Vargas Llosa is the acclaimed Peruvian writer with an incredible range of works, from light comedy such as the wonderfully entertaining Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, to heavy fictionalized political stories like The Feast of the Goat, and lots of non-fiction. He also recently ran (unsuccesfully) as a candidate for President of Peru, and to top it off, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010. The Bad Girl is his most recent novel. It is the story of the on-again-off-again relationship between two expatriate Peruvians as it extends over a number of years and settings. The narrator, Ricardo, cultivates a basically unhealthy relationship with his mysterious lover, who inevitably and repeatedly messes up his life, cheats him, jilts him, hurts him, etc. as she shape-shifts through a multitude of reconstructed identities. Richardo's strong masochistic streak seems to match the sado-maso tendancies of his lover. It's a vivid and painful tale of two people who bar their weaknesses openly to the reader - whether they win the reader's sympathy is an open question.
Click here to read a review of the book by NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/books/review/Harrison.html?pagewanted=all
Click here to read a review of the book by NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/books/review/Harrison.html?pagewanted=all
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