“The Bad Girl” by Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)

Book Club Favourite of Season 8

Review

Readers enjoyed the book, describing it as an easy read and one they couldn’t put down. They liked the sense of place and the detailed descriptions of the different cities the characters live in or visit. They enjoyed the background information on the political situation in Peru as it evolves during the course of the story (from the ’50s to the ’90s). Readers had mixed feelings about the two main characters, with some sympathising with Ricardo, whilst others found him irritating, and likewise with the bad girl. They liked the secondary characters very much, finding them all interesting and well developed. Some readers had difficulty with the coincidences that occur throughout the story finding that, due to their large number, they lacked somewhat in credibility. Overall, the book averaged an 8.6 out of 10.

Synopsis

When the beautiful teenage Lily arrives in Lima in 1950, fifteen-year-old Ricardo falls instantly in love with her. She claims to be from Chile, but vanishes the moment it becomes clear that she has lied about both her name and her nationality. A decade later, now living in Paris, Ricardo falls in love with a woman named Comrade Arlette, who is incredibly similar to Lily but refuses to acknowledge that she is the same person. For his whole life, Ricardo seems doomed to keep running into ‘Lily’, and to keep falling in love with her. Will he ever discover who she really is?

Favourite Quote

The secret to happiness, at least to peace of mind, is knowing how to separate sex from love. And, if possible, eliminating romantic love from your life, which is the love that makes you suffer. That way, I assure you, you live with greater tranquility and enjoy things more.

Nicola’s Book Club reading list

Season 8 – “Love & Passion in World Literature” (Sep 2008 – Jan 2009)

“A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers” by Xiaolu Guo (China)
“Ali and Nino” by Kurban Said (Azerbaijan)
“Tracks” by Louise Erdrich (U.S.)
“The Bad Girl” by Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru) *
“Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys (Dominica) 

* The book club favourite
In italics, Nicola’s Coup de Cœur

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Re-read in June 2020 as part of the 2020 Vision Read-a-thon

Even if they sometimes struggled with it, readers really enjoyed this book. They were fascinated by the complexity of the protagonist’s relationship with the eponymous character, and liked the twists and turns it takes. They loved the descriptions of the different places, which they felt brought them vividly alive. Nicola asked readers to give the book a score at the end of the discussion and it averaged 9 out of 10.