The Armchair Traveler's Club discussion

What do you think of the book so far?

I don't have this yet, but is there a time limit on our "journey" to South America? Sounds interesting. Was it translated and do you think the translation is a good one? I gather it must be if a NY Times best book. This isn't related to their best seller list, is it? I ask because I don't think much of that. It's just who has the biggest marketing pockets, not the best writers.

Hi Doann!

Our goal is to finish South America by October 12th. I can't speak to the quality of the translation since my spanish isn't good enough.

Here the author speaks about the book.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/spe...

The books of the year are chosed by the editors of the New York Times Book Review. The New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry.

After the heavier books we had read about death, chaos and torture in other countries, it was a pleasure to read something lighter; something about people just enjoying their lives in their homeland. It seems books about war and oppression must outnumber books about regular life by at least 10:1.

Upon reading the biography of the author, I was surprised to hear that the story of Vargas and Julia is based upon his real life. He studied law, worked at a newspaper, and married his uncle's sister in law who was 10 years his senior in 1955. They lived in Spain and France and were divorced in 1964 when he married his cousin Patricia.

In the book I wondered why Mario persisted in calling his wife Aunt Julia, drawing attention to their age gap and making them sound like closer blood relations. Hearing that this is a true story sheds new light on this. Perhaps he felt that she ruled over him and treated him like a nephew more than a husband? Perhaps he is poking fun at himself - a little self deprecating humor for our amusement? Calling her plain Julia would certainly be less entertaining.

Perhaps he is poking fun at Peruvian society. He talks about how interconnected his family is - he seems to have family everywhere and they are all in each other's business. An American in our sometimes more isolated culture could view this with rose colored nostalgia, but perhaps Vargas is hinting that he feels it's all a bit incestuous?

Apparently, Julia has written her own memoir which the nosy part of me wouldn't mind reading - 'Lo que Varguitas no dijo (What little Vargas didn't say).'

On p.359 when he explains why he chose to live in Europe, Vargas says that he always saw Peru as a country of sad people. He describes the ease of obtaining work in Europe where he could earn enough money and still spend half of his day writing novels. In contrast in Peru he held down 7 jobs to barely earn enough to survive. I'd certainly feel more somber with 7 jobs!

I wonder whether that line came back to haunt Vargas. He ran for the presidency in 1990 and lost. Would you vote for a candidate who claimed your country was full of sad people?

Pedro Camancho was certainly a fascinating character. His ability to inspire people made him powerful, but I'm not sure why he had to fall in the end. I found this end to be quite sad and I disliked Mario's friends who belittled him. Perhaps Vargas used Pedro as an example of art itself. His friends may have represented the ignorant masses who took something beautiful and ruined it with their misunderstanding. Did Vargas feel like a misunderstood, underappreciated artist?

Overall, I enjoyed the novel. I loved the characters and the romantic adventure kept me enthralled. The telenovellas got a bit long and I found myself daydreaming a bit as I read those sections. I often wondered why those were included in the narrative. Why include Camacho's character at all? Is he comparing his romance with a telenovella? I think it took me a bit longer than it should have to pick up on the character mixups.

I would read more Vargas in the future.