Name: Mario Vargas Llosa
Year Won: 2010
Read: Aunt Julia and the Script Writer
Original Language: Spanish
Reason: "for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat"
About: Aunt Julia and the Script Writer is a rather peculiar novel in which a young radio station worker has an affair with his somewhat older (13 years?) and fairly wild aunt. It's all written in a rather satrical tone, which I didn't personally find tremendously funny (it might be cultural. Or not. Humor is very subjective).
What I liked: Wonderful descriptions of contemporary Peru. A lively voice. It reminded me a bit of Carl Hiassen's mysteries.
What I Disliked: I really didn't get the humor. I do get that it's all subjective, but it just didn't work for me, which made the book feel like it was trying too hard.
Should it have won a Nobel: I've given up trying to understand this. Honestly, this didn't feel like a tremendously substantial book to me, but I also feel very much like I Just Didn't Get It. So...who knows?
Next Up: "The Selected Poems of Tomas Tranströmer"
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