Elmowen - aNobii

Books (19)

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- Conversation in the Cathedral (17)
- By Mario Vargas Llosa
- Reading since Feb 5, 2009
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- The Black Book (89)
- (Vintage International)
- By Orhan Pamuk
- Reading
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- The Green House (12)
- By Mario Vargas Llosa
- Finished on Feb 4, 2009
  
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The Green House

Free at last! After two months of struggling, I eventually managed to finished this second novel by Mario Vargas Llosa from cover to cover.
Nevertheless, I did not fully enjoy the plotline, nor did I comprehend thoroughly neither.
As far as I am concerned, there were four dimensions that ... (continue)

Free at last! After two months of struggling, I eventually managed to finished this second novel by Mario Vargas Llosa from cover to cover.
Nevertheless, I did not fully enjoy the plotline, nor did I comprehend thoroughly neither.
As far as I am concerned, there were four dimensions that hinder me from reading the great fiction with ease and joy.
1. Book Content
I've read "La Ciudad y Los Perros" (Time of the Hero) previously and I quite enjoyed the book since La Ciudad y Los Perros has lesser pages compared with La Casa Verde. To me, it was not easy, still, to read the English fiction (translation) for a total of 400 pages. I still have much room to improve my reading skills.
2. Characters
In La Ciudad y Los Perros, there were only four , well, five rather, main characters and it's easier to tell who speaks which sentences and also to differentiate the characteristics from each protagonists.
However, in La Casa Verde, there are more than 10 something main or supporting characters if my poor memory did not fail me. Sometimes, I did not really know who speaks which sentences and who the addressee is. Then, under this circumstance, how on earth could I possibly enjoy the plotline without fully understanding what they are addressing.
3. Writing style
I wouldn't say Mario Vargas Llosa's writing style is horrible, I did not have the stance at all. But, I did find much more difficult to read this section fiction of his than the first fiction.
Llosa writes in Stream of Consciousness (wow, I could still remember this literal term.) so much in the book so I could not even tell the time sequence of each and every paragraph. Which paragraph is a narration for the time being, and which others are only the monologue about the things happened in the past! So, I got totally confused with the time. It's truly challenging for me to buildup the whole picture of the story.
I've read in the essay that Mario Vargas Llosa is deeply influenced by the writing style of the American writer, William Falkner. Mario Vargas Llosa is also regarded as the master of Structural Realism. But, I really don't know the real definition of it but this fiction will have a clear demonstration of what structural realism is for those literature fanatics.
4. Cultural Barrier
The fiction depicts the story happened in Piura, a modern city in the desert and also in Santa Maria de Nieve, a small town in the Amazona, emphasizing describing the cultural, religious, and politic aspects during 1920's to 1960's Peruvian society.
Though I'd been to Peru but I'd just been to the cities below Lima. I've never set my foot on the Amazonas in Peru so I could not really feel related to the locations, nor could I possibly understand what the life had been like during 1920's to 1960's in Peru.
Therefore, I feel extremely painful to learn all of the difficult Spanish nouns, but not understand the meaning/ definition behind it at all.
In a nutshell, after reading through the fiction, I got more understanding and awareness on the Peruvian society. About the gap between the poor and the rich during 20's to 60's in Peru. An also, I got to know more about the background knowledge about Peru. Had I never traveled to Peru, I would not get to understand thus much. That is why we all should have a grand tour somewhere sometimes in our limited life.
Ps. The builder of The Green House, Senor Anselmo, served as misah to the Piuranians for they to open their hearts and souls. I felt surprised when first knowing the name is so similar to Elmo.
Ps 2. Should you feel deeply interested in La Casa Verde, plase also read into the graduate essay written by Yuan-Ta Hsu. He researches the material and resources before writing such a comprehensive and detailed essay.
http://ethesys.lib.pu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search-c/view_e…

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— Feb 5, 2009 | Add your feedback
- 抵達不了的港灣 (71)
- By 阿爾巴羅．穆迪斯
- Finished on Jan 5, 2009
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- The Time of the Hero (9)
- By Mario Vargas Llosa
- Finished on Dec 11, 2008
  
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The Time of the Hero

*** This comment contains spoilers! ***
La Ciudad y Los Perros (Time of the Hero)

La Ciudad y los Perros (Time of the Hero) was Mario Vargas Llosa's first novel, written in 1963. Mario Vargas Llosa was known for the four main writers in the Boom period of Latin American Literature, along with Carlos Fuentes of Mexico, Julio Cortázar of Argentina and also Colombian Gabriel García ... (continue)

La Ciudad y los Perros (Time of the Hero) was Mario Vargas Llosa's first novel, written in 1963. Mario Vargas Llosa was known for the four main writers in the Boom period of Latin American Literature, along with Carlos Fuentes of Mexico, Julio Cortázar of Argentina and also Colombian Gabriel García Márquez.
Accidentally visiting Llosa's exhibition on the street of Lima, I made up my mind to find Señor Llosa's work wherever I went throughout Perú. But unfortunately, I could neither find the books in English with a reasonable price nor nada at all.
Luckily, I found it half a globe away in Bookman store, Taipei, said to be the sole and only one La Ciudad y Los Perros novel in Taiwan. I finish reading the book within two weeks span, perhaps the time span was the shortest for me to finish an English fiction.
The scene of the novel is set in Leoncio Prado Military College, Lima. The main characters are the cadets in the first section of the Fifth Year
El Jaguar - The Jaguar
El Poeta - The Poet (Alberto Fernández)
El Esclavo - The Slave (Ricardo Arana)
El Boa - The Boa
Along with the lieutenant that supervises the first section, Lt. Gamboa (Teniente Gamboa).
It's fairly difficult to start reading the first chapters since Mario Vargas Llosa did not write the name of the subject usually, using the pronoun, he, instead. Thus, it makes even more confusing to the readers who first understand the characters.
The main plot narrates the newly-enrolled cadets (the fourth year) in Leoncio Prado Military College are always bullied by their senior cadets, being called "dogs" (los perros) and are humiliated to do various act such as fighting as dogs, beaten or mounted on the back by the seniors. The Jaguar leads his classmates to fight against the senior, defeating the strongest senior cadet and got the nickname of "The Jaguar" instead of the rest of the cadets as dogs. Afterwards, he formed a four-men group as "The Circle" after Lt. Gamboa ordered them not to turn the whole section as a huge gang. The Jaguar, the leader of The Circle, along with The Boa, Cava and Rulos begins to sell illegally-stolen exams, cigarettes, and alcohol to earn money and reputation among their cadet classmates.
The Slave is the weakest, and maybe the finest in heart, not willing to fight against the Circle so he gets bullied by the Circle and the Jaguar always, eventually giving rise to his ultimate death.
The Poet, being the only friend of the Slave, is deeply sadden by Slave's accidental death and assumes the Circle and the Jaguar are to blame for his friend's death. Therefore, he stands up fighting ......
Also their lives outside of Leoncio Prado Military College is equally exciting as the ones inside as the three main character, the Jaguar, the Slave and the Poet are intermingled with a female character, Teresa, who plays an important and indispensable role in their lives and throughout the fiction.
Some thoughts:
There's not a single villain throughout the fiction in the end. Each of the character has their own weakness and merits. Cava, although stealing the chemistry exam, stands up facing his punishment (being expelled from the college) without giving the names of the Circle. The Slave who has the integrity and who is pushed to extreme decides to squeal on his classmates. The Poet, not defending the Slave when he's still alive, feels so guilty about his friend's death. The Jaguar, though killing the Slave for revenge of Cava, understands the Slave is much better than the rest of the cowards eventually and turns out to be a good person at the end of the novel, not ending up in the jail as his mother had predicted. The military hierarchy is as rotten in Lima as I had seen here. The officers regards the prestige of the school much more important than the truth of the accident. Even Lt. Gamboa, the only hope in the system, was forced to reassigned to the mountains after confronting his superiors on the death of the Slave.
Why Mario Vargas Llosa gave the name of the novel "La Ciudad y los Perros"? La ciudad (the city) definitely refers to Lima and the Leoncio Prado Military College and Los Perros (the dogs) indicates the cadets inside the colleges. Nevertheless, it also implies the rotten hierarchy in both the army and society of Lima and Perú of the 1960s.
The Jaguar is the only character in the book that doesn't have a real name, implying he's the only hero echoing the title of the English translation "The Time of the Hero".
The author , Mario Vargas Llosa, uses stream of consciousness depicting the plots. He also focuses often on the monologues from the Jaguar and the Boa to elaborate the storyline, which make the fiction world-known and best-seller for Mario Vargas Llosa.
That being said, Time of the Hero (La Ciudad y Los Perros) as the first novel published by Llosa, also helps him to establish his reputation on the stage of world literature. Not only did the fiction win various literature prize, such as Premio de la Crítica Española and el segundo puesto del Prix Formentor the same year 1963, but also adopted into the same-title cinema La Ciudad y Los Perros, directed by Francisco José Lombardi.
I felt glad to travel to Lima in November and found out about Mario Vargas Llosa accidentally. Now Mr. Llosa is undoubtedly one of my favorite writer and this book certainly serves as one of my favorite collection. Now, I am already looking forward to my next collection, The Green House, also by Mario Vargas Llosa.

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— Dec 11, 2008 | Add your feedback

- 伊斯坦堡的私生女 The bastard of Istanbul (187)
- By 艾莉芙．夏法克 (Elif Shafak)
- Finished on Nov 30, 2008
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- 伊斯坦堡的幸福 (73)
- By O.Z. Livaneli
- Finished on Nov 23, 2008
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- 沒有摩托車的南美日記 (141)
- By 蔡伯鑫
- Finished in Aug 2008
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- 天殺的熱帶日子 (69)
- By 大衛．昂格
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- 土耳其進行曲 (10)
- Rick的國際志工之旅
- By 吳孟霖
- Finished
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- Other Colours (28)
- By Orhan Pamuk
- Finished
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- Snow (189)
- By Orhan Pamuk
- Finished
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- 玻利維亞街童的春天 (74)
- 一位台裔哈佛醫學生的美夢成真
- By 黃至成, 唐藹邦
- Finished
  
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玻利維亞街童的春天

When Invisible Children Sings

I finished the book in this summer before embarking to South America. I had to confess that after reading this book did I start to have a picture in my mind about what Bolivia is like in reality. After Çiğdem showed me the lecture information, I decided in to time to tag along, registered online, an ... (continue)

I finished the book in this summer before embarking to South America. I had to confess that after reading this book did I start to have a picture in my mind about what Bolivia is like in reality. After Çiğdem showed me the lecture information, I decided in to time to tag along, registered online, anticipating in this lecture by the author, Dr. Chi Huang, even 3 months ago.
Time flies and now I had already returned from Colombia and Peru.
I've also seen Bolivia from faraway Lake Titicaca.
The street kids in Bolivia had been serious issue inside this nation. And I admire the courage that Dr. Chi Huang has had throughout this decades since 1997 when he first volunteered to La Paz for treating the street children. He actually saw what happened to these kids and wanted to make a change.
In the book, there's no single photo so all of the names mentioned inside the book I had already imagined what they look like. After Dr. Huang's photos in the presentation, I got to see the real faces of these sweet kids.
And the Salon session was what interested me. Dr. Huang speaks slowly, with his perfect American accent, and sort-of rusty Taiwanese and merely-nothing Mandarin to tell the audience his experience in Bolivia and his motive of helping this street kids.
I also felt he was going to shed tears while reading the paragraph of the first child prostitute he visited. I kinda forgot her name at the moment. She said to Dr. Huang, asking him to do three things for her.
Be present in her life
Make the street children a home.
Let the children be heard of their stories here.
And Dr. Huang did make all of her three wishes come true along the years.
Dr. Huang also mentioned some difficulties their organization , kayachildren.org, faces when being asked some tough question. I did not recall what those questions were but all I remembered was Dr. Huang's sad tone, saying "We are not there yet!" with a slight sigh... I could see that he actually wanted to do much more to save the kids yet the reality had drawn him back along the way.
After the whole speech, I had encouraged myself asking him for an autograph. I asked him if he could sigh me with Spanish and I did not know why I did ask for this.
He kindly sighed with a big smile on his face.
"Gracias por ayudarlos"
I did not help at all, you did. Dr. Chi Huang.

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— Dec 18, 2008 | Add your feedback
- The Historian (915)
- By Elizabeth Kostova
- Finished
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- Istanbul (231)
- Memories of a City
- By Orhan Pamuk
- Finished
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