A Fish in the Water: a Memoir

Brief Description: This work by the renowned Peruvian author allows us to glimpse into the key years of his youth until his candidacy for President of Peru. These are stark, unadorned truths revealed through his hypnotic and masterly prose. The strained relationship between the author and his harsh, violent father; the discovery of his calling as a writer as a means to oppose parental authoritarianism, the precocious bohemia, the hasty wedding with la tia Julia (aunt Julia) and the short, yet intense, political career of the writer. Brief Description: The author writes of the period of his life from his youth until his candidacy for President of Peru. Review Quotes:"[Mario Vargas Llosa] has published a fascinating and often bitter memoir . . . enlightening." --"The New York Times""["A Fish in the Water"] offers a convincing self-portrait of a political innocent sinking under a tide of democratic absurdities. . . . An often funny and cautionary tale." "--Time ""An absorbing picture not only of the growth of a rapaciously inquisitive intellectual, but a fascinating portrait of Peru over the past thirty years, with many of the same qualities--intelligence, an eye for detail, bursts of humour and anger--that are so memorable in [Vargas Llosa's] novels . . . one cannot help but admire [his] courage."" --The Independent" (London) "This volume of memoirs will not disappoint fans of his novels (among whom I count myself). . . . Vargas Llosa emerges here as the brilliant writer he has always been, with insights into politics as deep as those he has previously shown about other forms of human endeavor." --Elliott Abrams, "The""American Spectator" "A dazzling performance, one of [Vargas Llosa's] very best books, full of curious, even surreal, events . . . I urge all who read this review to buy it immediately. They may think I have understated its merits." --Hugh Thomas, " National Review" "Intriguing . . . Reads like the diary of an astute social critic who, for reasons he does not fully comprehend, has also become the protagonist of the events he observes." --Arturo J. Cruz, Jr., "Commentary""An artful political and literary memoir . . . Vargas Llosa's narrative skill and novelist's eye animate the unfamiliar politics, people, and culture of Peru. Essential political as well as literary reading."" --Kirkus Reviews"Biographical Note: Mario Vargas Llosa was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010 "for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat." Peru's foremost writer, he has been awarded the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's most distinguished literary honor, and the Jerusalem Prize. His many works include "The Feast of the Goat," "The Bad Girl," "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter," "The War of the End of the World," and "The Storyteller." He lives in London. Review Citations:

New York Times 10/01/1995 pg. 36 (EAN 9780140248906, Paperback)

New York Times 12/03/1995 pg. 86 (EAN 9780140248906, Paperback)

Criticas 02/01/2011 pg. 1 (EAN 9788466320047, Paperback) - *Starred Review

Booklist 03/15/1994 pg. 1299 (EAN 9780374155094, Hardcover) - *Starred Review

Wilson Public Library Catalog 01/01/1994 pg. 160 (EAN 9780374155094, Hardcover)

Library Journal 05/01/1994 pg. 114 (EAN 9780374155094, Hardcover)

Library Journal Prepub Alert 01/01/1994 pg. 86 (EAN 9780374155094, Hardcover)

Publishers Weekly 04/11/1994 pg. 49 (EAN 9780374155094, Hardcover)

Kirkus Reviews 03/15/1994 pg. 385 (EAN 9780374155094, Hardcover) - *Starred Review

Wilson Public Library Catalog 01/01/1998 pg. 840 (EAN 9780374155094, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:  Vargas Llosa, Mario Mario Vargas Llosa was born in Peru in 1936. He has written thirteen novels and five plays including Kathie and the Hippoptomus, La Chunga, and Nice Eyes, Ugly Paintings. Contributor Bio:  Lane, Helen Helen Lane was the preeminent translator of French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian fiction. Among the long list of authors shetranslated are Augusto Roa Bastos, Jorge Amado, Luisa Valenzuela, MarioVargas Llosa, Marguerite Duras, Nelinda Pinon, and Curzio Malaparte.