Death in the Andes: A Novel

En lo personal me parece uno de los mejores y mas entretenidos libros de Vargas Llosa, te mantiene enfocado en cada una de las paginas , las historias se entrelazan, van y vuelven, y en lo literario es tan bueno que casi puedes oler lo que describe con palabras. no dejen de leerlo

This is the first book I have read by the author in particular, and of Peru in General. While the book is full of amazing insights into Peruvian culture, I could not help seeing that the almost unlimited potential for violence described here is universal, and applies where ever human beings are assembled.The peasants of the Andes are in constant fear for their lives, either by starvation, in the hands of the rebels, the government or the evil spirits. Their ancient traditions, which kept their lives tolerable in past times, are disintigrated, leaving them drunk and desperate.Just like peasants and poor people almost everywhere, they are helpless and have no control what so ever about their destiny. From this condition, emerges violence that is at first shocking, and then, as the book progresses, looses some of its initial horror and becomes almost acceptable.This book is highly recommended, although it may be noted that people with weak stomachs may not be able to handle it.

In Death in the Andes, Vargas Llosa weaves a tale that is neither simple nor pat. He reveals truths about human nature: their complexities and frailities in stressful circumstances. People alone in the mountains; people who have lost hope turn to beliefs as old as those same hills and become something horrible. They turn on their neighbors and kill them at the behest of people all too willing to use them for their own ends. The terrucos, serruchos, apus, and pishtacos which liter his story surround the reader in a vast world one cannot explain away as being the rantings of mountain people. Vargas Llosa places the reader into this mysterious world, and it is not always a comfortable one. The Shining Path scenes in this book are, in themselves, enough to make one turn away. But it is worth the read, as simply a lever to pry open that world which I can never really know, even though I've pedaled a bike in the backcountry, and had people yell that I was a "pishtaco" or one who steals the flesh from another to sell, I am not of Peru. Vargas Llosa took me as far I could ever go.

Mario Vargas Llosa does an excellent job in capturing many of the dilemnas and controversies which face modern Peru in "Death in the Andes". He does an masterful job in presenting the military, insurgents, (Sendero Luminoso), and also the native peasants and farmers of the country. The reader really feels the emotions and experiences of the characters in the story. The violence, brutality and pain of life of many in Peru comes across clearly in this tale. Vargas Llosa weaves the narratives of three characters and also experiments with shifting between different periods of time during the course of the novel. His writing style in this work is very straightforward and clear. The book reads quite quickly and easily. If one enjoys the work of Gabriel García Márquez or a great story in general, they will enjoy "Death in the Andes".

This is the first book I have read that really approaches the magic world of Latin America in a realist manner. It has make me understand the culture of one part of my country, it reveals it and makes it easy to analyze it. The book is horrific but we have to remember that the plot is set on the worst days of terrorism in Peru. Excellent !