The Bad Girl

Extraordinary things happened in the summer of 1950 in the Barrio Alegre neighborhood of Lima, Peru. Whereas everyone seemed to be falling in and out and in of love, the premier event at least in the mind of resident Ricardo Somocurcio is the arrival of the two teenage sisters, fourteen or fifteen years old Lily and her slightly younger sibling Lucy. The pair claimed to have come from Chile and Ricardo quickly fell in love with Lily. However, when their claims of escaping their homeland prove false, they vanish leaving Ricardo heartbroken. Several years later in Paris, Peruvian expatriate Ricardo meets exiled Cuban activist "Comrade Arlette" whom he knew as Lily though she denies it; once again he falls in love with her until she leaves him behind. As the years go by, he keeps meeting his Lily as she becomes Madame Robert Arnoux the wife of a UNESCO official and Kuriko the mistress of a Japanese businessman. Each time they meet she treats him with icy aloofness as he hopes she makes this encounter a wonderful thing because he cherishes his Lily even if he does not know who she really is. THE BAD GIRL is a fascinating character study that affirms that as you grow older you can only go home to your youth in your memories. Lily and Ricardo are interesting protagonists as the audience never knows who either truly is as Lily remains an enigma throughout and Ricardo no longer has his Peruvian roots to ground him. Their relationship over the years never changes even as she denies each time that she was who he claims she was. Always providing an intelligent thought provoking read, Mario Vargas Llosa writes an odd entertaining tale of two people adrift in a sea of humanity that is also drifting along the ebb tide with memories as the only anchor. Harriet Klausner

Pobre Ricardito: Este "pichiruchi" (un mal pagado traductor) ama a una chica cuyo nombre verdadero ni siquiera se enterará hasta muy tarde en su vida. Pero despacio: La historia de amor ya comienza en el verano de 1950 en el distrito limonense de Miraflores dónde el niño bueno (Ricardo) se enamora de la niña mala quién por aquel entonces aún se llamaba Lily. Pero no dura mucho tiempo el romance. Ricardo se va a Paris para trabajar como traductor y interprete. Pero - ¡que sorpresa! - la niña mala, ahora convertida en la camarada Marxista Arlette, también se encuentra allá. Comienza otra breve romance hasta que la niña mala se fue a Cuba. Después de su regreso a Francia a la niña mala le gusta mudarse de nuevo y se encontrará en Londres durante la era de los hippies. ¿Y quién crees le seguirá a la niña mala hasta allá? Sí, claro: Ricardo. No voy a continuar aquí para no revelar demasiado, pero claro, hay algún punto en que cambiará drásticamente toda la historia... Es una historia sobre traición, obsesión, decepción, una ambición desmesurada y sobre todo sobre las muchas facetas de amor. Ricardo es una persona típicamente pequeñoburguesa y la niña mala es una persona que aspira mucho a la felicidad económica. Qué va a ganar: ¿el dinero o el amor? ¿Qué crees? Creo que hay gente - como yo - a quién le gusta muchísimo leer este libro; pero posiblemente haya otro tipo de gente a quién no le va a placer mucho ésta ultima novela del hombre más famoso de Arequipa (la ciudad blanca de Perú). El razón es que Travesuras de la niña mala es un libro bastante diferente a los demás de Vargas Llosa. Escrito en el estilo clásico de las love-stories del siglo XX, MVLL me sorprendió grandemente con esa novela. Como ya mencioné antes, yo amo este libro. Muchas gracias Mario por ésta excelente novela!

This is one of the best books I've read in 2006, if not the best. It tells the story of a man slaved and abused by a woman - "La Niña Mala", the bad girl - he keeps loving for his whole life. He's a looser, she's someone who spends her whole life looking for grandeur, richness and pleasure. She comes to, and goes from, his life, always being accepted and always despising and abandoning him. And his life - he, a Peruvian as Vargas Llosa himself - takes place in the rebel Paris of the 60s and in the swinging London of the 70s. He's a man who never had another woman in his life than the "bad girl" - and that never really had her, who always had him. I have recommended the book to many people; all of them have been thrilled and have compulsively read - and have suffered with the man and loved the book. I have read it in Spanish (as written by Vargas Llosa), but there is an English translation.

Vargas Llosa has a powerful and dynamic storytelling style. It reminds me of Nabokov. The characters, the descriptions, the cameo appearances of various relatives and friends- all lend a depth that makes this more than just a memoir-like novel. Su manera de escribir es poderosa y encantadora. Que escritor mas imponente- antes de este libro, he leido solamente La tia Julia y el escribidor, pero ahora quiero leer otros de sus libros. Sugeriencias? La violencia no me apetece.

I just want to make a correction to jC "iRebel" (Andover MASS). This book is a novel written by Mario Vargas Llosa. The author of "Liberty for Latin America" is Mario's son, Alvaro Vargas Llosa, who is a journalist. This novel does not have anything to do with politics or economics, it is a love story. By the way, I read the book in spanish and it was just great, however it is not one the greatest of Mario.