Commentaires client les plus utiles
|
|
5.0étoiles sur 5
Bittersweet Tale of a Sacrificial Llama, Sep 30 2000
Par Un client
A Fish In the Water is Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa's bittersweet tale of the three years he spent in public life and of his quixotic campaign for the presidency of his native Peru.His candidacy, he says, all came about "through the caprice of the wheel of fortune." At the time, he thought his decision to run for president of Peru was a "moral" one. "Circumstances," he writes, "placed me in a position of leadership at a critical moment in the life of my country." But Vargas Llosa is first and foremost a writer, not a politician, and so he has been willing to dig a little deeper into the reasoning behind his decision. "If the decadence, the impoverishment, the terrorism, and the multiple crises of Peruvian society had not made it an almost impossible challenge to govern such a country, it would never have entered my head to accept such a task." Motivation doesn't get much more quixotic than that. Even more engaging than Vargas Llosa's revelations about his unsuccessful foray into the political world, are his reminiscences about his childhood and youth, which he intersperses throughout this book. He begins with a vivid and traumatic memory: the revelation by his mother that his father, whom the author thought had died before his birth, was, in reality, alive and waiting to meet him in a nearby hotel. It was a revelation that Vargas Llosa did not greet with joy. In fiction, the cruelties experienced in childhood might be used to help explain the adult who survived them, but Vargas Llosa wisely makes no attempt to connect the two. The sections regarding the presidential campaign and those on his youth run along parallel tracks, but the story of his early life trails off after his graduation from college and his decision to go to Europe to write. The matter-of-fact air about the stories suggests that Vargas Llosa is more concerned with remembering than with interpreting and analyzing. While the personal memories make for the most compelling reading, the campaign memoir does offer a convincing self-portrait of a political innocent sinking under a tide of democratic absurdities. Wildly popular at first, Vargas Llosa presented a coherent, but harsh, economic plan to his fellow Peruvians and rapidly became Peru's sacrificial llama. Near the end of the campaign, he endured catcalls, stone throwing and scurrilous allegations about almost everything, including his books. Those of us who know and love Vargas Llosa and his books greeted his loss to Alberto Fujimori with more than one sigh of relief. But anyone who has an interest in the gorgeous landscape of Peru, Latin American politics, or the magnificent works of Mario Vargas Llosa will find this book essential reading.
|
|
|
4.0étoiles sur 5
EL PEZ EN EL AGUA MUESTRA LA PSICOLOGIA DEL PERSONAJE-AUTOR, Aoû 23 1998
Par Un client
,ESTA HISTORIA TIENE DOS HILOS CONDUCTUALES,LA PRIMERA SE TRATA DE LA BIBLIOGRAFIA DEL AUTOR QUE ABARCA SU INFANCIA,SU NIÑEZ,LA ADOLESCENCIA,ESTAS ETAPAS VAN ACOMPAÑADAS DE UNA SERIE DE SUCESOS IMPORTANTES EN EL PERSONAJE,COMO LA LLEGADA DE SU PADRE,LA TIA JULIA CON LA CUAL LLEGA A CASARSE(,AL RESPECTO HAY UN OBRA DEL AUTOR:LA TIA JULIA Y EL ESCRIBIDOR )ESTO TIENE COMO ESCENARIO DIVERSAS ZONAS DEL PERU,COMO AREQUIPA,CIUDAD NATAL DEL AUTOR Y PIURA ,SITUADA AL NORTE DEL PERU ,LA CUAL JUEGA UN ROL IMPORTANTE EN EL DESEMPEÑO DE LA OBRA .EL OTRO HILO CONDUCTUAL,ES LA ENTRADA EN LA POLITICA DESDE 1987,EN ESE AÑO EL Y SUS AMIGOS PARTICIPAN DE UNA MANIFESTACION EN CONTRA DE LA NACIONALIZACION DE LA BANCA,ESTE HECHO COYUNTURAL ES EL INICIO DE UNA CARRERA POLITICA QUE LO VA ARRASTRANDO HASTA LLEGAR A SER CANDIDATO PARA LA PRESIDENCIA DEL PERU.ESTA ETAPA SE PODRIA RESUMIR COMO ELINGRESO DE UN ESCRITOR EN LA VIDA POLITICA LO CUAL, CONLLEVA A CONO CER LA REALIDAD DE UN PAIS ,SUS PROBLEMAS Y LA CLASE DE POLITICA QUE RIGE ESTE PAIS.POR ULTIMO CONSIDERO QUE ESTE LIBRO ES UNA CATARSISS DEL AUTOR,DE LA VIDA POLITICA QUE LLEVO DURANTE 3 AÑOS Y QUE LE LLEVO A OMITIR MUCHAS COSAS PERO DE LA CUAL TAMBIEN APRENDIO MUCHO.
|
|
|
5.0étoiles sur 5
The extraordinary life of an extraordinary writer, Jui 10 1997
Par Un client
This book should be in everyone's reading list
A Fish In The Water is a fascinating book that works on many levels,
as a memoir of an extraordinary childhood
as a portrait of families in transition (his parents', his grandparents', his own) throughout the years,
as a coming of age story
a chronicle of a grueling political campaign
a snapshot of a complex society that for many of us, even those born and raised in Latin America, remains a mystery,
a statement of the author's political beliefs, and their evolution throughout the years,
and as a saga of the writer's beginnings as he evolved to become one of the premier authors of our times.
This candid, at times unflinchingly honest, book rivals some of the outstanding memoirs of or times (such as Speak, Memory, and others) in richness, texture, and quality of detail. The dual structure brings to mind the "vasos comunicantes" of his work in fiction, overlapping the early years with the political campaign. A master of the Spanish language, and of characterization, theme, and plot, Vargas Llosa has earned an eminent place in contemporary literature. This is one of his outstanding works, a diamond among gems.
Fifty years from now, people might not remember who was president of Peru, but I'm willing to bet that in five hundred years from now Mario Vargas Llosa's work will continue to dazzle.
|
|
|
|
