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Harsh Times

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( 8,058 ratings, 1,080 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa delves into the tumultuous political landscape of Guatemala during the mid-20th century. The novel intricately weaves historical events with vivid fiction, exploring the conflicts and corruption surrounding the CIA-backed coup in 1954. Through a captivating narrative, it highlights the personal and political struggles faced by characters caught in the throes of revolution and power struggles.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're captivated by political intrigue and historical drama. The narrative delves into the intricacies of power struggles in mid-20th century Latin America, offering a richly detailed tapestry of characters and events. It's an engrossing fictional exploration of real-life political events with masterful storytelling.

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The new novel from the Nobel Prize-winning master of fiction - the true story of Guatemala's political turmoil of the 1950s.

The new novel from the Nobel Prize-winning master of fiction - the true story of Guatemala's political turmoil of the 1950s.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

Guatemala, 1954. A CIA-supported military coup topples the government. Behind this violent act is a lie passed off as truth, which forever changed the development of Latin America: that those in power encouraged the spread of Soviet communism in the Americas.

Mario Vargas Llosa has written a drama on a world stage, in which some persecutors end up as victims of the very plot they helped construct. Ironic and sensual, provocative and redemptive, Harsh Times is a story of international conspiracies and conflicting interests in the time of the Cold War, the echoes of which are still felt today.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa has been widely appreciated for its intricate portrayal of political turmoil in mid-20th century Guatemala. Reviewers commend Llosa's masterful storytelling and ability to weave historical fact with fiction, creating a vivid narrative that critiques imperialism and corruption. The novel is praised for its gripping and immersive treatment of complex themes and character development.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780571365661

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 25 November 2021

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Faber & Faber

Edition: Export - Airside ed

Contributors:

  • Translated by Adrian Nathan West

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 22.0mm

Width: 155.0mm

Height: 237.0mm

Weight: 5180g

Pages: 304

About the Author

Mario Vargas Llosa was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010. He has also won the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's most distinguished literary honor. His many works include Sabers and Utopias, The Discreet Hero, The Feast of the Goat, The Bad Girl, and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter.

Adrian Nathan West is a novelist, essayist, and translator based in Spain. His work has appeared in many publications, including The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, The London Review of Books, McSweeney's, and more. He is the author of The Aesthetics of Degradation and a contributing editor at the translation journal Asymptote.

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