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A review by gomar93
The Cubs and Other Stories by Mario Vargas Llosa
4.0
As someone only somewhat familiar with southern cone and, to a lesser extent, Caribbean literature, Vargas Llosa's stories provided for me an awesome glimpse into Peruvian literature and culture.
I don't think I've read anything quite as haunting as what I read in "The Cubs", particularly for the quick stream of thought in which it's presented. The story could have easily been a novel, but Llosa is so great at condensing the important aspects of a boy's adolescence that it seems like what is written is all a blurry stumble down memory lane, done so in one sitting. Now imagine all that trauma that we can assume occurred, but in the eyes of a man whose genitalia was mutilated by a dog during his adolescence. The idea could be generic if machismo and inability to assimilate to that culture were the goals of the story, but Llosa's stream of consciousness keeps the reader alert enough to have to decipher what the emotional, observational text means in the narrative.
The other stories in the collection still contribute to my impression of Peruvian adolescence. The most noteworthy are "A Visitor" and "A Younger Brother", the first of which sees an exploration of the weird hierarchical race relations in Peru that differ considerably from anywhere else I am familiar. Also, I really liked "A Younger Brother," which deals with family pride between two brothers in conflict about whether to murder an indigenous Peruvian who was "admiring" their sister. Simple, yet unembarrassed to explore the ugly sides of every day semi-urban life in northern South America.
I don't think I've read anything quite as haunting as what I read in "The Cubs", particularly for the quick stream of thought in which it's presented. The story could have easily been a novel, but Llosa is so great at condensing the important aspects of a boy's adolescence that it seems like what is written is all a blurry stumble down memory lane, done so in one sitting. Now imagine all that trauma that we can assume occurred, but in the eyes of a man whose genitalia was mutilated by a dog during his adolescence. The idea could be generic if machismo and inability to assimilate to that culture were the goals of the story, but Llosa's stream of consciousness keeps the reader alert enough to have to decipher what the emotional, observational text means in the narrative.
The other stories in the collection still contribute to my impression of Peruvian adolescence. The most noteworthy are "A Visitor" and "A Younger Brother", the first of which sees an exploration of the weird hierarchical race relations in Peru that differ considerably from anywhere else I am familiar. Also, I really liked "A Younger Brother," which deals with family pride between two brothers in conflict about whether to murder an indigenous Peruvian who was "admiring" their sister. Simple, yet unembarrassed to explore the ugly sides of every day semi-urban life in northern South America.