Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Neighborhood
Mario Vargas Llosa
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Neighborhood
Mario Vargas Llosa
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Neighborhood, by Mario Vargas Llosa, is a masterpiece of suspense, plot, and character. It is easy to see why Vargas Llosa won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010 and the Cervantes Prize as well. The protagonist, Enrique, is black-mailed with obscene photographs by Rolando Garro who publishes a magazine that exposes famous people’s escapades. Enrique’s wife, Marisa, is having a passionate, secret affair with her best friend, the wife of Enrique’s lawyer. When Garro is brutally murdered, the staff of his magazine is terrified they might be next. This is The Neighborhood.
Author Vargas Llosa leads us slowly and deliberately to the suspects: Shorty, the ex-queen of burlesque who is now a reporter for Garro’s magazine; Juan Peineta, the homeless former entertainer whose life Garro ruined. Peineta has written hate letters to Garro for years and always signed his name. His best friend, Willy, runs a gambling casino and warns Peineta to go into hiding. Enrique is arrested for the murder of Garro after the lewd photos of him appear on the cover of Garro’s magazine.
His filthy prison cell is filled with vulgar men. One black man says he’ll protect Enrique but wants more in return. Enrique thinks it was Fujimora, the dictator of Peru and The Doctor, Fujimora’s second in command, who had him jailed. Later, the infamous Doctor calls Shorty to his office. He wants her to tell him how she was involved in the photos of Enrique’s orgy. The Doctor wants her to be the editor of the magazine now and she agrees. Later, she publishes an expose of The Doctor and Fujimora’s bad deeds. She gives the recordings she has made of their meetings to the Bureau of Investigation. Author Vargas Llosa sticks very close to the historical facts that happened in Peru, although this is a novel.
Will author Vargas Llosa finish the dictatorship by sending Fujimora and The Doctor to prison? Will Enrique be exonerated and Juan Peineta be absolved of his mis-deeds? The Community Library has many other books by this distinguished author. Find them in the fiction room under Vargas, in your Mendocino Community Library.
Author Vargas Llosa leads us slowly and deliberately to the suspects: Shorty, the ex-queen of burlesque who is now a reporter for Garro’s magazine; Juan Peineta, the homeless former entertainer whose life Garro ruined. Peineta has written hate letters to Garro for years and always signed his name. His best friend, Willy, runs a gambling casino and warns Peineta to go into hiding. Enrique is arrested for the murder of Garro after the lewd photos of him appear on the cover of Garro’s magazine.
His filthy prison cell is filled with vulgar men. One black man says he’ll protect Enrique but wants more in return. Enrique thinks it was Fujimora, the dictator of Peru and The Doctor, Fujimora’s second in command, who had him jailed. Later, the infamous Doctor calls Shorty to his office. He wants her to tell him how she was involved in the photos of Enrique’s orgy. The Doctor wants her to be the editor of the magazine now and she agrees. Later, she publishes an expose of The Doctor and Fujimora’s bad deeds. She gives the recordings she has made of their meetings to the Bureau of Investigation. Author Vargas Llosa sticks very close to the historical facts that happened in Peru, although this is a novel.
Will author Vargas Llosa finish the dictatorship by sending Fujimora and The Doctor to prison? Will Enrique be exonerated and Juan Peineta be absolved of his mis-deeds? The Community Library has many other books by this distinguished author. Find them in the fiction room under Vargas, in your Mendocino Community Library.