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| Plot Summary of A Fish in the Water |
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"Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa tells the story of his life since he was 10 years old, when he found out his father was not dead as he was told, until he makes his teenage dream come true, at age 22: he's given a scholarship in a university of Madrid (then he could move to Paris anytime he wanted).
The recount of his life in the cities of Cochabamba (Bolivia), Piura and Lima (Peru), however, are the core of this memoirs, as he's generous in details regarding the origins of his craft, from his boyhood readings of Dumas and Hugo to his youngful admiration of the works of Beckett, Malraux, Tolstoy, Hemingway, erotic authors like Sade, and even a tumultous first reading of Joyce's 'Ulysses' in a bad Spanish translation. He's fascinated with Faulkner's novels, and he studies their structure with "pen and paper", and loves european 19th Century authors such as Flaubert, Balzac and Stendhal.
In alternating chapters, Vargas Llosa writes in detail the whole story of his presidential campaign, from 1987 to 1990, which ended in defeat but put him back to the place where he always belonged, that of literature, the place where he truly is 'a fish in the water'."
Augusto Wong Campos, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of A Fish in the Water |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
job/profession:
- writer
Job/profession/poverty story
Yes
Politician story?
- Politician trying to reform
Period of greatest activity?
- 1950+
Subject of Biography
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- writer
Age:
- 40's-50's
Biography of famous person?
Yes
Ethnicity
- Hispanic/Latinic
Nationality
- Central/South American
How sensitive is this person?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other people
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 4 ()
The Americas (not US):
Yes
The Americas:
- South
Century:
- 1930's-1950's
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
Book makes you feel?
- concerned
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- actual description of hetero sex
Commentary on society?
Yes
Commentary on
- race
- love/sex
- decency
- selfishness
- capitalism
- justice system
- religion
Writer's slant towards subject:
- favorable
Story of entire life, or part?
- story of set of events during life
If this is a kid's book:
- Age 16-Adult
Autobiography?
Yes
Pictures/Illustrations?
- None
How much dialogue in bio?
- significantly more descript than dialog
Lot of titilating info about love life?
Yes
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life?
- 26-50% of book
How much is philosophy rather than life story?
- 0-25% of book
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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