The Green House

The novel that deservedly established Vargas Llosa as one of the premier Latin American authors writing in Spanish. This is a seminal work that provides the foundation for much of Vargas Llosa's subsequent output, a portrait of his beloved Peru. The novel demands one's full attention, perhaps even taking notes, to keep the characters and events straight because dialogue is written as it might actually occur among groups of characters and events are not always narrated in sequence. But one finds many, many passages of great beauty, particularly in descriptions of nature. One needs to clear one's mind and dedicate a period of time to reading this piece. The translation is remarkable.

I bought the 1st edition avon mass market paper back in 1980. A case of judging a book by it's cover. Since than I have read the book several times, it is addictive. This novel is Llosa in his prime, full of mystery, romance, humor and history. The writing is so hypnotic and poetic that open up any page and you are trapped in world that you can leave only reluctantly . One of the worlds truly great books. As for being a difficult read, it is as easy as watching a movie.The theme of this novel , as in most of Llosas novels, are the absurdities and consequences of bigotry ,this time played out in Peru circa world war two?I believe that it is his humanism coupled with his great and innovative story telling skills that won Llosa his Noble prize.This is Llosa at his best ,and what a beautiful cover by Vincent Calabrese.

I studied English and fiction in college. I'm comfortable saying that this book is a "masterpiece" if "masterpiece" means that I think it is the kind of book that can stay around for many years and might be taught in a class that teaches literature as classical art.That said, I don't think that if this book were written in English and submitted to a publisher today in the US that there is any way it would be published. I have read four of Vargas Llosa's books. My favorite was the War of the End of the world. I don't know if I would say that this is my least favorite exactly, but it's the least forgiving of them.For the most part, you can get the hang of the way the story is told. There are some events that I couldn't place exactly in a time line but most of the events that I couldn't place exactly didn't necessarily need to be placed exactly.I think if you're looking up Vargas Llosa you're going to read him anyway because he's a nobel winner. I just want to give anyone reading this a heads up that this is basically on the level of difficulty of any work by faulker. The long paragraphs are usually not really long paragraphs of description that break up conversation but they're actually just more dialogue except that its narrated without quotation marks and everything is on the same line. For this reason, I would say the book is literally about 85% dialogue.You meet Lituma in like the third chapter, so I wouldn't exactly call this a spoiler. He was in jail for a reason I won't divulge. I read the entire book without know exactly how long he was in jail, and it turned out to be longer than I thought it was when I looked it up online. I also thought I knew the reason, and I turned out to be right, but because of the way things were narrated I wasn't actually sure.I've read a lot of faulkner. I've read joyce and pynchon and gaddis and a bunch of other people. I'm ok with uncertainty in text, but it irritates me that I missed the detail of how long he was in prison and the misunderstanding changed my understanding of what was happening in the story. Basically I just want to give you a forewarning that if you do not like difficult books than you shouldn't even bother reading this. If you don't mind uncertainty in text it's overall an enjoyable experience. The only thing I would say is that for me some of the reading of this was disappointing because all i was thinking was "Feast of the Goat and War at the end of the World are way better."Regardless, I'm glad I read this book and I think it's a worthwhile investment of your time if you are willing to reread some sections.

This is a beautifully written book, but I think something was lost in translation for this reader. I never felt that invested in any of the disparate story lines. I'm sure it got better eventually, but I was just not that committed to reading far enough for that to happen.

I chanced upon this novel many years ago when I got interested in the literature of South America. What a wonderful experience it was to find this novel set in the Amazonian region of Peru. Not only did the book spur me on to discover more about this lesser known region of Peru, but it grabbed my literary imagination like few other works of literature about frontier regions and the people who gravitate towards them. This is a book that I was reluctant to put down until I finished it. This translation is as readable as my old paperback edition. I had to buy a more recent publication since my old paperback was on its last legs. I was ready to read The Green House again. Please also read and enjoy this great work by a Latin American master.

I so wanted to like this book. I absolutely adore the works of Llosa; the fluidity of his writing, the masterful storytelling, the richness of his characters. Sadly, none of those qualities were to be found in this book. To describe reading it (or at least attempting to) as "frustrating" would be an understatement. Not only does he go back and forth between a multitude of characters and time, it is done in such a dizzyingly incomprehensible manner as to make the book almost unreadable. Certain passages simply made no sense whatsoever. It was almost as if I was reading a Google translation of the book. I willed myself to get half-way through thinking at some point all of this would come together and I would make sense of the story (which sounded interesting) but alas, it didn't happen.

This is a book I want to read again. It is so chock full of incredible detail and characters that one trip to the Green House is not enough. It was so vivid, I thought I was reading a great movie.

great recreation of place and time.

The book has very pool printing quality, make me feel dizzy to read, so disappointed, haven't read a single page.

中身が非常に面白いです。これもスペイン語版とあわせて読むことで、理解を深められると思います。学校では絶対に習わない言葉が一杯でてきますが、お勧めします。

not the easiest read but worth persevering for an exceptional novel.

This is a great book and well worth the read. The condition of the book was very poor and did not meet its description. I also ordered another couple of books from the same seller and their condition was poor. Use this sellers descriptions on condition with caution.

the print of book is very poor and it's very difficult to read the book.I could not read it !!!