I enjoyed this novel, but reading it been an interesting return for me/my taste. I def spent my 20s believing this was the only kind of Serious Literary Book: It details a couple who keep splitting up and bumping into one another, all around the globe, and every city is lush and Romantic. Miraflores, Peru. Paris, France. London, England. Tokyo, Japan (the least generous depiction, and of course it's all about Yakuza and crime). Lavapies, Spain.

Vargas Llosa delivers the erotic passages I know him for. I can't help but question whether this Great Love Story (or ANY of them) really is about love? Obsession, yes. Sex, definitely. Ennui and boredom and cafes and heartbreak, OF COURSE.

The Bad Girl changes her name in every city, always disappearing like quicksilver before too long. Do we know her at all by the end of the book? Can an Obsession be a character? I just don't know.

This was first published in English in 2006 and boy has the world changed. Already, the weird Orientalist stuff about Japan is cringe. And don't even get me started about a misadventure only referred to as taking place in "Africa." [They mean Lagos.] Characters literally use the word "savages." Literally. So, heads up for that, it sucks!