The War of the End of the World in The Roundtable

Jan 15, 2008 Rosana rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2008, historical, latin-american, favorites

This is the first book by Mario Vargas Llosa that I read, and I am ashamed that I never attempted to read any of his books before. Of course, as a Brazilian, I may be biased about this book, but I felt totally mesmerized by it. It is an epic telling the story of a peasant revolt on the backlands of Brazil on the late 1900’s. But, against the historical background of factual military maneuvers, political machinations and religious fundamentalism, the characters – both fictional and historical - a ...more

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Oct 23, 2020 Pamela rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: boxall-1001-read, favorites

Brutal and powerful historical novel set in Canudos, Brazil in the last years of the nineteenth century. Over more than twenty years, the mysterious Counselor has attracted a growing number of followers - the poor and dispossessed, bandits, prostitutes, disabled and deformed children rejected by their families - all influenced by his vision of a pure and godly society. They settle in Canudos, but their presence is seen as a threat to the new Republic that they denounce as the Antichrist, and bef Brutal and powerful historical novel set in Canudos, Brazil in the last years of the nineteenth century. Over more than twenty years, the mysterious Counselor has attracted a growing number of followers - the poor and dispossessed, bandits, prostitutes, disabled and deformed children rejected by their families - all influenced by his vision of a pure and godly society. They settle in Canudos, but their presence is seen as a threat to the new Republic that they denounce as the Antichrist, and before long the confrontation between two ideals leads to violence.

This is an enthralling story, based on real events, and Mario Vargas Llosa uses parallel narratives filled with meticulous detail to pull the reader into this tragic tale of conflict. The battle scenes in the latter part of the book are particularly memorable, with chaos and confusion and the brutal cruelty of battle brilliantly captured, but the early chapters showing the previous lives of the characters who flock with hope to Canudos are equally skilful and engaging.

The book rejects both religious fanaticism and republican idealism, yet the characters on both sides elicit sympathy for their individual human flaws and their terrible suffering caused by events that move out of their control with frightening speed. The Republican soldiers, the myopic reporter who works for a Republican paper and finds himself stranded in Canudos, the monarchist politician whose lands and power are under threat, and the closest followers of the Counselor are all well developed and engaging, and all make the reader anxious to know their fate.

This is a book about power and its impact on the individual, about the deceptions and false hopes that both religion and politics offer to the poor who must live in an unjust world, about the ambiguities that live inside each of us and make a lie of terms such as good and evil - all set in a sweeping historical novel that brings a lesser known tragic incident of Brazil’s past to life.

I always enjoy reading Mario Vargas Llosa’s novels, and this is in my view one of his best, challenging The Feast of the Goat for the most powerful and memorable of his works.

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Aug 16, 2009 Jama rated it it was amazing

Shelves: western, favorites

A sweeping panoramic view of Brazil in the late 1800's peopled with ex-bandits, circus freaks, anarchists, fallen catholic priests, politically savvy landowners and the dispossesed poor. A gun-toting western which reminds me of a Luis Bunuel film. I can't stop thinking about the book, and I wish I wasn't finished with it. ...more

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