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What Members Thought
On the surface, the love story between Ricardo and La Niña Mala is immature and repetitive, and I grew to dislike her and resent Ricardo for falling into her various traps over and over again. I very regrettably did not realize that La Niña Mala represents Peru and Vargas Llosa’s complicated relationship with his country until after I’d finished the book. Dang! That puts it all into perspective! There’s a much deeper meaning to Ricardo’s inability to give up hope for a better future with his lif
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Nobody needs to read this book.
Even if you were traveling and this were the only book available in your accommodation's library, I think sitting idly while twiddling your thumbs is a better use of your time.
Quite frankly, I don't know why Vargas Llosa thought this story needed to be told or why his publishers thought it was worthy, nor do I understand why it has such a high rating. I really don't know how to explain how utterly disappointing this book was, but I'll try!
The book follows Peruvian ...more
Even if you were traveling and this were the only book available in your accommodation's library, I think sitting idly while twiddling your thumbs is a better use of your time.
Quite frankly, I don't know why Vargas Llosa thought this story needed to be told or why his publishers thought it was worthy, nor do I understand why it has such a high rating. I really don't know how to explain how utterly disappointing this book was, but I'll try!
The book follows Peruvian ...more
Airplane book. Very good, very literary airplane book. But an airplane book is an airplane book is an airplane book.
Vargas-Llosa-lite but it is still more entertaining and heartfelt than most books
Sep 08, 2013
Ceronne
marked it as to-read
Apr 11, 2019
Gary Dale
marked it as to-read
May 24, 2020
Sarita
rated it
really liked it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
read-2020,
read-around-the-world
Jun 06, 2020
Jonathan
marked it as to-read
May 23, 2021
Pao
marked it as to-read
Jun 14, 2025
Davida "Davi"
marked it as to-read
Jun 25, 2025
Isabel Navarro
added it
