Mario Vargas Llosa: The Green House

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(way too many American flags here....)

The prolific Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa is according to many, THE Voice of Latin American literature. He is well known for his political activism and has a long tenure as a high profile spokesman for Spanish language letters. In 1994 he was the recipient of the prestigious Miguel De Cervantes Prize. His oeuvre spans journalism, fiction, criticism and drama. Having only read his War at the End of the World oh so many years ago, I picked his second novel 1965’s, The Green House to review. Some critics hold this up as his most important work. Being a glutton for punishment, I opted for it since its also thought of as his most difficult novel.
Viscera.
There is no single protagonist per se, rather there are intertwined narratives focusing around six major characters who are all inhabitants of the Piura region of northwest Peru. Their story is gradually re-constructed in Llosa’s narrative kaleidoscope which I will visit in Bones. The novel’s plot, which as readers of Traces know by now usually is not summarized, is complicated. Suffice to say its synopsis would be a feat in itself…But since it IS a challenge, here is a rough sketch anyway:
In the rural village of Santa María de Nieva, lives Bonifacia, a young Aruguna Indian who is a nun-in-waiting. She lets two Aruguna Indian girls out of the convent’s enclosed yard to escape, as they were forcibly taken from their jungle huts by soldiers in an attempt to ‘civilize’ them. After she is expelled from the convent one narrative follows her trajectory from Nun to prostitute (as ‘Wildflower’) and her relationships that will affect the five other main characters. Meanwhile another storyline follows the life of Don Anselmo, a stranger who appears one day and endears himself to the townspeople, later he becomes the proprietor of The Green House, a brothel he has built at the edge of town. After a debacle and tragedy (no plot spoiled here) he undergoes a transformation of sorts and becomes a quasi-orphic figure known as ‘the harp player’. Simultaneously related is the story of the fugitive Japanese Trader Fushía and his part in the development of the region against the backdrop of the story of the Lituma, a soldier and local home town favorite who becomes a ‘cop’ and is sent by the corrupt Governor to put a stop to the exploitation by the Rubber traders (who compete with the equally corrupt Governor) of the indigenous Indian tribes. Then we have the side story of Lalita, wife of first Fushía, then Adrían Nieves, who uses the men as they use her. Lastly is the story of the river ‘pilot’ Adrían Nieves, whose actions interrelate with all the above mentioned as he is relied on as a navigator who plies his boat on the jungle rivers, facilitating at different points, both the illegal traders and the soldiers who will later hunt him.

Complete Review here.




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[Daniel del Real]

Well, I read this novel so long ago (I'd say, six or seven years) that I don't remember much of it, and that is the main problem, I think it's the only Vargas Llosa novel I don't remember. By some reason or another all the other novels seemed to stick in my mind and this one failed. I wouln't say it's the most complex or the most ambitious, it is a mix of those two qualities that for me it didn't totally work. At the end I had the feeling that all the characters, stories and situations didn't fit together as well as the author would've wanted. The puzzle he intented to solve remained unsolved. Characters are not as well defined as many others he has, and the story in my point of view, was monotone and tedious. Maybe I'm being very hard with The Green House, but I think even tough I can say it still a good book, it is the weakest novel I've read from him along his last one Travesuras de la Niña Mala.
If he ever wins the Nobel, it has to be for works like La Guerra del Fin del Mundo, La Fiesta del Chivo or El Paraíso en la Otra Esquina.

[Raphael Lambach]

Originally Posted by Daniel del Real

Well, I read this novel so long ago (I'd say, six or seven years) that I don't remember much of it, and that is the main problem, I think it's the only Vargas Llosa novel I don't remember. By some reason or another all the other novels seemed to stick in my mind and this one failed. I wouln't say it's the most complex or the most ambitious, it is a mix of those two qualities that for me it didn't totally work. At the end I had the feeling that all the characters, stories and situations didn't fit together as well as the author would've wanted. The puzzle he intented to solve remained unsolved. Characters are not as well defined as many others he has, and the story in my point of view, was monotone and tedious. Maybe I'm being very hard with The Green House, but I think even tough I can say it still a good book, it is the weakest novel I've read from him along his last one Travesuras de la Niña Mala.
If he ever wins the Nobel, it has to be for works like La Guerra del Fin del Mundo, La Fiesta del Chivo or El Paraíso en la Otra Esquina.

I'm reading Green House, the most complex Llosa's novel. Every line seems single at the same time it makes sense with the whole text. I like this novel, Llosa's writing process is wonderful because he can take my attention. My edition has a text which the publisher tells that this green house trully existed in Piura. I can't get my eyes out. I'm really excited wuth this novel, Daniel. I didn't know Llosa 'til I work in the bookshop.

[Stiffelio]

La Casa Verde (The Green House) is one of Vargas Llosa's strongest novels from his early period and stands, alongside La Ciudad y los Perros, as one of the greatest so-called Boom novels. As far as I can recall (I read it more than twenty years ago!) it is also one of Vargas Llosa's most experimental pieces of fiction, stylistically speaking. It is said to be quite influenced by Faulkner.

[Raphael Lambach]

Originally Posted by Stiffelio

La Casa Verde (The Green House) is one of Vargas Llosa's strongest novels from his early period and stands, alongside La Ciudad y los Perros, as one of the greatest so-called Boom novels. As far as I can recall (I read it more than twenty years ago!) it is also one of Vargas Llosa's most experimental pieces of fiction, stylistically speaking. It is said to be quite influenced by Faulkner.

You're completely right. What Llosa did in The Green House is really fantastic. He described truefully Peruvian people and their habits of living. Of course you can find my favorite process of writing: stram of consciousness.