zabalita, a journalist from an upper middle class background. Zabalita is essentially a rebel and idealist who renounces fortune and fame out of both political/ideological convictions and parental resentments. His own personal family deceptions and disappointments are somehow projected onto the whole Peruvian society (it is hard to tell the author from his personage).

As it turns out, Zabalita's misfortune is that the vices he resents in his family (his father is an important politician) are inextricably linked to those the author very ably depicts as taking place in Peruvian society as a whole. The author skillfully depicts this reality throughout the novel by showing us his other characters with all their vices; here we have the opportunistic, corrupt, deceitful and immoral politicians.

Vargas Llosa greatly succeeds in narrating Zabalita's misfortune and gaining adepts in his readers (at least in my case) to Zabalita's cause. The climax of the novel comes towards the end of the book when Zabalita and the reader are revealed the darkest secrets of Zabalita's father. This is the climax towards which the novel inexorably unfolded starting with the initial conversations, between Zabalita and one of the main protagonists, in the bar "The Cathedral".

What really makes this novel great is not only the substance of its subject matter but also, and perhaps most important, the way it is expounded. The author reveals his characters (their darkest secrets, their noblest actions and so on) in a very gradual way, eliciting in the reader suspense, and all kinds of emotions at every turn of a page. The way the author weaves his personages, treating one at a time and then relating them, with the way the story unravels makes it so hard to take a break from reading. This is as much a psychological novel as a social and a political critique, and a great one.

This is perhaps Vargas Llosa's best novel and a must for all those well-meaning readers in the developed world who eagerly idealize Latin American revolutions without knowing anything about these countries.

The book is based on the true story of Antonio Vicente Mendes Maciel ("O Conselheiro"), a mad prophet of sorts -kind of a weird Christian ayatollah of the late XIX Century- who ignited, in the most remote corner of Brazil, a bloody uprising among the lowly against Money, Property, Progress, Law, Army, Republic and State, and everything else he found oppressive, sinful and evil.

Little by little, Vargas Llosa transforms this obscure anecdote into a monumental epic of Tolstoiesque proportions that not only hooks you on the plot but reveals the richly interwoven tapestry of Brazilian -and therefore Latin American- society; its illusions and delusions, its races and classes, its loves and hates, its fear of the modern and its contempt for the past, and the fanaticism that pervades both attitudes (to date).

I read this mammoth masterpiece during Christmass '94 at the midst of the Zapatista revolt in Chiapas, and it was sad to realize how little have we changed our societies. Our development always seems to engender inequality and our social struggles to defend backwardness and ignorance. Vargas Llosa is acutely aware of this, and he conveys it in his story splendidly, without preaching, without agendas, without aloofness and without letting you put down the book. Should you decide to read it, ask for a few days off!

This is perhaps Vargas Llosa's best novel and a must for all those well-meaning readers in the developed world who eagerly idealize Latin American revolutions without knowing anything about these countries.

The book is based on the true story of Antonio Vicente Mendes Maciel ("O Conselheiro"), a mad prophet of sorts -kind of a weird Christian ayatollah of the late XIX Century- who ignited, in the most remote corner of Brazil, a bloody uprising among the lowly against Money, Property, Progress, Law, Army, Republic and State, and everything else he found oppressive, sinful and evil. In return, the Brazilian government reacted with indifference, disbelief, concern, anger, outrage and total annihilation.

Little by little, Vargas Llosa transforms this obscure anecdote into a monumental epic of Tolstoiesque proportions that not only hooks you on the plot but reveals the richly interwoven tapestry of Brazilian -and therefore Latin American- society; its illusions and delusions, its races and classes, its loves and hates, its fear of the modern and its contempt for the past, and the fanaticism that pervades both attitudes (to date).

I read this mammoth masterpiece during Christmass '94 at the midst of the Zapatista revolt in Chiapas, and it was sad to realize how little have we changed our societies. Our development always seems to engender inequality and our social struggles to defend backwardness and ignorance. Vargas Llosa is acutely aware of this, and he conveys it in his story splendidly, without preaching, without agendas, without aloofness and without letting you put down the book. Should you decide to read it, ask for a few days off!

A través de esta novela Mario Vargas Llosa nos regala una historia real cubierta de fantasias tan bien entretejidas que facilita una lectura fluída que nos hace sostener la última expiración en cada capítulo siguiente esperando que no sea el último.

El personaje principal es El Consejero, un asceta que recorre todos los pueblos predicando la palabra de Dios y sin haberlo planificado se encuentra dentro de una multitud que veía en él al Santo Salvador que los dirigiría en la lucha contra El Mal. El Mal estaba personificado por los Republicanos que, según los seguidores del Buen Consejero, no eran más que El Anticristo que había bajado a la tierra disfrazado de humanos para transformar el mundo: Instaurarían el matrimonio civil, encargarían los cementerios a los municipios (en la época monárquica estaba a cargo de la iglesia católica), y someterían al pueblo a un nuevo tipo de gobierno, la República.

Es así que se origina la rebelión. El Consejero y sus seguidores golpean a unos soldados republicanos y huyen a un lugar desolado, apropiándose de esos terrenos, llamádo CANUDOS. En aquel lugar alejado del mundo -y también de la imaginación humana- forman una sociedad diferente, en la cual nadie tenía propiedades y no existían autoridades. Era una sociedad donde todo era de todos.

Sin embargo, y en replesalia contra aquella rebelión inicial, el Estado Brasileño envia un pelotón de hombres bien apertrechados que son rápidamente reducidos por los pobladores de Canudos al grito de "mueran los perros republicanos". Fueron tres las comisiones enviadas a disolver a aquellos rebeldes que "atentaban contra la seguridad del Brasil". Una tras otra son repelidas hasta que frente a un contingente bastante mayor al de ellos ceden y permiten el ingreso del ejercito republicano a Canudos. "No dejaron piedra sobre piedra". Los soldados se encargaron de desaparecer aquel pueblo que se resistía a ser sometido a las peticiones de la sociedad alienada. Un mundo aparentemente irreal que parecería una increíble invención y que, sin embargo, existió en Brasil a fines del siglo XIX. Un pueblo cuya aparente perfección no fue tolerada por un mundo sometido a la infelicidad y, por lo tanto fue condenada al peor de los castigos: a la desaparición.

Considero, por ahora -a falta de leer algunos libros anteriores y venideros de Vargas Llosa- como la mejor obra de este escritor peruano que ya merece ganar el Premio Nobel.

Right lets start off by skipping the origin stuff, the early years stuff, and who associated with whom stuff. Claudio Bravo is hands down the best artist there is still living, period. Fluff piece? not when merit is the order of the day. Practically self- taught Bravo paints with obvious skill and attention. He explains his approach, in the text, and within the still lifes, (his are the only ones I thought worth a damn.) and figurative work, whether in oil, pastel, chalk, or pencil, he commands his instinct to persue his vision. Don't like it? Tough, Bravo isn't ashamed, nor repentent about his skill as a realist, quasi- or otherwise. I saw the man's work at Duke in '88 and made my decision there and then to be an artist. I've never looked back, and his book is a confirmation of ideals badly missed in contemporary art, and I wish there were more copies so I could buy one. Now old boy is in the 60's U.S. take notice, this is one true artist not likely to come this way again, dig it. Adam Narcross

It took a long while to finally find this treasure but well worth it. This book really allows one to appreciate this master if only in a book. Mr. Bravo is nothing short of a genius.

This large book contains many excellent color reproductions of Bravo's oils and pastels, and also some beautiful reproductions of pencil, charcoal and sanguine drawings. While the reproductions are tiny compared to the originals, which are very large, the book is a wonderful treasure. I went to see some of the orignals at the gallery that represents Bravo in New York. Now, looking at the book, I am more conscious of the scale difference. But, there are two reproductions -- a portrait, and a still life of a hat, there are presented just slightly smaller than they were actually painted. These are especially interesting. I haven't seen any other same-size reproductions or details in catalogs. The book was published at $95. I looked for a copy for months and paid hundreds, but for me it was well worth it -- especially since I will never be able to afford an original (upper five figures for pastels and six figures for oils).

Vargas Llosa's gripping 1981 book is a fictionalized history of Canudos, the community in the dry interior of Brazil that was utterly wiped out by the Brazilian army in 1897. Vargas Llosa's book is as long (over 500 pages) and as dense as the seminal Canudos book "Rebellion in the Backlands" by Euclides da Cunha, and those fascinated by the story will want to read both. This book takes da Cunha's as its point of departure, for where da Cunha was a military engineer who accompanied the military campaigns against Canudos and wrote about the event's impact on the Brazilian identity, Vargas Llosa is a novelist captivated by the human element. "The War of the End of the World" is the massive story of four successive military campaigns against a religious sect (part-Waco, part-Masada) that killed about 10,000 people on both sides. It is built on the lives of many key personalities. By threading together the life stories of several real Canudos inhabitants who included criminals, castoffs, and misfits with the lives of landowners, journalists, and military officers, including the famously brutal general Moreira Cesar, Vargas Llosa both chronicles the Canudos tale and creates a powerful human novel.

Da Cunha was intrigued by the "why" of Canudos. What fostered a fanatical religious sect in Brazil's interior, allowed it thrive and grow, and why was it the subject of such national fear that the fourth campaign against the village involved fully half of the Brazilian army? Da Cunha spent dozens of pages writing about Antonio the Counselor, Canudos messianic leader. Vargas Llosa is less sympathetic to the military's point of view, depicting Canudos as a safe haven for those rejected by society, by sweethearts, employers, or the church. An island of broken toys. Vargas Llosa writes very little about Antonio himself, casting a reflected light by describing him mostly through the words and actions of his devoted followers. ("Death was more important to these people than life. They had lived in utter dereliction and their one ambition was to be given a decent burial".) Where da Cunha concludes that Canudos was a result of a failure by the Brazilian society and government to embrace all of its citizens -a conclusion that led to a reexamination of Brazil's national identity- Vargas Llosa is less sure. He raises a lot of explanations that have gone before (monarchist conspiracies, racial inferiority, lack of education, "something to do with religion", even a lunatic European communist who tries to make Canudos fit his notions of class warfare ) without settling firmly on any one. Finally, he concludes uneasily, "the explanation of Canudos lies in ignorance".

This is a gripping novel, a powerful tale of warfare, an exploration of intriguing individuals who met in the atavistic isolation of Brazil's parched interior. A Latin American novel devoid of magic realism, for the story of Canudos is fantastical enough.

I read several of Mario Vargas Llosa smaller (but also superb) works before deciding to attempt to read this one, his masterpiece. It is truly one of the more memorable and profound books that I have read. The structure of the book doesn't divert too much from that of the typical epic novel- dozens of characters, numerous subplots, and events of historical significance. Most of the action takes place in the remote, arid backlands of northwestern Brazil. In this land devastated by drought and poverty, a religious leader known as the Counselor manages to recruit a sizable number of miserable and scorned creatures to be his disciples. We are introduced to such characters as the Little Blessed One, the Lion of Natuba, the Mother of Men, Satan Jao, and a host of others who are social outcasts for one reason or another. It is around this time that the monarchy in overthrown and a republic established; taxes are now to be collected, a national census is to adminstered, and church and state are to be separated. The Counselor and his followers regard these new developments as a direct threat and signs of the impending apocalypse, and they set up their own town, Canudos. The newly formed state can obviously not tolerate these renegades, and the book basically relates the war between Canudos and the waves of military forces that are sent to annihilate them. Vargas Llosa spares no details when relating battle scenes; the reviewer on the inside cover of the book was right in calling this one of the bloodiest books of the century. We are presented with images of corpses hanging from trees, ants devouring the open wounds of soldiers, and decapitated heads on stakes. It is perhaps this gritty realism that makes this book so memorable, though. Another aspect of the author's writing that makes this book so convincing is his ability to sympathetically portray all of the competing interests. Although it is probably fair to say that the Counselor's followers are depticted mainly as victims, Llosa also argues from the point of view of the military, the aristocracy, the republican government, a nearsighted journalist travelling with the army, and even a Scottish anarchist. At the end of this book, one is quite uncertain who, if anyone, is on the right side and who is on the wrong side. But I think it is this moral ambiguity that Vargas Llosa is attempting to create in our minds. In presenting this true historical event in the form of an epic novel, Vargas Llosa has given us a masterful tale of devotion, despair, misery, and personal redemption.

This is perhaps Vargas Llosa's best novel and a must for all those well-meaning readers in the developed world who eagerly idealize Latin American revolutions without knowing anything about these countries.

The book is based on the true story of Antonio Vicente Mendes Maciel ("O Conselheiro"), a mad prophet of sorts -kind of a weird Christian ayatollah of the late XIX Century- who ignited, in the most remote corner of Brazil, a bloody uprising among the lowly against Money, Property, Progress, Law, Army, Republic and State, and everything else he found oppressive, sinful and evil. In return, the Brazilian government reacted with indifference, disbelief, concern, anger, outrage and total annihilation.

Little by little, Vargas Llosa transforms this obscure anecdote into a monumental epic of Tolstoiesque proportions that not only hooks you on the plot but reveals the richly interwoven tapestry of Brazilian -and therefore Latin American- society; its illusions and delusions, its races and classes, its loves and hates, its fear of the modern and its contempt for the past, and the fanaticism that pervades both attitudes (to date).

I read this mammoth masterpiece during Christmass '94 at the midst of the Zapatista revolt in Chiapas, and it was sad to realize how little have we changed our societies. Our development always seems to engender inequality and our social struggles to defend backwardness and ignorance. Vargas Llosa is acutely aware of this, and he conveys it in his story splendidly, without preaching, without agendas, without aloofness and without letting you put down the book. Should you decide to read it, ask for a few days off!

"La ciudad y los Perros" es la primera novela de MVLL, con la cual ganaría, en 1964, el premio Biblioteca Breve otorgado por Seix Barral. La publicación del libro provocó reacciones enardecidas en la cúpula militar peruana, quienes en un acto de represalia hicieron una fogata con todas las primeras ediciones que llegaron a sus manos. Esta fue la primera señal que indicaba el nacimiento de un nuevo escritor.

La historia se desenvuelve dentro de un colegio militarizado (el Leoncio Prado, el cual aún se encuentra en funcionamiento) y narra de manera cruda las vicisitudes de un grupo de adolescentes que llegaron a ese colegio por diversos motivos. Unos para reformarse y convertirse en hombres de bien, y otros para hacerse "machos". En este micro-cosmos, MVLL nos revela los secretos mejor guardados de la sociedad limeña, sus vicios: el racismo (peculiar en un país pluri-cultural), las diferencias sociales (los burgueses blanquecinos viven en San Isidro, y los pobres acholados en Lince), el autoritarismo militar (los cadetes y los perros), la corrupción (la venta ilegal de pisco y cigarrillos a cambio de algunos favores, o dinero adicional), el servilismo militar ("Gamboa esa denuncia fregará tu ascenso") y el chantaje ("Cadete Fernández, si usted promete no volver hablar del tema yo olvidaré que usted escribió estas historietas inmorales"). Y aunque algunos personajes tratan de mostrar el lado bueno de la vida militar (Gamboa y su tozudez por cumplir su deber al pie de la letra, a pesar que eso podría perjudicar su futuro; el Círculo y su lealtad enfermiza, aunque esta sólo le sirva para cometer actos ilegales; la amistad entre el Poeta y el Esclavo, aunque sea considerada como una mariconada por sus compañeros de clases) es claro que el mundo que se pretende mostrar es el negativo, en el cual prevalecen las taras sociales. No olvidemos que MVLL estudió en el colegio que hace referencia en este libro, y quizás haya sido testigo presencial de aquellos excesos.

Sin embargo, lo magistral de esta novela no radica precisamente en el tema -este es sólo un medio a través del cual el escritor logra su objetivo: escribir -, sino más bien en el estilo que emplea el escritor. Un vocabulario enriquecedor, empleando incluso jergas peruanas que revelan por sí mismos su significado; una descripción precisa de los personajes y ambientes, sin caer en el uso excesivo de esta técnica que podría llevar al lector al tedio somnífero; y una magnífica conexión entre sus historias.

Sin atenuantes, un clásico de la Literatura Latinoamericana.

Vargas Llosa demuestra en esta novela que es un gran arquitecto de la literatura y un eficaz descriptor de la compleja sociedad peruana y latinoamericana. La novela contiene diferentes narradores e historias entrelazadas que tienen como eje principal la vida de un grupo de estudiantes de un colegio militar de Lima. Las historias del Poeta (proveniente de una familia con comodidad económica), el Jaguar (producto de la violencia y pobreza de su pasado) y el Esclavo (incapaz de enfrentar el ambiente violento) nos muestran las grandes desigualdades y conflictos de la sociedad peruana. La convivencia dramática de estos personajes en el colegio militar es un ejemplo de las dificultades de interrelación que se dan en la sociedad. He leído casi todos los libros de Vargas Llosa y definitivamente La Ciudad y los Perros junto con Conversación en la Catedral son los mejores.

La ciudad y los perros is one of the best novels in contemporary Latinamerican literature. It is a delightful piece of Mr. Vargas Llosa's prose, his use of several narrators, his use of several times and his marvelous use of comas. It is also an open window for his Peru; I haven't been to Peru, but I already know that when I go, I will always carry Mr. Vargas Llosa's flavour in my mouth; not only from La ciudad y los perros but from his other novels. You should read this book and carry Alberto, el poeta, with you, forever.

Sometimes, the most serious and deep messages are hidden in the form of light and funny literature (one book that jumps to mind is "Gulliver's Travels"). In this simply genial novel, the Peruvian military has a problem: the garrisons of the Amazonic regions are very short of women and feeling extremely sexual, so rapes are mounting. This, of course, is bad PR for the Army and a real problem for the chiefs. They decide to create the "Special Service", a well-oredered and efficient ring of disciplined prostitutes who will satisfy the soldiers' needs and erradicate the problem of rapes. Who is the perfect man to be in charge of the Service?: Captain Pantaleon Pantoja, a model solider, who lives with his lovely wife and his mother-in-law. Pantaleon is a sober and righteous guy, enemy of prostitutes, bars and fights. He is also the most efficient manager of the Army. He is dismayed at the task but, always disciplined, puts all his intelligence and efficiency to it. The learning process proves problematic for his marriage: since Pantaleon knows nothing about the night life, he has to learn it by visiting sordid brothels and buying drinks to informants. Of course, when he starts arriving home in the morning, extremely drunk, his wife gets very disappointed. But he convinces her of the importance and required sacrifices of his new mission. Eventually, the Special Service becomes the most efficient branch of the military, and it gets famous. The very funniest parts of the book are the official reports where Pantaleon informs to his superiors of the successes and problems he has in his job. The official language describing absurd and outrageous situations is just great. Of course, things get out of control, with dramatic but funny consequences.

The plot is rapidly developed, with the surfacing of a sect of fanatics as its counterpoint. These sect crucifies people and animals, and the story includes a harsh criticism of the Church as parallel to the Army. The reader wonders: why is it that Vargas Llosa decided to intertwine a satire of military discipline with another one of religious fanatism? And the conclusion is that it is an extremely smart and witty novel, hilarious and troubling at the same time. The characters are really, really great, including Panta, his wife, his mother-in-law, some of the prostitutes, and some of the officers. Great book by a great contemporary author.

A tale of prostitues and jungle. Stay clear of the arc for crucifiction jump former dog channels.

If you want to obtain a flavor of Peru this is a must-read. You could summarize this book by saying that it is a sex-related excellent comedy. However, I think this book is much more than this. Vargas Llosa provides a wonderful profile of our idiosincracy, values, and fears. In addition the style is agile. Vargas Llosa tells the story using military communications, radio programs, and personal letters from different characters so that you get everybodies' point of view. I strongly recommend it.

the whole trama keeps the reader'smind focus on it. You will enjoy the beauty of the play and will get to know the intrincated-simple life of a small town nearby the amazona region in peru. You will be enchanted by this book. read it.

Vargas Llosa lo dice y aqui esta la prueba. Una historia sobre la obediencia militar, los conflictos del ser humano y los trajines de un recto oficial para organizar un servicio de prostitutas con caracter militar para los soldados asignados en la Selva Peruana. Excelente novela.

HOW CAN I GET THE MOVIE Pantaleón y las visitadoras (1975)?

Gracias hermanos Latinoamericanos por darme la oportunidad de escribir sobre La Fista del Chivo. Hace pocos dias termine de leer el libro y la verdad es que quede impresionado con los recursos literarios que utiliza Vargas Llosa para narrar esta historia. Viaja como por un realismo fantastico ( sin ser realismo fantastico por supuesto ), para mantener al lector en una verdadera tension psicologica. La historia que son tres historias, hace que el lector quiera profundizar el estudio de las misma. Vemos como Urania llega a Santo Domingo llena de dolor y traumas no superados. Luego vemos a Trujillo y sus fieles pobre diablos seguidores y ministros de estados, y luego los que lo habrian de ejecutar. Vargas Llosa viaja en estos tres tiempo y cuenta la historia como si nosotros mismo fuesemos parte de la misma . Cuando esta historia ocurrio, yo todavia no habia nacido, pero si pude identificarme con el sufrimiento de toda una isla dominando por la bestia. Por un " jefe " de estado, un narcizista que se creia dueño absoluto del destino de todos los habitantes de la isla, incluso capaz de controlar hasta los exiliados y a los que no eran dominicanos. Vargas Llosa logra casi perfectamente encarnizar a los personajes, pues cada uno de ellos eran tan reales. Es el caso del hijo del jefe, del presidente Balaguer, de Jonny Abbes Garcia y de la misma Urania por citar algunos. Dos de los personajes que mas me impactaron fueron el Jonny Abbes Garcia y el presidente Balaguer. El primero por su forma de resolver los " problemas de los enemigos de la patria nueva ", por los metodos diabolicos que este utilizaba como si se tratara del propio demonio; si y digo del propio demonio porque despues de leer las cosas que este hombre insignificante era capaz de hacer, no hay duda de que lo malo existe, de que satanas si puede obrar en algunas personas. Jonny Abbes Garcia, era un ser lleno de odio y resentimiento. Tenia un volcan de complejos y pensaba que la unica forma de mantenerse vivo era dandole riendas suertas a sus intintos. Que Dios libre a Latinoamerica y al mundo de personas tan bajas como Jonny Abbes. En cuanto al presidente Balaguer, quiero decir que prodria decirse que es el rey de la manipulacion. Balaguer solo pensaba en si mismo y haria todo por mantenerse en poder incluso jugar con el cielo y el infierno a la vez. Conocia bien la psicologia humana y se aprovechaba de su inteligencia para manipular a todos incluso hasta mismo demonio de Ramfi, siguiendo con Petan y Negro Trujillo y hasta el propio Jonny Abbes. Sabia bañarse sin mojarse, sabia entrar el la mano en el fuego y salir sin quemaduras. Balaguer tiene ( porque todavia esta vivo en Santo Domingo ) una especie de don de convenser a los demas de que sus ideas son las mas apropiadas para resolver una determinada situacion. Me gustaria saber cual es la opinion de Balaguer sobre este libro. Para terminar, este libro debe de ser simbolo de lucha entre los Latinoamericanos para que no se repita la historia, para prevenir futuras trajedias en nuestros ya tan sufridos paises.

Elvis Minaya , New York City

La Fiesta del Chivo. Mario Vargas Llosa.

Este libro, que recientemente vio su publicación en ingles, causó gran revuelo cuando fue publicado en este país. Recuerdo que salieron varios artículos periodísticos en los cuales se decía que Vargas Llosa hería la sensibilidad de varias familias respetables, y también recuerdo que tuvieron que ponerle mucha seguridad cuando el autor vino al país. El tiempo ha pasado y aunque todo este tranquilo no me atrevo a aventurar que todo se ha olvidado, pues este libro toca muchos temas de una manera indirecta. Que es verdad o mentira es difícil saber, pues muchas de las cosas que dice están apoyadas en hechos que aun no estando en los libros de historias, se pueden encontrar investigando. También recuerdo que un escritor dominicano acusó a Vargas Llosa de plagio, algo Collado era su nombre y que se ventiló el caso por un tiempo. Que pasaría? Bueno para los que no la han leído la obra trata de la dictadura de Rafael Leonidas Trujillo y de sus manías y demás. La historia es contada al estilo de Llosa, de atrás hacia delante, por las reminiscencias de un personaje ficticio que me dejo intrigado, pues aun no he encontrado referencia histórica para ella. Para los que ya la leyeron, espero que estas líneas les sirvan de referencia, para que sepan los acontecimientos que sucedieron en este país a raíz de la publicación de este libro, que ahora con su publicación en ingles, vera su circulo de lectores ampliarse.

Luis Méndez.

esta novela es excelente y ha tocado un temas que parece estar prohibido en el pais, la dictadura de trujillo.en esta novela podemos empezar a darnos cuenta de la magnitud de la dictadura y es por eso que la veo como una obra excelente para los estudiantes y personas jovenes del pais, para que conozcan y tengan que investigar ya que se debe escarbar e investigar un poco dentro de la historia dominicana para poder saber distinguir entre la ficcion y la realidad. los personajes se nos muestran con sus caras humanas y el unico que parece un poco irreal y caricaturizado es trujillo, con sus manias impecables y su afan de probarse siempre joven a sus propios ojos y ante los demas y tambien su mania por los juegos con la vida de los demas. Vargas LLosa nos llena de la curiosidad que debe existir en todo buen libro. muy recomendado.

LUIS MENDEZ