DEATH IN THE ANDES

A large theme of the novel Death In The Andes, is the chaos of Latin America and how it shapes men and women into tools of that chaos. Nobody is happy, really, except perhaps Tomasito, who comes across as somewhat deluded. There is hardly a sense of future for anyone, because if you survive against today's band of rebels attacking the town, well, tomorrow's marauders might just do you in. People laugh when they are drunk or when they speak lewdly. And yet, for all that, it is not a sad world that Llosa paints. It is a country in flux, a changing place, a land for potential but also for death. It is sad to think there is little hope at the end of the novel that the violence will stop. Tomasito's love is the only spark worth sheltering, but the land, the culture, the people and the feel of Peru is captured very well. Chaos has, for a brief moment, been contained within the pages of Llosa's novel. Recommended, but only for those readers who are willing to put in the effort to untangle a novel that refuses, for the most part, to untangle at all.

Death in the Andes

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