| “The Bad Girl” by Mario Vargas Llosa is an English translation of a great story by the renowned Peruvian writer. The story starts in a wealthy neighborhood in Peru called Miraflores (look at flowers). The protagonist of the story, Ricardo Somocurcio falls in love with a young Chilean girl who moves into the neighborhood and becomes the focus of all the boys’ attentions.
He “dates” the young nymph for a couple of months, but can never get her to commit to being his girlfriend. After a couple |
of months, his social circle discovers that the Chilean girl is not really from Chile at all. The discovery of her duplicity forces her to disappear completely from parties and other events.
Many years later, Ricardo moves to Paris and through a series of friends and events runs into the “Chilean” girl again. This time she is posing as a guerrilla fighter that is on her way to Cuba on a scholarship to become trained by Fidel Castro’s communists. He once again pledges his undying love to his “bad girl.” She offers to stay with him in Paris and marry him if he can convince the leaders of the guerrilla movement to release her from having to go to Cuba. Ricardito, as she refers to him, is unable to accomplish this and she leaves to Cuba. They agree to be together at the end of her training in Cuba.
She starts her “bad girl” career by shacking up with a Cuban military leader. When Ricardo sees her years later she is with a rich Parisian gentleman. The story traverses decades of a love affair that is largely one sided. Ricardo loves the bad girl, but never measures up in her mind. She is a woman in pursuit of riches and safety. He is a mediocre translator who has no aspirations beyond his happy existence.
The richness of detail in this book makes you feel for both characters. It is a book so superbly written that it cannot be put down once you start reading it. There are many story line twists and revelations that make the story compelling. You end up liking all the characters in the book—including the bad girl.
I recommend this book unequivocally. If you know Spanish, you might want to read it in the native language. However, I felt that the English version was perfectly and eloquently translated.
