margaretefg's review
3.0
For some reason I thought this book was a mystery, but it isn't. It is clear from the opening pages that a complicated story with lots of twists and turns is being revealed in part through interviews the narrator conducted with people who knew Nelson, a young actor in an Andean country. I read this book right after reading a New Yorker profile of one of the FARC guerillas who had just returned from the jungle and a leftist guerilla lifestyle to the city and everyday life. Nelson's country is also in its postwar phase and it is now safe to go to the countryside, or the mountains, or ...where two older actors, Henry and Patalarga, went on tour back in the bad old days (or maybe it was good...direct theater for the people.) The narrative veers around in time to tell about that last tour; Henry's time in a notorious prison, Collectors, his love affair with a fellow prisoner, Rogelio; Nelson and his off-again, on-again relationship with his girlfriend, Ixta; Nelson's family and the narrator, who slowly emerges into the story as an actual character. For me, it took a while to get into the book...hard to care about the characters, or see the connection; but at some point in the countryside it started to become clear that something dreadful but not predictable (at least not by me) was about to unfold. And then it does and at that point I had to read quickly to see how the whole thing was going to unfold. So there is some of that compelling mystery-like quality about the book.
rhiannoncs's review
4.0
Nelson is a struggling actor living in the large South American city that he grew up in. When he is cast in a revival of a controversial political play he admires that will tour the countryside of which he has always been only vaguely aware, this seems to be the beginning of great things for him. However, the reader is aware from the beginning that something troubling happens to Nelson - the narrator as much as tells that, though one has to wait until almost the end of the book to discover who the narrator is and how he is connected to the story.
I was enchanted by this book throughout, and eager to discover the mysteries of it. The Idiot President, the play, feels so real to me, I was given such a complete picture of it in my mind, that I feel like I've seen it. I felt little sympathy with Nelson, but I don't really think I was supposed to.
I was enchanted by this book throughout, and eager to discover the mysteries of it. The Idiot President, the play, feels so real to me, I was given such a complete picture of it in my mind, that I feel like I've seen it. I felt little sympathy with Nelson, but I don't really think I was supposed to.
sutherslat's review
3.0
I desperately wanted to love this. It's so outside of what I usually read and, while incredibly well-written, it just never sucked me in. It was nearly impossible for me to predict the ending, which normally is a sign of a great story for me. But with this book, I realized about halfway through that the ending was not the point. It was the whole journey of the book. The reader is meant to relish in the details and dig into each character and that just isn't something that I generally enjoy doing.
All in all, an excellently written book and a compelling story, but the journey to the end was too long and slow for me.
All in all, an excellently written book and a compelling story, but the journey to the end was too long and slow for me.
jpiasci1's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
dsullivan's review
2.0
It was a story not worth telling, but it was told well. The prose was engaging and the characters were well fleshed out. The story is set in an unnamed South American country (probably Peru) and I found the cultural differences interesting. That's about all the book had going for it. The plot was meandering and there was a lot of build up with little payoff. On the last page, one character asks another "Do you understand?" To which the second replies "I do." Well, I don't. The actions of the main character in the last few pages of the book didn't make any sense to me.
ccfrostybits's review against another edition
5.0
I love this book. Sometimes you just know the moment you pick it up that it's exactly written just for you. It literally took me over a month to finish this, but in actuality I ripped through it in only a few sittings. Whenever I would pick this up (without fail) I genuinely felt spoken to. Or maybe understood. I don't know. I like to mark up my books, and let me tell you this thing has been absolutely mauled. Truly one of the most beautifully written stories I've ever read.
I'm going to let this sit at a 9/10 for a little while at least and see if I want to bump it up to a 10 later, because it is honestly so special and important to me. The only thing keeping me from that last bump is the ending. I am still left unsure why it ends the way it does. Tonally it feels like a different kind of story than the rest of the book, but not in a way that it comes out of nowhere. It could be that I just didn't see the subtext that I may have missed earlier, or it could be that I'm not fully thinking about these characters and why they would act this way right here at the end.
I would love to say that I recommend this book to everyone, but it feels like trying to introduce people to your best friend or something. I want everyone to feel and understand the connection we share and how great they are, but to hear they don't feel the same way would be heartbreaking.
I'm going to let this sit at a 9/10 for a little while at least and see if I want to bump it up to a 10 later, because it is honestly so special and important to me. The only thing keeping me from that last bump is the ending. I am still left unsure why it ends the way it does. Tonally it feels like a different kind of story than the rest of the book, but not in a way that it comes out of nowhere. It could be that I just didn't see the subtext that I may have missed earlier, or it could be that I'm not fully thinking about these characters and why they would act this way right here at the end.
I would love to say that I recommend this book to everyone, but it feels like trying to introduce people to your best friend or something. I want everyone to feel and understand the connection we share and how great they are, but to hear they don't feel the same way would be heartbreaking.
fictionfan's review
5.0
The Idiot President’s son…
Nelson has spent his young life expecting to leave his South American home and emigrate to the US in the footsteps of his elder brother, on a chain migration visa. But, just as it finally seems this dream is about to become reality, Nelson’s father dies and he knows he can’t simply leave his mother alone. He has always wanted to be an actor/playwright, and is coming to the end of his studies at the Conservatory. He auditions for a role in a touring revival of a play, The Idiot President, which once gained notoriety for Diciembre, the company who originally performed it in towns and villages during the recent civil war. Henry Nuñez, who wrote the play, and Patalarga were original members of the three-man cast, and will again play the eponymous Idiot President and his servant, while Nelson is chosen to play Alejo, the President’s son. As they tour the provinces of the country, the three men will gradually learn about each other’s pasts and develop an intricate and intimate kind of friendship. But we know from our unnamed narrator that tragedy of some kind looms…
This is going to be rather a frustrating review, for two reasons. The first is that the slow revelation of the story and the mysteries within it are what leads the reader to want to keep turning the pages, and so it would be entirely unfair to reveal any more of the plot than I already have. The South American country is probably Peru, although it’s never named. Alarcón himself is Peruvian by birth, although he has lived in America since early childhood. However, he seems to maintain strong links to his Peruvian heritage, and the style of the book feels to me far closer to the Latin American tradition than to mainstream US American fiction. The main action of the book, the revival tour, takes place in 2001 and the civil war seems to have ended a dozen or so years earlier, so Nelson lived through it, but as a very young child. Henry and Patalarga, however, were men at the time, and the political aspects of their play marked them as dissidents. So although the book doesn’t take us deeply into the reasons behind the war, its after-effects hover over the present day, so that we see the nation and its people damaged and scarred and still in the process of anxious healing.
The second reason for the difficulty in reviewing is that I’d love to be able to tell you what the book is about, but frankly I’m not at all sure that I know! Other than the effects of civil war, the strongest theme seems to be of identity, and Alarcón plays with this brilliantly in different ways throughout the book. From Nelson’s longing to be American, through the obvious metaphor of plays and acting, to questions of family, friendship and love, Alarcón seems to be looking at the formation of identity at the personal level. It’s partly a coming-of-age novel, and we see how Nelson is influenced by experience and by the people he becomes close to in his formative years. But we also see the more political side of identity – how in changing political circumstances people are identified by their convictions or their allegiances. Yesterday’s dissident is today’s patriot, and vice versa. Fame is illusory and dependent on circumstance. The best, albeit unsatisfactory, way I can think to sum it up is that we see the formation of individual identity mirroring society’s fracturing and reformation as a result of war.
However, although I found it thought-provoking, I must immediately dispel the idea that is a grim or difficult read. It is written lightly, beautifully indeed, and has humour and warmth all through. There is a love story at the heart of it, and not one you’d expect at all. And it is full of mystery – who is the narrator? Why is he telling Nelson’s story? What is the looming tragedy that is foreshadowed again and again as the narrator takes us close to the truth and then veers away again? It’s wonderfully done, and makes what could have been a heavy read into a page-turner, and when the ending came I found it surprising and satisfying, and it left me with my thoughts even more provoked. Is the message perhaps that our stories are an integral part of our identities, and that to tell another’s story is a form of theft? I don’t know. I don’t know. But I loved it, every single word.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Nelson has spent his young life expecting to leave his South American home and emigrate to the US in the footsteps of his elder brother, on a chain migration visa. But, just as it finally seems this dream is about to become reality, Nelson’s father dies and he knows he can’t simply leave his mother alone. He has always wanted to be an actor/playwright, and is coming to the end of his studies at the Conservatory. He auditions for a role in a touring revival of a play, The Idiot President, which once gained notoriety for Diciembre, the company who originally performed it in towns and villages during the recent civil war. Henry Nuñez, who wrote the play, and Patalarga were original members of the three-man cast, and will again play the eponymous Idiot President and his servant, while Nelson is chosen to play Alejo, the President’s son. As they tour the provinces of the country, the three men will gradually learn about each other’s pasts and develop an intricate and intimate kind of friendship. But we know from our unnamed narrator that tragedy of some kind looms…
This is going to be rather a frustrating review, for two reasons. The first is that the slow revelation of the story and the mysteries within it are what leads the reader to want to keep turning the pages, and so it would be entirely unfair to reveal any more of the plot than I already have. The South American country is probably Peru, although it’s never named. Alarcón himself is Peruvian by birth, although he has lived in America since early childhood. However, he seems to maintain strong links to his Peruvian heritage, and the style of the book feels to me far closer to the Latin American tradition than to mainstream US American fiction. The main action of the book, the revival tour, takes place in 2001 and the civil war seems to have ended a dozen or so years earlier, so Nelson lived through it, but as a very young child. Henry and Patalarga, however, were men at the time, and the political aspects of their play marked them as dissidents. So although the book doesn’t take us deeply into the reasons behind the war, its after-effects hover over the present day, so that we see the nation and its people damaged and scarred and still in the process of anxious healing.
The second reason for the difficulty in reviewing is that I’d love to be able to tell you what the book is about, but frankly I’m not at all sure that I know! Other than the effects of civil war, the strongest theme seems to be of identity, and Alarcón plays with this brilliantly in different ways throughout the book. From Nelson’s longing to be American, through the obvious metaphor of plays and acting, to questions of family, friendship and love, Alarcón seems to be looking at the formation of identity at the personal level. It’s partly a coming-of-age novel, and we see how Nelson is influenced by experience and by the people he becomes close to in his formative years. But we also see the more political side of identity – how in changing political circumstances people are identified by their convictions or their allegiances. Yesterday’s dissident is today’s patriot, and vice versa. Fame is illusory and dependent on circumstance. The best, albeit unsatisfactory, way I can think to sum it up is that we see the formation of individual identity mirroring society’s fracturing and reformation as a result of war.
However, although I found it thought-provoking, I must immediately dispel the idea that is a grim or difficult read. It is written lightly, beautifully indeed, and has humour and warmth all through. There is a love story at the heart of it, and not one you’d expect at all. And it is full of mystery – who is the narrator? Why is he telling Nelson’s story? What is the looming tragedy that is foreshadowed again and again as the narrator takes us close to the truth and then veers away again? It’s wonderfully done, and makes what could have been a heavy read into a page-turner, and when the ending came I found it surprising and satisfying, and it left me with my thoughts even more provoked. Is the message perhaps that our stories are an integral part of our identities, and that to tell another’s story is a form of theft? I don’t know. I don’t know. But I loved it, every single word.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
misslezlee's review against another edition
3.0
Reminding me a lot of The Motorcycle Diaries (Che Guevara and his friend Alberto trucking around South America in the 1950s), this book perfectly evokes the same coming of age angst, although much more seriously. Nelson joins a small, political, theater troupe and they set off on a tour of a fictitious South American country. Except, of course, it’s much more complicated than that. It doesn’t end well.
The book blurb says, "Alarcón delivers a compulsively readable narrative and a provocative meditation on fate, identity, and the large consequences that can result from even our smallest choices.”
The book blurb says, "Alarcón delivers a compulsively readable narrative and a provocative meditation on fate, identity, and the large consequences that can result from even our smallest choices.”
x150151041's review
"They came to a small plaza where dozens of men stood among large chalkboards placed in rows that zigzagged from one end of the space to the other. It wasn't at all clear what the men were after. A heavyset woman sat at one end of the chalkboards with a pen and clipboard in her lap; now and again, she would hand a piece of paper to an adolescent girl, who would then climb a small stepladder and begin copying the words out in colored chalk. The men would gather around, with severe expressions on their wind-bitten faces.
Henry, Patalarga, and Nelson watched from the edges of the crowd, waiting for the right moment to get a better look. For once Henry didn't pretend he knew everything, but took in the scene with the same puzzlement as the rest."
Henry, Patalarga, and Nelson watched from the edges of the crowd, waiting for the right moment to get a better look. For once Henry didn't pretend he knew everything, but took in the scene with the same puzzlement as the rest."
bgg616's review
5.0
Set in an unnamed Latin American country in 2001, I eventually figured out this was Peru. The NY Times review said " this ... is set in a country that if not quite the author’s native Peru is at least a first cousin". This is not a spoiler because if you look up the writer's bio, you read he was born in Lima, Peru in 1977. I loved his first book Lost City Radio, and this, his second novel, did not disappoint me. The story centers on the revival of a traveling theater troupe, made up of only 3 men, who leave "the city" and travel through the countryside and up into the mountains performing a revival of a play by a guerilla theater troupe that got the playwright, Henry Nuñez jailed as a terrorist in the 80's. The play is not particularly profound - a satirical view of an unnamed ruler. Henry was imprisoned for less than a year, but this experience impacted him for life.
The book opens with a description of the city as it is now, and how it was during the "war". The new calm and relative prosperity make it difficult to comprehend that this was a place that saw so much turmoil less than two decades earlier. This description rang very true to me. It was how I felt when visiting Belfast in 2009, and walking around downtown. I'd been there a number of times during the Troubles and it was difficult to believe this was the same city. I had a similar reaction to Santiago, Chile, when I visited there for the first time in 1999. Although it was many years after the coup and upheavals of the 70's and 80's (something I only knew through books,films, and Chilean friends) in the late 90's Chile was a rising economy.
The isolation of rural and Andean life comes through strongly in this novel. It makes sense that the two older members of the troupe, Henry and Patalarga ("big foot") would undertake this trip, but why does Nelson, the younger member, only in his early 20's join them? Alarcon makes his motivation very believable, even palpable. Nelson is in love with Ixla, but torn between staying in the city, his country, and leaving for the United States.
The story ends tragically. I had to reread the last two pages, to decipher what it meant.
The book opens with a description of the city as it is now, and how it was during the "war". The new calm and relative prosperity make it difficult to comprehend that this was a place that saw so much turmoil less than two decades earlier. This description rang very true to me. It was how I felt when visiting Belfast in 2009, and walking around downtown. I'd been there a number of times during the Troubles and it was difficult to believe this was the same city. I had a similar reaction to Santiago, Chile, when I visited there for the first time in 1999. Although it was many years after the coup and upheavals of the 70's and 80's (something I only knew through books,films, and Chilean friends) in the late 90's Chile was a rising economy.
The isolation of rural and Andean life comes through strongly in this novel. It makes sense that the two older members of the troupe, Henry and Patalarga ("big foot") would undertake this trip, but why does Nelson, the younger member, only in his early 20's join them? Alarcon makes his motivation very believable, even palpable. Nelson is in love with Ixla, but torn between staying in the city, his country, and leaving for the United States.
The story ends tragically. I had to reread the last two pages, to decipher what it meant.