Mario Vargas Llosa: The Bad Girl

[Heteronym]

The Bad Girl is the story of Peruvian good boy Ricardo Somocurcio and a girl, the bad girl of the title, whom he meets one summer in 1950 in Miraflores, of how he falls in love with her and of how their lives, for the next forty years, intertwine in strange coincidences and circumstances and fall apart because of the bad girl?s temperament.

Since their adolescence both Ricardo and the bad girl have had one wish: to leave Peru. But whereas Ricardo?s objective is to live his life forever in Paris, the world?s most beautiful city for him, as a complacent bourgeois, the bad girl, incapable of forgetting the hell of her poor background, wants financial stability and freedom and is willing to do anything to achieve them.

The first time Ricardo meets her, she pretends to be Lily, a middle-class Chilean ?migr?, who, with her forward attitude, wins the hearts of all the boys and shocks the modest Peruvian girls. However Lily is soon exposed when she meets the Chilean aunt of a friend and she disappears in shame.

Ricardo meets her years later in Paris as Comrade Arlette. It?s the ?60s and Latin America is under revolutionary fervour. Ricardo, an interpreter for the Unesco, knows Peruvians organising a guerrilla to turn Peru into Latin America?s second socialist republic, after Cuba, where Comrade Arlette is going to study guerrilla warfare. Of course she doesn?t care anything about politics, this is a mere opportunity to leave Peru.

Ricardo continues to meet the bad girl over the years, each time under a different name and with a different man, in her pursuit for money and freedom. Ricardo many times assumes the role of the secret lover and his love for her makes him travel around the world, to London and Japan, where he finds more regrets than pleasure.

The Bad Girl is at the same time a love story and a negation of love, a parody of romantic love. Ricardo is the ultimate romantic fool, ready to disrupt his calm life for the bad girl, constantly whispering corny love clich?s in her ears, like a South American soap opera character. But the novel also shows the financial, emotional and physical toll Ricardo?s obsession for her takes on him, asking us whether it was worth it.

Besides being a love story, the novel is also about the world in the last sixty years. The novel creates a beautiful sense of time and place, describing a summer in Peru, South America?s political turmoil of the ?60s, the shift of Europe?s cultural centre from Paris to London, music replacing literature, the birth of the hippie generation, the spread of AIDS, the dictatorship in Peru, and other things that will make this book informative and nostalgic.

[Bubba]

Hmm, Heteronym, from your book-report-style review of the book it's hard to tell whether you liked it or not. I, for one, did not (though it was readable). It doesn't come close to earlier work by MVLL, The War of the End of the World, for example.

The thing that shocked me most was Vargas Llosa's having AIDS break out in the early nineteen-seventies in London; it was, as he should have known, a decade later. And Ricardo's obsession with the bad girl is unconvincing. Each of her reappearances over the years struck me as more boring than the one before.

I was also struck by resemblances to MVLL's less well known (but almost certainly superior) countryman Julio Ram?n Ribeyro. Like The Bad Girl's Ricardo, Ribeyro was long a translator in Paris; like Ricardo, he worked at UNESCO. In addition, the early sections of MVLL's novel call to mind Ribeyro stories such as "De color modesto" and "Alienation;" these stories examine the sexual, racial, and class negotiations entered into by young people in the Miraflores of the nineteen-fifties and earlier with a subtlety that makes Vargas Llosa's efforts to do the same in The Bad Girl look decidedly amateurish.

Ribeyro hasn't been translated in Portugal, but there's what looks like a good Brazilian edition (http://terramagazine.terra.com.br/interna/0,,OI3477537-EI12510,00-iSo+para+fumantesi+de+Julio+Ramon+Ribeyro.html) of some of his stories; his work is also available in Spanish (I presume you can read Spanish) on Amazon, but as of this writing the only listed edition of his complete stories is more than a bit pricey (http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/8420481424/ref=sr_1_2_olp?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285008494&sr=8-2&condition=new) (it's almost worth it, too).

Besides, Ribeyro was an admirer of one of your great writers. "Last night," reads his diary (http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/americas-literature/35491-julio-ramon-ribeyro-la-tentacion-del-fracaso.html) entry of 2 November 1976, "I woke up dreaming about E?a de Queiroz..."

[lionel]

The thing that shocked me most was Vargas Llosa's having AIDS break out in the early nineteen-seventies in London; it was, as he should have known, a decade later.

I thought we were talking about a work of fiction here? Story told by the narrator, or am I wrong? If so, sorry. If not, it's not Vargas Llosa telling the story.

BLOG (http://tonyshaw3.blogspot.com)

[Bubba]

I thought we were talking about a work of fiction here? Story told by the narrator, or am I wrong? If so, sorry. If not, it's not Vargas Llosa telling the story.

BLOG (http://tonyshaw3.blogspot.com)
Your apology is accepted.

[lionel]

Your apology is accepted.

Which must mean it's non-fiction, but it's not: it's fiction, so I have nothing to apologize for, and you have nothing to accept. :p

You see, in the world of fiction, things can happen when they like. Historical accuracy is completely irrelevant.

BLOG (http://tonyshaw3.blogspot.com)

[Heteronym]

Oh, I loved the novel!

It had two corny elements: the mute boy and the redundant chapter about the bad girl's possible father; I preferred the mystery myself.

Otherwise I found it a delightful, seductive story, told with a fluid, easy-going prose. It's a tale of mad, obsessive love, which can't be explained unless one feels it too. Ricardo was crazy for her, that is enough for me. You may as well ask why Heatcliff obsesses over Cathy, or Florentino over Firmina in Love in the time of Cholera.

[Daniel del Real]

Oh, I loved the novel!

It had two corny elements: the mute boy and the redundant chapter about the bad girl's possible father; I preferred the mystery myself.

Otherwise I found it a delightful, seductive story, told with a fluid, easy-going prose. It's a tale of mad, obsessive love, which can't be explained unless one feels it too. Ricardo was crazy for her, that is enough for me. You may as well ask why Heatcliff obsesses over Cathy, or Florentino over Firmina in Love in the time of Cholera.

I don't know how did you find this an enjoyable novel. It is everything but plausible. It is closer to be a soap opera than a strong novel. You never believe that Ricardo can find this girl in so many occasions all over the world through the years, and every time with a more outrageous and ridiculous situation. This one is by far the worst novel I've read from Vargas Llosa, and although it is readable you can't avoid comparing it to La Guerra del Fin del Mundo or La Fiesta del Chivo and think: this can't be written by the same author.

[Mirabell]

I don't know how did you find this an enjoyable novel. It is everything but plausible.


I find that implausible plots often make for great reading!

[Stiffelio]

While not Vargas Llosa's best novel (by a long shot), The Bad Girl is still eminently enjoyable. MVLL is always an inventive storyteller and the very fact that the reader ends up hating the two principal characters, she for bitchiness, he for silliness, is a proof of MVLL's artistry. I view this novel as a caprice of sorts, a tongue-in-cheek homage to Flaubert's Madame Bovary and nineteenth century melodramas.

[Heteronym]

What? I dind't hate any of the characters. I felt pity for Ricardo because his benevolence and loyalty only ruined his life. And I also pitied the bad girl who, because of her miserable childhood, had to become a cold opportunist forever in search of money and stability, incapable of appreciating the little good things in her life, like Ricardo's love.

And I'll repeat it: his descriptions of Peru, Paris, London, Tokyo and Madrid had substance and sensuality. Vargas Llosa did a great job with the novel's settings, making the cities indispensable parts of the story.

[Daniel del Real]

I find that implausible plots often make for great reading!

Not in here, trust me. What are the odds for him to have as many encounters worldwide with her loved woman? It can happen once maybe twice, with this novel is full of them and everytime with more and more silly and ridiculous situations.
It's great that there's a new Vargas Llosa novel at the door, that way I can get rid of the bad taste this one left me for over 4 years.

[Heteronym]

OK, it's implausible, but not impossible.

1) Ricardo first meets her in Peru
2) Ricardo meets her again in Paris years later
3) Ricardo meets her again in London a few years after that
4) A friend returns from Japan, where he met her and brings a message
5) She comes looking for him after leaving Japan
6) She comes looking for him again in Spain

If we think about, he has two worldwide meetings with her. The third time she meets a friend of him. Twice she comes looking for him. I can live with those coincidences.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

The thing that shocked me most was Vargas Llosa's having AIDS break out in the early nineteen-seventies in London; it was, as he should have known, a decade later. And Ricardo's obsession with the bad girl is unconvincing. Each of her reappearances over the years struck me as more boring than the one before.


AIDS did not break out in the 80s, but long before that. You are confusing things here. AIDS was identified and described for the first time in the early 80s. As far as I know the oldest known case of AIDS is from the end of the 50s !!! And studies indicate that the HIV spread must have occurred already in the first half of the 20th century. See here for example:
Origin of AIDS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_AIDS)

So Vargas Llosa is not to blame here and this part of the story is absolutely reasonable...

[Rumpelstilzchen]

I don't know how did you find this an enjoyable novel. It is everything but plausible. It is closer to be a soap opera than a strong novel. You never believe that Ricardo can find this girl in so many occasions all over the world through the years, and every time with a more outrageous and ridiculous situation. This one is by far the worst novel I've read from Vargas Llosa, and although it is readable you can't avoid comparing it to La Guerra del Fin del Mundo or La Fiesta del Chivo and think: this can't be written by the same author.

Good to hear that, so I can still have hope for the other books. It was my first Vargas Llosa novel (just the first German language Vargas Llosa book I laid my hands on affter the nobel prize announcement) and even though it was entertaining there was nothing spectacular about it. Neither the language nor the contents are above average. It is just a nice entertaining read, nothing more, certainly nothing to miss...

[Daniel del Real]

Good to hear that, so I can still have hope for the other books. It was my first Llosa novel (just the first German language Llosa book I laid my hands on affter the nobel prize announcement) and even though it was entertaining there was nothing spectacular about it. Neither the language nor the contents are above average. It is just a nice entertaining read, nothing more, certainly nothing to miss...

I read the other day that this is the book selling better in the German maret, and I thought, oh no, please! Maybe it has to deal that this is his last novel translated. If many people approach to Vargas Llosa with this novel they're going to get the wrong impression about this man's great body of work. Please spread the word, DO NOT READ The Bad Girl as your first Vargas Llosa.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

I read the other day that this is the book selling better in the German maret, and I thought, oh no, please! Maybe it has to deal that this is his last novel translated. If many people approach to Vargas Llosa with this novel they're going to get the wrong impression about this man's great body of work. Please spread the word, DO NOT READ The Bad Girl as your first Vargas Llosa.

I will give my best :). That's right, as far as I know the bad girl is the best selling Vargas Llosa book in Germany these days, on the one hand probably because its translation is quite new but also because it is getting a lot of publicity from its publisher. At the Frankfurt book fair it was the only Vargas Llosa book the publisher had at its booth, unbelievable, even though more or less all of his books were translated into German and are available from the same publisher.

Next on my reading list and already on the way: "La ciudad y los perros" and "La casa verde" (both in German translation...).In the long run I also want to read: "La guerra del fin del mundo" and "La fiesta del chivo", but probably this has to wait until early next year.

[Loki]

Just finished reading it. It was my first Llosa, and not because of the Nobel. It is written with quite a new style for me, and I was much pleased with it.
I found it an enjoyable novel, describing a weird (even more than that) love story. I liked el niño bueno (Ricardo), his lack of ambition, his normal life (made extraordinary by her), his job...as much as you could find yourself saying "not again!" everytime la niña mala reappears.
This bad girl made me think of some famous feminine characters: Prevost's Manon Lescaut (for her desire of money), Flaubert's Madame Bovary (for her disgust for life in Newmarket) and Richardon's Clarissa (when she first approaches death).

The parts about politics were quite boring, and so were the parts about other characters (Paul, the hippie, Arquìmedes...); I much enjoyed the dumb boy instead (although it was predictable how the whole thing would have ended).
The continuous references to foreign languages (especially Russian), to literature, to translations, to travels were all reasons of interest for me. Unfortunaltely after a certain point in the book, he gets fewer and fewer contracts.

On the whole I liked the book, although I expected more from the ending, but I don't know what that "more" entails. I'll try some other novels from Llosa, although not right now.



Daniel, you are hilarious!

[Heteronym]

I found the ending appropriate. He ruins his health and wastes his money for her. After a lifetime pursuing her he finally gets to live with her like a wife for a bit and then she dies. It's very ironic. On the one hand it's a romantic story, on the other hand it's very cynical about romantic love.

[Loki]

on the other hand it's very cynical about romantic love.

In my book, at the end, there's an interview with the author. Among other things, he says:
En esta novela he tratado de hacer una exploración del amor desligado de toda la mitología romántica que lo acompaña siempre, una mitología que nuestra época desmiente en la práctica, pero que aún utilizamos a la hora de hablar de amor. El de ella no es un amor romántico, pero también es amor.

[Daniel del Real]

Daniel, you are hilarious!

Me? ahmmmm why?

[Loki]

Yeah, it seems to me that you're trying to force other not to like this novel. Why shouldn't one enjoy it? We're free to think what we want, aren't we? It's not the first time that this has happened: you're forever criticising those who like something you don't like.
Anyway, I apologise if I have misunderstood what you wanted to say.

[Daniel del Real]

Yeah, it seems to me that you're trying to force other not to like this novel. Why shouldn't one enjoy it? We're free to think what we want, aren't we? It's not the first time that this has happened: you're forever criticising those who like something you don't like.
Anyway, I apologise if I have misunderstood what you wanted to say.

I'm not saying that people cannot enjoy this novel, you can enjoy Paulo Coelho if you want to. All I'm saying is that this novel is far away from the best Vargas Llosa in every aspect: structure, creation of characters, storyline, atmosphere, narrative voice etc. And I also mentioned that this novel can't be taken as representative of Vargas Llosa, and that it can give a wrong impression of him if it's the first novel people read.
I'm not forcing anyone not to like this novel, I'm just saying that there is much better MVLL out there.

[Loki]

Alright, then it was just an impression of mine.
Anyway, this was my first Vargas Llosa, and I didn't get a wrong impression of him, at all. I'm sure he has written something better than this (otherwise his Nobel would be far from being justified!).