The Time of the Hero in Around the World in 80 Books

Apr 05, 2014 Bogdan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mundus-novus

A very complex novel, with multiple shifting perspectives, sometimes difficult to follow. But it also treats a very sensitive subject: violence, especially at teenagers. Set in a military school from Lima, it reminded me of the reasons I strongly opposed my father's idea when I finished high school, to join the Romanian Army. I also successfully escaped the mandatory military service, as it was abolished in 2007, although I was eligible couple of years before that moment.

The premise, as I explai A very complex novel, with multiple shifting perspectives, sometimes difficult to follow. But it also treats a very sensitive subject: violence, especially at teenagers. Set in a military school from Lima, it reminded me of the reasons I strongly opposed my father's idea when I finished high school, to join the Romanian Army. I also successfully escaped the mandatory military service, as it was abolished in 2007, although I was eligible couple of years before that moment.

The premise, as I explained in my introduction, is about surviving in a violent world. Only the toughest are able to survive and adapt into such a world, while the ones that cannot turn into a brute able to apply physical correction to anyone are destined to dissapear. I believe this premise is admirably delivered and this is why I will give it a 5.

Regarding the form, Vargas Llosa employed many shifting perspectives. At times, I was confused and I felt the need to note down what is the character from which perspective each part is written, then re-read the novel again. I did not do it, but still it was pretty close. This technique adds up a lot of depth to the narration and this is why I will give it a 4 for form.

In terms of originality, I did not read before a similar book. The topic of violence appears in many other novels, but rarely is just this. Most of the time it just comes along with other important premise. I will give it a 5 at originality, as also the narrative technique employed was pretty new.

The characters are all having unique voices and very well constructed. I believe it shows they may have been inspired by the people Mario has met in his experience in the same military school that is the setting of the novel. In such a situation, I will rate it with a 5.

Regarding the complexity and difficulty, I admire the ability of the author to use so many distinctive narrative voices. On the other hand, the complexity generated by the numerous shifts, sometimes without a clear demarcation, makes it pretty hard to follow. So I will rate it with a 4 for complexity and difficulty.

In terms of credibility, as this is inspired by the biographical events from the author's life, I hardly can debate it in terms of credibility. If there were fictionalized events, and I bet there were some, I cannot distinguish them from the others. This is why I will rate it with a 5.

The last criteria is edition. I enjoyed this quality edition with good quality paper and cover. I hardly can find an issue with it. Due to this, I will rate it with a 5.

To summarize, I liked it very much and it helped me recall some interesting things from my teenager years and youth. I strongly believe that there are places and times when the world can be like the one described in this novel, but thank God it is not at all like this for me. The physical violence shifted into other types of violence in most adult societies. All in all, my final rating for this collection is 4.71, which I will round to a 5 on Goodreads system.


+--------------------------+-----------------+
| Criteria | Rating |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Premise | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Form | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Originality | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Characters | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Difficulty/Complexity | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Credibility | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Edition | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Total | 4.71 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+

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Feb 27, 2020 Megan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: translated-lit

It took me awhile to get into because I found it difficult to keep the characters straight with the rotating POV (which I actually suspect was done deliberately) but once the story really started to unfold I could see why both the book and the author get as much acclaim as they do.

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