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The Bad Girl

by Mario Vargas Llosa, Edith Grossman (Translator)

3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 · rating details · 7,032 ratings · 684 reviews

Ricardo Somocurcio is in love with a bad girl. He loves her as a teenager known as "Lily" in Lima in 1950, when she arrives one summer out of the blue, claiming to be from Chile but vanishing the moment her claim is exposed as fiction. He loves her next in Paris, where she appears as the enchanting "Comrade Arlette," an activist en route to Cuba, and becomes his lover,

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Hardcover, 276 pages

Published October 2nd 2007 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (first published 2006)

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Community Reviews

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Sep 23, 2012 Seth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: latin-american-literature

This is the third and most fascinating book I have read by Mario Vargas Llosa. The others were "War of the End of the World" and "Death in the Andes." After reading this relatively modest sample of this literary giant’s oeuvre, I am already certain that he deserved the Nobel Prize for Literature far more than many other recipients.

Vargas Llosa is noteworthy not just as a prolific author but also for his political odyssey. Incidentally, "The Bad Girl" includes some trenchant insights into politi...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Nile daughter rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Nile daughter by: Mashael

Shelves: latin-america, favorites

I kept struggling few days to be able to write a review about this disturbing and enjoyable novel , it was my first read for Llosa and it will not be the last :)
the novel is haunting /page turner whether you agree with its thoughts or not. Some critics linked this novel strongly to Llosa’s obsession with Madame Bovary as we briefly discussed starting from post 61 , but this is not what I am going to discuss in here ; There are other several items to talk about reviewing this novel :

*For the main...more

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Apr 16, 2011 Mashael Alamri rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: latin-literature, translated, favorites

تفاصيلها لذيذه تسير أحداثها بطريقة إستثنائية مليئة بالشيطنات والمصادفات القاتله أحياناً والمخيفة والمفرحه في أحيان أخرى,
قصة حب ما أن تتوهج حتى تعاود الإنطفاء بطريقة مليئة بالغموض هي عدة قنابل بفتيل قصير الأمد ككل أنواع القنابل تخلف دمار حتى بعد الترميم يبقى الأثر وعلى أنقاضة ( الطفل الطيب ) كما يحلو (للطفلة الخبيثه ) تسميته, كل أحداث ذلك الحب تسير بتوازي في الرواية مع ( أوضاع البيرو ) من ثورة وإنقلابات وتردي معيشي وما إلى ذلك من الأحداث التي تجيء لريكاردوا على هيئة رسائل قادمة من البيرو من أحد...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Jason added it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2009

The book begins innocently enough. It is the childhood of the narrator and he falls in love, hard, with Lilly, a Chilean girl who is beautiful and vivacious, but while they are always together and share some romantic exchanges, she refuses his attempts for her to be going stead with him.

So begins a series of chapters, each one separated by some time (sometimes decades, sometimes months) in which the Chilean girl of his youth drifts in and out of his life. He becomes the good boy and she the bad...more

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Feb 03, 2008 Michael rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Puedo fechar con exactitud cuando lei este libro: entre el 2 y el 3 de febrero del 2008, mientras convalecia de una gripe que me tenia ya 3 dias sin salir de la casa.

Anticipaba el placer de leer, mientras hacia lo posible por terminar "Lord of the Flies", que francamente termine de leer por esa obligacion estupida, impuesta solo por mi, de terminar lo que comienzo a leer. Y es que Vargas Llosa tiene algunos libros que me parecen estupendos: La Guerra del Fin del Mundo, La Fiesta del Chivo, Hist...more

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Mar 24, 2012 ميّ أحمد rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: روايات

* لا تقرأ إن كنت لم تتطلع على الرواية بعد

أرعبتني جدا هذه الرواية بكل هذه العلاقات المضطربة يا إلهي هل يوجد في مثل هذا العالم مثل ريكارديتو ، هذا الرجل الطيب الذي وقع في حب فتاة لا تجيد سوى الأخذ دون أن تعرف أن الأخذ في عرف الناس الأسوياء يعني عطاءا بالمقابل على الرغم من المهانة التي تلقاها الرجل الملائكي في طريقة حبه إلا أنه استمر محبا حتى النهاية
هل هي قصة حب إنها بلا شك أكثر من ذلك
قرأتُ رواية وحيدة ليوسا قبل ذلك وكانت هي الفردوس على الناصية الأخرى وهي الرواية التي أبعدتني عن طريق يوسا وهذه ال...more * لا تقرأ إن كنت لم تتطلع على الرواية بعد

أرعبتني جدا هذه الرواية بكل هذه العلاقات المضطربة يا إلهي هل يوجد في مثل هذا العالم مثل ريكارديتو ، هذا الرجل الطيب الذي وقع في حب فتاة لا تجيد سوى الأخذ دون أن تعرف أن الأخذ في عرف الناس الأسوياء يعني عطاءا بالمقابل على الرغم من المهانة التي تلقاها الرجل الملائكي في طريقة حبه إلا أنه استمر محبا حتى النهاية
هل هي قصة حب إنها بلا شك أكثر من ذلك
قرأتُ رواية وحيدة ليوسا قبل ذلك وكانت هي الفردوس على الناصية الأخرى وهي الرواية التي أبعدتني عن طريق يوسا وهذه الرواية التي أظن إنها ستجعلني أستعيد الرغبة في قراءة يوسا من جديد
كان من الغريب تواجد كثرة الصدف التي أتاحتها الحياة لهذين المتنافرين لأن يلتقيا هكذا بدا لي الأمر خارج عن المعقول فالصدف لا يمكن أن تتكرر بكل هذا الكم وبإتساع قارة غير أنني وضعت تفسيرا بدا لي معقولا أيضا ربما قد يكون منطقيا أن الأشياء التي نفكر بها بإخلاص تأتي إلينا تلقائيا إن كنت شخصا تؤمن بوجود الإشارات لعلك ستؤمن بمثل هذه الفكرة مثلي

من جماليات الرواية بعيدا عن قصة الحب الفضاء المكاني المتسع والتاريخي للكثير من الأحداث كالثورة في بيرو وحرب العصابات وظهور الهيبيز في بريطانياإلخ كما إن الرسائل التي ربطت بين خال ريكاردو وبينه كانت بمثابة الخيط الذي يربط الإنسان بالوطن مهما طال غيابه كانت إشارة لافتة للنظر

السؤال التي لم يبرح ذاكرتي بعد ما انتهيتُ من القراءة ترى هل كانت عدالة السماء أن تصاب طفلة خبيثة بمرض خبيث
وهل لو لم تصب بهذا المرض هل كانت لتعود لتنهي آخر أيامها في احضان رجلها المحب

النساء وما أدراكم مالنساء :)(less)

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Apr 14, 2013 Lona rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

(view spoiler)...more

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May 13, 2012 Abdullah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

- لا أنصح بالاطلاع لمن لم يقرأ الرواية حتى الآن

سأبقى للعيش في طوكيو ، و إذا لم أستطع أن أقتل فوكودا ، سأقنع بأن أكون كلبك ، مثلما أنتِ كلبة الوغد *. ريكاردو

ليلي التشيلية الطفلة الصغيرة التي تجيد رقصة المامبو .
الرفيقة آرليت التي التحقت بمعسكرات الثورة ، تلك التي لا تملك سلاحاً سوى جسدها الناعم .
المدام أرنو ، المتفرنسة و المتغطرسة ، كالعادة أول الحضور في الأوبرا .
ميسز ريتشاردسون ، زوجة مربي الخيول الانكليزي الشهير و سيّدة احتفالات لندن .
آنسة كوريكو ، الذراع الأيمن لرجل المافيا اليابانية فوكودا .
ع...more

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Nov 05, 2008 Mary Ann Munoz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who enjoy romance books

The main character, Ricardo has always been in love with the "bad girl"; she is his obsession. His feelings for the bad girl have taken him across the world and back only to have his heart broken over and over again. He manages to overcome his feelings for sometime but always returns with an open heart.

The theme of my book is that you cannot buy happiness, no matter how much money or power your lover has, if you do not truly care for the person- you will not be happy.

When I think about the st...more

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Apr 12, 2008 Maria rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ricardo ve cumplido, a una edad muy temprana, el sueño que en su Lima natal alimentó desde que tenía uso de razón: vivir en París. Pero el rencuentro con un amor de adolescencia lo cambiará todo. La joven, inconformista, aventurera, pragmática e inquieta, lo arrastrará fuera del pequeño mundo de sus ambiciones.

Testigos de épocas convulsas y florecientes en ciudades como Londres, París, Tokio o Madrid, que aquí son mucho más que escenarios, ambos personajes verán sus vidas entrelazarse sin llegar...more

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Jan 21, 2008 Sara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I became completely mesmerized by this book of obsessive love. The bad girl is a Peruvian girl the narrator knew when he was a boy, and she keeps coming in and out of his life in different identities. The more cruel she is to him, the more he loves her. But this intelligent, articulate, sensitive man is powerless to his obsession. He tries repeatedly to free himself from her spell, but he can't. He can't explain her power over him. I find that fascinating, haunting, and sad. She became the centr...more

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Jul 15, 2011 عبد الحميد بوحسين rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

لمن يريد ان يقرأ و ينسى،الرواية تافهة ،محبوكة بمصادفات غير قابلة للتصديق،لكن بطلي الرواية استفادا من تذاكر سفر مجانية و غير مبررة ،ثرثرة قد تكون مسلية،لكنها ثمرة خرف واضح أنه يصيب بعض الكتاب مع اقتراب نهاية مشوارهم الحياتي
دون هم وجودي يحفر للبحث عن إنسانيتنا المنزوية في ركن ما...
بطل الرواية يثير الشفقة،تلك الشفقة الرخيصة التي نمنحها للأغبياء،
آسف سيد يوسا أنا لن أمنحك أي نوبل،كل ما يمكن أن أعد به هو مكان هادئ في الرف المخصص للكتب المنسية

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Feb 05, 2011 Reemawi added it · review of another edition

Shelves: translated

The Bad Girl is one of those books that epic stories are made of, and I bet that anyone who will read it will find it hard to put down.

Ricardo Somocurcio, a Peruvian expatriate whose goals in life are to live in Paris and be with the woman he's known and loved since he was a teenager, is the kind of character women wish was real. His bad girl is the character readers will love to hate as she tortures him and brutally takes advantage of his love for her.

At times I found myself getting really fru...more The Bad Girl is one of those books that epic stories are made of, and I bet that anyone who will read it will find it hard to put down.

Ricardo Somocurcio, a Peruvian expatriate whose goals in life are to live in Paris and be with the woman he's known and loved since he was a teenager, is the kind of character women wish was real. His bad girl is the character readers will love to hate as she tortures him and brutally takes advantage of his love for her.

At times I found myself getting really frustrated with Ricardo's naivete when it came to the bad girl, but unwavering love is after all the theme of this novel. Ricardo's devotion, however, is only what makes him a perfect character in the writing sense. I can't help but think of Ernest Hemmingway and his tradition of creating characters with a weakness he loved to place all kinds of stress and pressure on in order to create conflict, which is very much the case in The Bad Girl. Such characters are the quintessential homo fictus types all writers dream of creating with the impeccable skill that Mario Vargas Llosa possesses and demonstrates in this novel that moves at a perfect pace and never leaves the reader feeling bored.

Llosa writes about love in all its beauty and ugliness, and trust me, love is ugly when someone like the bad girl is on the receiving end. Aside from the not-so-cheesy love story, the way with which Llosa weaves world history into a very personal account of a very well fleshed out character is eye opening; it is what makes this novel above being just about a guy who let a woman walk all over him. Llosa is a skilled writer who was able to create characters that enter your world and become so real while you read, that when it's time to say goodbye to them it's as hard as saying goodbye to a group of friends you spent a lot of time with and who must pack up and leave. I was sad to be done with this book and highly recommend it to anyone looking for an account of a love that is one in a bazillion-- it's for all the hopeless romantics out there.(less)

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Feb 23, 2009 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 19, 2008 Kary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Kary by: M.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. La obra se centra en Ricardo, un chico con la sola ambición de vivir en Paris, y como luego de conocer a Lily, una llamativa muchachita de Chile que con su rápido hablar y destreza para el baile logra que él se enamore perdidamente. Ella, como se puede constatar al adentrarse en la novela, es una chica si aparentes virtudes, ambiciosa, egoísta, con una sed de alcanzar un buen estatus y conseguir dinero; por lo cual, nunca se llega a saber exactamente qué había hecho para traer a Ricardito como...more La obra se centra en Ricardo, un chico con la sola ambición de vivir en Paris, y como luego de conocer a Lily, una llamativa muchachita de Chile que con su rápido hablar y destreza para el baile logra que él se enamore perdidamente. Ella, como se puede constatar al adentrarse en la novela, es una chica si aparentes virtudes, ambiciosa, egoísta, con una sed de alcanzar un buen estatus y conseguir dinero; por lo cual, nunca se llega a saber exactamente qué había hecho para traer a Ricardito como loco.

En un abrir y cerrar de ojos se llega a París, donde vemos a Ricardo cumpliendo su sueño de vivir en la llamada Ciudad de las Luces. Es ahora un traductor, con un salario modesto que le da la suficiente soltura para vivir con comodidad y hasta disfrutar de los placeres culturales de la época. Por cosas del destino, se vuelve a encontrar con la niña mala, quien luego de descubrirse que no era chilena nada, había desaparecido del mapa. Ahora su nombre es camarada Arlette, y es una guerrillera con ansías de viajar a Cuba, para asistir con la revolución.

Es así como se sigue desarrollando la obra, siendo la niña mala un ser cambiante, casi camaleónico, que se adapta al país y al ambiente en el que se llegara a encontrar; una mujer de mil rostros (llámese Otilita, Kuriko, M, hábil para enredar a los hombres y conseguir lo que se propone, que no le importa destruir familias con sus travesuras. Mientras que Ricardo lo único que busca es estar con ella, siendo para él una obsesión, una “enfermedad” como lo catalogaría años después; tanto así que la persigue, no importa si sea Londres, Madrid, Tokio o de vuelta a París.

“Travesuras de la niña mala” es un retrato, aunque un tanto exagerado y, por supuesto, novelístico, de cómo el amor no siempre es perfecto, ni lleno de serenatas a la luz de la luna ni de cartas de amor. Aquí se presenta como el amor está también lleno de sinsabores, desencantos y cómo puede llegar a convertirse en la perdición de una persona. Ricardo es un enfermo, su amor por la niña mala es una enfermedad que no se cura ni con todas las humillaciones, los engaños y todo el dolor que le causa. Él lo sabe, pero de igual manera no puede evitarlo. Es casi como si lo único que le da sentido a su vida es la expectativa de volverla a ver, completamente cambiada, pero siendo, de alguna manera, la misma persona.

Es, esencialmente, una novela que trata sobre el amor. El amor en todos sus sentidos, sea amor verdadero, pasajero, no correspondido; no importa, trata sobre eso. Pero el que más salta a la vista es el amor enfermizo, ese que crea codependencia en una de las partes envueltas en la relación, ese que aun conociendo que la otra persona nunca podrá quererlo igual, que hasta cierto punto lo desprecia, hace que siga ahí. Ricardo le da todo cuanto tiene, es más, podría decirse hasta que la adora; pero ni aun así la niña mala demuestra sentirse de la misma manera para con él. Depende de él, sí, lo necesita y acepta que esté junto a ella, pero no lo ama y esto se refleja en la facilidad que tiene para abandonarlo por cualquiera que considere mejor, quien pueda darle más facilidades, lujos, etc. Aun cuando las elecciones de pareja que hace la niña mala a lo largo de su vida no han resultado como había esperado, sigue, hasta el final, sin reciprocar el amor de Ricardo, con quien se llega a casar finalmente para solucionar “problemas burocráticos”, para luego abandonarlo una vez más. Sólo cuando siente que su vida está llegando a su fin, es que decide quedarse con él, alegando que “he decidido poner punto final a mis locuras. Voy a pasar mis últimos años con mi marido. Siendo una esposa modelo”. Y Ricardo le cree, porque su amor, su obsesión por ella, pueden más que la razón, que le grita a toda voz que ella no es de confiar.

Así es como, sin pedirle más que unas cuantas explicaciones, Ricardo y la niña mala pasan juntos los últimos días de la vida de ésta. Se mudan a una casita en las afueras de Sète, ella muy enferma y él cuidándola y procurando hacer su vida lo más cómoda y lo más plácida posible. Al final, la niña mala, consciente de que no vivirá muchos días más, le comenta mientras veían el crepúsculo desde su jardín, “Por lo menos, confiesa que te he dado tema para una novela. ¿No, niño bueno?”(less)

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May 03, 2013 Dragica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Priča o dvoje ljudi, muškarcu i ženi,
istovremeno nesavršenim i savršenim jedno za drugo, čijoj ljubavi, strasti, požudi, zavisnosti nije moglo ništa pa ni prkos vremena (40-ak godina poznanstva i stalne agonije).

Iako se radnja romana pokreće u Latinskoj Americi (Peru) a dosta se situacija dešava na raznim kontinentima i državama, većina radnje se odvija u Prizu (Francuska), gradu ljubavi i požude, gradu koji toliko odgovara i predstavlja upečatljivi simbol odnosa "dobarog dječaka" i "nevaljale...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Rick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

The Bad Girl is my first read work by Llosa and I enjoyed it very much. Llosa pulls off a difficult trick in taking a long look at a relationship that repeats a dysfunctional pattern over years without the relationship or two main characters becoming tedious, dislikable, or unsympathetic. The Bad Girl of the title is self-described as such and lives up to that name not just in the coquettish sense of the term but also in the consequential sense: she lies, she seduces, she uses, she abandons. She...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Semina rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm not sure how to rate this. I'm not even sure what to think of it.
I've been meaning to read this book for a while, but didn't have the opportunity until now. The main reason why I wanted to read it is the fact that the author got the Nobel prize in literature for it.
I guess the author wanted to enhance the meaning of Ricardo's and BG's (Bad Girl, I'll refer her as that because she has so many names)relationship by giving them absolutely opposite personalities. Ricardo is a man from upper m...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, drama, romance

We all know a bad girl. She’s the one who leaves when you least expect it, throwing your heart in a blender and running off with some rich asshole that treats her worse than she accused you of treating her. In this novel, Mario Vargas Llosa explores the psychology of obsessive love, the dynamics of fate, and the capability of a good person transofmring a morally corrupt one. I was so engrossed in the story that I felt my heart racing during scenes that had no action at all: scenes of drama, trau...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Monthly Book Group rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

‘The Bad Girl’ has been compared with ‘Madame Bovary’, by Llosa himself as well as others. However, we felt that the comparison was rather stretched. Like Madame Bovary, the bad girl is seeking escape from her circumstances in pursuit of a flawed ideal. But Madame Bovary’s ideal is romantic, whereas the bad girl’s is financial: the ‘high life’ at any emotional cost. A similarity does exist however in that each of them pays a heavy price for their ‘escape’. We felt that Llosa was less judgemental...more ‘The Bad Girl’ has been compared with ‘Madame Bovary’, by Llosa himself as well as others. However, we felt that the comparison was rather stretched. Like Madame Bovary, the bad girl is seeking escape from her circumstances in pursuit of a flawed ideal. But Madame Bovary’s ideal is romantic, whereas the bad girl’s is financial: the ‘high life’ at any emotional cost. A similarity does exist however in that each of them pays a heavy price for their ‘escape’. We felt that Llosa was less judgemental about his characters however, and both the narrator Ricardo and the subject of his obsession, the bad girl, are treated sympathetically. The even-handedness of Llosa’s account of the bad girl was evidenced by the range of opinions about her in our group. Some saw her primarily as a victim, others as a selfish predator. She had elements of the classic ‘femme fatale’ of noir fiction and film, using her looks and charm ruthlessly to get what she wanted, and not hesitating to break up families and embark on bigamy. As for Ricardo, we noted that he too had a fascination with the exotic – represented in his case both by the bad girl herself and by the attraction of life in Paris. Like her, he is following his dream, although he is considerably more timid, and only at the very end of the story is it implied that he will produce the work of literature (the book itself) which will transcend his role as a humble translator of the words of others.

We agreed that the book was a superbly ‘easy read’, being very linear in structure and engaging in its content. Because of the range of characters and locations, each chapter felt like a new short story, although continuing the main thread of the narrative. There was one reader who felt that sometimes we got too much circumstantial detail about Ricardo’s daily life, and another who thought background research had been a little too overtly displayed. However, these were minor objections. We discussed whether it would make a good film, which raised the question of how the highly explicit sex scenes would be handled. It was agreed that these were not pornographic, since the writing did not seem calculated to titillate. It was pointed out that in today’s cinema, explicit sex scenes had become widely accepted. There was also some discussion of the portrayal of the bad girl as a woman with a deep need to be dominated, as demonstrated by her acquiescence in the degrading treatment meted out by Fukuda. Equally disturbing was her comment when Ricardo, for the only time in his life, hits her: “You’re learning how to treat women, Ricardito.” A comparison was drawn (not in terms of literary merit!) with the current best-seller of the moment, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, which takes as its premise a female’s need for submission and rough treatment….

This is an extract from a review at: http://www.monthlybookgroup.com/ Our reviews are also to be found at http://monthlybookgroup.blogspot.com/

(less)

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Dec 14, 2012 Robert rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was introduced to the writing of Mario Vargas Llosa in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 1980 in part because he had written his great novel, Conversations in the Cathedral, in Cochabamba (he was not welcome in his native Peru at the time.) My host said I therefore had to read it and gave me his personal copy. Soon a basic question presented itself that remains valid: What is there to compare with Conversations in the Cathedral for sensuous corruption, betrayal, a society in decay, a politics of crimina...more I was introduced to the writing of Mario Vargas Llosa in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 1980 in part because he had written his great novel, Conversations in the Cathedral, in Cochabamba (he was not welcome in his native Peru at the time.) My host said I therefore had to read it and gave me his personal copy. Soon a basic question presented itself that remains valid: What is there to compare with Conversations in the Cathedral for sensuous corruption, betrayal, a society in decay, a politics of criminality? Something by Balzac or Conrad? Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men?
Strange, because Cochabamba is a delightful town full of light, flowers, good beer, and magnificent filet mignon, but the young Vargas Llosa had a somber tale to tell, and he told it with riveting power. His account of Peru in the 1950s enveloped me. Here was one of the great Latin American writers of the latter half of the 20th century, young but already in full stride.
Vargas Llosa has written many novels since then, including The Bad Girl (2006), the subject of this review. All of them are marked by his fluid narrative style, his quick eye, his feel for the tragically comic in life, and that perplexing vividness manifested by characters who hide everything and nothing at the same time--always declaiming, always obscuring...making great speeches while hiding great secrets.
The Bad Girl tells the tale of a middle-class Peruvian boy whose life’s aspiration is to live and die in Paris and a lower class Peruvian girl--a con artist of the first order--whose life’s aspiration is to live far beyond the means of that unambitious boy, torment him for loving her, and wreck herself with greed, resentment, and daring.
Of course this sounds like a dreary, horrific book, and in substance, it is. Yet somehow Vargas Llosa pulls off the feat of portraying “the bad girl” tormenting every man she seduces and subjecting herself, at the same time, to increasing levels of physical and psychological abuse without losing touch with the story’s, and the bad girl’s, fundamental élan.
She is a poor kid in Lima who wants better...all the time better. She is an impostor. She is a liar. She is foolish enough to fall into the hands of a sadistic voyeur in Tokyo whose practices half ruin both her vagina and her rectum. She is foolish enough never to let Ricardo Samocurcio hold onto her and keep her well. But she, and he, somehow stagger forward, decade after decade, falling out and then getting back together against his better judgment (he can’t help himself) and hers (she can’t help herself either.)
So what we have here is the history of a passion and a perversion, a reinterpretation of a love story that not even Shakespeare would dare. Only the “Lesbia” of Catullus approaches, it seems to me, the levels of degradation and torment the bad girl forces on Ricardo. Odi et amo, Catullus wrote: I hate and I love. Something of the same goes on here. The bad girl is Ricardo’s Lesbia. He sees this clearly...he swears her off...but when finally she is about to die...what do you think, does he take her back?
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Dec 03, 2012 Sandra Grauschopf rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012, for-gabi

I feel like I "should" give this novel four stars, but I can't honestly said that I did more than "liked it" so I'm sticking with three.

The novel covers a decades-long relationship between Ricardo, a "good boy" and his love, a "bad girl."

Ricardo is an absolute milquetoast of a character. His lifelong dream is a simple one -- to live in Paris -- and he achieves that dream as a young man. He then continues to muddle about in life, doing everything he can to have as little character as possible.

H...more I feel like I "should" give this novel four stars, but I can't honestly said that I did more than "liked it" so I'm sticking with three.

The novel covers a decades-long relationship between Ricardo, a "good boy" and his love, a "bad girl."

Ricardo is an absolute milquetoast of a character. His lifelong dream is a simple one -- to live in Paris -- and he achieves that dream as a young man. He then continues to muddle about in life, doing everything he can to have as little character as possible.

His choice of profession, an interpreter, is one that abrogates his sense of self. He doesn't actually speak, he simply is a medium that other peoples' words pass through. He is on the outskirts of several important political movements -- war in Peru, the hippie movement, more -- but doesn't really partake in any of them. He is a moderately happy nobody.

The only thing that makes him at all remarkable is his love or obsession for the Bad Girl, who is his polar opposite. For the Bad Girl (we're forced to call her that, since she changes names like she changes her clothing), only one thing means security -- money, and a lot of it. She is constantly looking to trade her beauty and veracity for a man who will pamper her monetarily and emotionally, while still letting her have her freedom.

Unfortunately, she finds only one or the other. She has a string of men with money, and she has Ricardo, the good boy, to love her wholly and unconditionally. She is incapable of settling for either/or, and bounces back and forth between men who can offer her emotional safety and men who can offer her monetary safety.

(view spoiler)

Personally, I found the book really dragged at the beginning, but eventually began to pick up speed in the second half. Although I wasn't able to really feel a connection with either character, their story of two people who were almost perfect for each other, resulting in them being absolutely toxic for each other, was compelling. I would recommend it to people who enjoy complex love stories.

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Aug 22, 2012 Abigail rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Travesuras de una niña mala
El protagonista de esta novela está enamorado de una mujer que se aprovecha de su devoción hacia ella. Como marco histórico encontramos la depresión de Perú y sus luchas intestinas, país a donde el protagonista pertenece. La lectura es amena fluida con descripciones de vívidas imágenes muy bien logradas.
El protagonista es un traductor de la Unesco cuya única ambición es vivir en Paris. A través de la lectura, lo vemos viviendo su sueño, sin desear nada más y con el tem...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Pablo Torres Corpus rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

TRAVESURAS DE LA NIÑA MALA.
No todas las novelas de Mario Vargas Llosa son buenas, pero no podemos dejar de reconocerle su incesante búsqueda de nuevas formas narrativas y figuras literarias que enriquezcan el lenguaje. “Travesuras de la niña mala” es una entretenida y ligera narración llena de amor, en esta novela todo gira alrededor de una sola historia: la de los amores de Ricardo “el niño bueno” y Lily “la niña mala”, y aunque cada capítulo ocurre en una ciudad distinta (Lima, Londres, Tokio,...more

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Sep 18, 2011 سمية عبد العزيز rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

الأدب اللاتيني = الشغف

لا يمكن أو لم يحدث لي أن قرأت في الأدب اللاتيني بدون أن أشعر بذلك الشغف يتدفق إلى قلبي
الشغف بكل شيء، الحياة، الحب، الحرية، الكتابة، القراءة

فارغاس لوسا ساحر الكلمات وانك لتتسائل كيف لهذا الشخص المرهف أن يكون مولعاً بالسياسية ؟!
كرسام ماهر يعتني لوسا بالتفاصيل فتغرق معه في وصف لا يمل أبداً يعنى بالإنسان والروح الانسانية بشفافية ومهارة تزيد حين يمزجها بالأحداث السياسية والاقتصادية
هذا المزج الذي لا يقدر عليه أي شخص يحاول أن يقول لنا أن الإنسان يتكون وتتكون روحه في النهاية من مج...more
الأدب اللاتيني = الشغف

لا يمكن أو لم يحدث لي أن قرأت في الأدب اللاتيني بدون أن أشعر بذلك الشغف يتدفق إلى قلبي
الشغف بكل شيء، الحياة، الحب، الحرية، الكتابة، القراءة

فارغاس لوسا ساحر الكلمات وانك لتتسائل كيف لهذا الشخص المرهف أن يكون مولعاً بالسياسية ؟!
كرسام ماهر يعتني لوسا بالتفاصيل فتغرق معه في وصف لا يمل أبداً يعنى بالإنسان والروح الانسانية بشفافية ومهارة تزيد حين يمزجها بالأحداث السياسية والاقتصادية
هذا المزج الذي لا يقدر عليه أي شخص يحاول أن يقول لنا أن الإنسان يتكون وتتكون روحه في النهاية من مجموعة أشياء أحدها البيئة حوله

تأثير البيئة على الإنسان تختلف من شخص لآخر فيغرق في وحلها أشخاص، ويتحداها آخرون، بينما يجدها البعض مروغاً للإحتيال والتلاعب
في الشخصيتين الرئيسية للرواية نجد هذا واضحاً حين نقارن بين ريكارديتو وبين الطفلة الخبيثة متعددة الأسماء
لا يحاول يوسا أن يبرر لنا خبثها وشقاوتها لكنك تستطيع أن تقرأ بين السطور من يقول أنها غير ملامة طبقاُ للبيئة التي عاشتها وهي طفلة

النقطة الأهم أن يوسا يشرح النفس الإنسانية بكل رغباتها بما في ذلك الجسدية لكن بعيداً عن الايروتيكية
وفي حديثه عن الثورة والسياسية في البيرو ما يمكنك من ادخال "تاريخية" كأحد تصانيف الرواية

كثير من شخصيات الرواية مثيرة للإهتمام
شخصيات حية تنبض بالحياة بين دفتي كتاب
لكن للأسف كما العادة لا نعطي لأنفسنا الوقت اللازم لكتابة ريفيو مطول (less)

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Aug 17, 2011 Suzel rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club

As dicotomias Masculino/Bom e Feminino/Mau, cedo e explicitamente introduzidas, parecem-me demasiado simplistas e pouco tratadas.
É uma moral muito católica e certinha que chega muito cedo na historia e da qual já estamos todos um bocadinho fartos: a mulher que não se porta de acordo com as regras de aceitação do sofrimento em que vivemos no mundo e enseja por algo melhor, ainda que pague bem por isso, nunca consegue ser feliz, é uma diabinha que só faz mal aos homens (modelos de virtude) e morr...more

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Aug 07, 2011 Roberto Macias rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Es difícil escribir sobre un libro como "Travesuras de la Niña Mala". Como novela histórica, el periodo que abarca es extenso, y como novela biográfica se enfoca en un personaje mediocre. Esto es intencional, según el mismo vargas Llosa, y creo que el resultado es excelente. Sin embargo, debo confesar que una de las razones por las que me agradó, es debido a mi experiencia como Latino en Europa. La experiencia de los expatriados tiende a tener muchas similitudes, así como los motivos por los cua...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Andrea rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-books

Favorite book of the year, so far. An unabashed love story, about a love that is never quite requited - brilliantly told. This was my first Llosa and will not be my last. Oh, and here is the longer blog post I wrote about The Bad Girl:

To celebrate a friend’s graduation from her MFA program, she and I flew to the Yucatan peninsula for ten days of vacation. In the course of our time in Mexico, we snorkeled amongst a stunning variety of fish and coral; visited the ruins of Tulum and Chichen Itza; s...more Favorite book of the year, so far. An unabashed love story, about a love that is never quite requited - brilliantly told. This was my first Llosa and will not be my last. Oh, and here is the longer blog post I wrote about The Bad Girl:

To celebrate a friend’s graduation from her MFA program, she and I flew to the Yucatan peninsula for ten days of vacation. In the course of our time in Mexico, we snorkeled amongst a stunning variety of fish and coral; visited the ruins of Tulum and Chichen Itza; stayed in the colonial cities of Vallodolid and Merida; saw hundreds of flamingos in Celestun; ate delicious food like queso relleno; swam amongst stalactites in a cenote; and in between doing all this, we read. One of my favorite things about vacation is the permission it gives me to read at odd hours of the day, freed from the grind of only reading before bedtime, or only reading the books most applicable to my teaching or writing. For Mexico, I wanted to read books outside of my ordinary reading list and by Spanish speaking writers. I ended up selecting The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa, a Peruvian writer and 2010 winner of the Nobel Prize, and 2666 by Roberto Bolano, a Chilean born writer who lived much of his adult life in Mexico. I am still reading the latter, but the first book was a wonderful beginning to my vacation.

I read books for the usual reasons. I read to be transported into other worlds, to live inside other people for a time, to gain empathy and understanding, to be moved to tears and laughter, to be frightened, challenged and exhilarated. I read because humans are narrative creatures, and we find meaning, knowledge and transcendence through stories. I also read in order to learn the craft of writing. The two pieces of advice every writer will give when asked what to do in order to learn how to write are summarized as such: to read a lot and to write a lot. That all. But hidden in those simple instructions is the secret that as you read and as you write, you become a better, more careful and insightful reader and writer. You learn how to tear apart texts and interrogate them for their secrets. And as a writer, you begin to learn how to put your imagination into words. In his Nobel Lecture, Llosa talks about this process, saying that:

Writing stories was not easy. When they were turned into words, projects withered on the paper and ideas and images failed. How to reanimate them? Fortunately, the masters were there, teachers to learn from and examples to follow.
Flaubert taught me that talent is unyielding discipline and long patience. Faulkner, that form – writing and structure – elevates or impoverishes subjects. Martorell, Cervantes, Dickens, Balzac, Tolstoy, Conrad, Thomas Mann, that scope and ambition are as important in a novel as stylistic dexterity and narrative strategy. Sartre, that words are acts, that a novel, a play, or an essay, engaged with the present moment and better options, can change the course of history. Camus and Orwell, that a literature stripped of morality is inhuman, and Malraux that heroism and the epic are as possible in the present as is the time of the Argonauts, the Odyssey, and the Iliad.

In order to teach me as a writer, I often seek out the writers who I most closely want to emulate, but I also seek out writers who vividly create their own voice, and who write of worlds I have never seen. While traveling in Mexico, I did not want to read fiction of American worlds that I knew. I travel to move outside the scope of my usual experience, and as such I want my reading to do the same. Llosa comments on this that, “Good literature erects bridges between different peoples, and by having us enjoy, suffer, or feel surprise, unites us beneath the languages, beliefs, habits, customs, and prejudices that separate us.” That is what The Bad Girl accomplishes. Most of the book is set in France, a place Llosa lived as a young writer, and like his main character, it is where he “learned that Peru was part of a vast community united by history, geography, social and political problems, a certain mode of being, and the delicious language it spoke and wrote.” This is the power of traveling, and particularly of living abroad, if only for a short time, because by living abroad you gain perspective of your home. This is even true of living “abroad,” in your own country. For all the doomsday talk of the “strip-malling” of America, where the same stores and corporations are found from sea to shining sea, there is still deep diversity to be found in American culture, language, food, habits, attitudes and religions, but that is not a difference easily seen in movies or television, or even in literature. It is a diversity only understood through traveling.

In the novel, the first person narrator, Ricardo Somocurcio, recounts the narrative arc of his life as it relates to his love for “the bad girl.” We all have many narratives we can tell of our lives. We characterize ourselves as the hero when trying to impress a date; we narrate our work histories when seeking employment, showing how every job was building towards the new job in question; we tell the stories of illnesses, of families, of reading, of disappointments; we tell the stories of love. One of these narratives become our primary narrative, and will remain so until it is replaced by another. For some people, their primary narrative remains the same for their entire life, and others it changes periodically. One may be a parent as your primary narrative, and then find that shifting as your children grow, or you may create and follow a narrative of work identity, or of being a friend, or being a partner or a lover. Somcurcio’s primary narrative was his love for one girl. He did many other things in his life – he learned languages, traveled the world, achieved professional success, made friendships, but the primary narrative of his life, the thing that defined him, was his love for “the bad girl.”

Last week I watched the film, Of Gods and Men, about a monastery caught in the middle of jihadist anti-foreign military and militia conflict in Algeria. The movie is a beautiful recounting of the communal life of the brothers, and the ways their life have intertwined with the Muslim village. And above all, the movie is about love. Love for God, love for people, and love for place. One of the brothers speaks about love, saying that, “Love is eternal hope. Love endures everything.” That, to me, seems the truest encapsulation of not just the movie, but of The Bad Girl, and of my experience of love in general. Love, despite logic and what we would sometimes wish, endures everything. That can be a thing of beauty, of romantic relationships that last for sixty years, of the unbreakable love between parent and child, and of the love of lifelong friendships, but it also means that through love people can become stuck to poisoned relationships and volatile situations. I, and others, have written before of the idea and image of love, whatever the type of love, feeling like a cord binding one soul to another. And when something happens to break off this love, to seemingly sever it, the cruel truth is that “love endures everything,” and thus will not be broken, but instead the cord remains attached, trapped beneath an immovable boulder, blocking you from all knowledge and contact with the one you love, but not severing the eternal hope. That is the central story of The Bad Girl, and that is the central story in Of Gods and Men. Both book and movie are the stories of how we have no choice but to give ourselves over to love, and the way in which we do that defines the type of people we are, and the types of lives we can lead. In the novel, the main character writes that he “fell in love with Lily like a calf,” and that total submission to love is what makes him the man he is, and it is thus what becomes the central narrative of his life. I struggle, like so many, if not all of us do, with the power love has over me, and over my life, but ultimately I must accept that the relationship that I have with love is the defining relationship of my life.

Now that I’m back from Mexico, the things I remember most are the quiet moments. I remember swimming in a cenote, floating inside the earth amongst dangling tree roots and stalactites. I remember the queso relleno I ate in Mexico, a food unlike anything I’d eaten before, wonderfully rich, smooth and layered with flavor. And I remember reading The Bad Girl.(less)

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Jul 25, 2011 Danielle Ryan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my first time reading a novel by Mario Vargas Llosa, but I am hooked! His style of writing is beautiful and leaves me yearning for more.

The Bad Girl reminds me of Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree. In essence it is about a man who keeps giving and a woman who keeps taking, but this story also delves deep into the complexities and intricacies of our need to love and be loved.

On the surface, this novel appears to be another tale of unrequited love. The reader may initially feel drawn to...more

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May 01, 2011 Noce rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: narrativa-sudamericana

Con questo libro ho scoperto che esiste un mestiere che molti nella realtà praticano senza eccellere, ma tra i quali il protagonista di questo romanzo è un maestro senza pari: lo “zerbinaggio” come aspirazione di vita.

Partiamo dall'inizio: Ricardo Somocurcio (oddio ogni volta che leggevo il suo nome per esteso mi veniva in mente quella faccia da cetriolo di Riccardo Scamarcio) abita a Lima. Passa la sua adolescenza tra le strade di Miraflores, in un beato cazzeggio giovanile, scandito da pomerig...more

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About Mario Vargas Llosa

Mario Vargas Llosa, born in Peru in 1936, is the author of some of the most significant writing to come out of South America in the past fifty years. His novels include The Green House, about a brothel in a Peruvian town that brings together the innocent and the corrupt; The Feast of the Goat, a vivid re-creation of the Dominican Republic during the final days of General Rafael Trujillo’s insidiou...more

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Quotes from The Bad Girl

“Sentía una inmensa ternura por ella. Estaba seguro de que la querría siempre, para mi dicha y también mi desdicha.” — 14 people liked it

“The secret to happiness, at least to peace of mind, is knowing how to separate sex from love. And, if possible, eliminating romantic love from your life, which is the love that makes you suffer. That way, I assure you, you live with greater tranquility and enjoy things more.” — 3 people liked it

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