Tuesday, June 17, 2014

The Bad Girl - Mario Vargas Llosa





















The Bad Girl
Written by Mario Vargas Llosa, translated by Edith Grossman
Paperback, 276 pages
Published October 28th 2008 by Picador (first published May 30th 2006)
Original title:  Travesuras de la niña mala
ISBN 031242776X (ISBN13: 9780312427764)
Edition language:  English
Characters:  Ricardo Somocurcio, La niña mala, Paúl, Juan Barreto, Los Gravoski

I wanted to give this one star, but he's a fantastic writer. My discontent lies in that I abhor people who are door mats, fictional narrators or not. If I had to do it over again, I would have stopped when I thought I should - about 30% of the way through, and started reading "Feast of the Goat," which I hope is much better. Unfortunately, the prose and translation kept me going. I've never read "Madame Bovary," which this is a retelling. The "bad girl," the woman so filled with what some critics so ridiculously call "LIFE," (which I call manipulative narcissism), does not treat her readers by committing sweet, sweet suicide like Bovary's Emma. After the 30% mark, I told myself that anything less than a murder-suicide at the end would leave me incensed, and it has. It gets two stars and a commitment to read at least one more Llosa book; a testament to his skill. If the next book delves into this absurd sentimentality, I'll still call him a great writer, but will read no more.