Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord

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Summary: Unique...another 'must be read in one sitting' novel
Review: Another impressive book from De Bernieres, though I don't believe anything can match the magnificence of Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Scenes of tender devotion between Dio' and Anica jostle for space among farcial Presidential memos, the letters forming the coca crusade and, finally; descriptions of truly stomach-churning torture, in a narrative that hares off in a bewildering number of sub-plots. Initially rather bewildering, all threads are satisfactorily woven together and in the process, De Bernieres creates a host of engaging, if somewhat surreal, characters. Episodes of grisly violence alternate with teasing and banter and the novel succeeds as escapist entertainment as all works of fiction should. However, in the matter of fact accounts of Lazaro's death by fire and Anica's rape and mutiliation, De Bernieres reminds us that Latin America's drug wars are alive and well and exist outside of the pages of this first-rate novel.

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Summary: A bit forced
Review: De Bernieres serves a lush yet chilling dish of quasi-myths and social tragedy. Beyond the chronicle of arduous love, through the wit and sadness of it all, you will see an outlandishly imaginative sketch of a triumphant human spirit. This story will entice you, intoxicate you, and then wake you like a razor-sharp blade.

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Summary: Challenging the new conquistadores
Review: Latin America has spent decades struggling to break the chains of residual colonialism. While North Americans can rejoice in casting off hereditary monarchy, Latin America has been gripped by a far stronger and enduring set of bonds - culture and tradition. When Spain ruled these lands, great haciendas, usually built on royal land grants, were ruled by titled aristocrats using armed vaqueros and the Church to maintain social quiet. Today, it's drug lords and paramilitary squads but the structure has changed little. While an established anti-establishment stable of writers in Latin America have mildly flourished [those that have survived], de Bernieres intrudes as an outsider to bring a fresh, vivid and disturbing view of this society. His imagination is boundless and his capacity to impart his visions is peerless.

Vivo Dionisio is a philosophy teacher - young, vibrant and, of course, idealistic. He's also articulate, which leads him to pepper the great newspaper, La Prensa, with complaints about the drug lords. In particular, the local padrino, El Jerarca. An obtuse, obese, and overbearing man, he views Senor Vivo as a threat to his hegemony. Most powerful men in such societies can dominate the local police. Here, however El Jerarca must contend with a philosopher police chief, Ramon. While Ramon is powerless to deal with the drug czar, he is anything but submissive. He cheerfully retrieves the corpses El Jerarca's men leave in Dionisio's front yard, hoping to find a niche in the drug lord's armour. Dionisio may provide the key - if he survives.

Dionisio, however, has many interests. Among the most demanding is his new-found love, Anica. Anica is the epitome of the spirited Latin lover - intense in all her interests, devoted to the man she loves, tragic in her desire to preserve and protect Dionisio. His response to her is almost a cliche of Latin American writing, but with a humanity rarely seen in such literature.

De Bernieres portrayal of people and events is matchless. His novel approach, categorised by some as "magical realism", keeps this book lively, entertaining, but fraught with a need to expose injustice. His knowledge of Columbian society, with its many disparate elements, is vast. He weaves these many threads together in building a seamless tapestry of politics, magic, tradition and affection. Violence is a fundamental element, with all forced to contend with its pervasive role. Happiness is balanced by tragedy and grief in ways that leave the reader breathless. This is an admirable work, with black humour and deep ironies. Read it and enjoy the work of a writer of peerless prowess. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

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Summary: If only Sr. Vivo...
Review: lived in our world...we could use a few like him.

Dionisio Vivo (not his real name) is just a typical philosophy teacher in a typical high school in a small Andean town in a small Andean country. Then he writes a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, telling the local drug lord to put a stop to his dirty business....and life gets complicated for Dionisio.

De Bernieres writes with great style, creates wonderful human characters who are just a touch over the top, and tells a tragic story with wit and humor.

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Summary: FUNNY, SAD, SICKENING . . . AND A TECHNICAL MASTERPIECE
Review: Since first reviewing "Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord" for Amazon my opinion has changed substantially, and it is only fair to pass this on.

I stand by my original thought that this book suffers from the post-modernity malaise: The author has brought together almost too many ideas, styles and techniques in the service of his agenda - at certain points these tend to obscure rather than clarify things. However, the depth of the message and the beauty of its expression have become clearer over time.

The message is simultaneously uplifting and painful: There is a grim symbiosis that unites corrupt and stupid governments with drugs and arms dealers in a feeding frenzy that destroys not just people but civilisation itself. Love and justice can be victorious, but only the kind of love that has more to do with self-sacrifice than romance, and only the kind of justice that is prepared to confront evil regardless of the cost. It's a profound but painful truth that only that strange hybrid of Marxism and Christianity called "Liberation Theology" has succeeded in developing systematically.

The book's principal stylistic flourish is "magical realism", a formula familiar to readers of Garcia Marquez and others. This piece of lit. crit. jargon means simply that magical events are an integral part of the plot, but, this being the world of po-mo, it only happens to make a point. In other words, the author does not require you to suspend disbelief as would be the case in a conventional magic story. This technique provides the opportunity for some of the book's most delicate and beautiful images, but on the downside it imposes a clumsy constraint on the author: He cannot narrate supernatural events directly and objectively - he has to do so in a subjective way from inside the head of one of his characters. This is not a criticism of the author - he executes this perceptual juggling with flawless technique. Rather, it is an indictment of the literary fashion that makes this sort of mannerism necessary. The self-distancing of the author from the world in which his characters live and move is unavoidably communicated to the reader, making it harder to engage with the characters or feel for them the way we would under the spell of a conventional narrative.

In this literary framework, only appalling suffering can draw us into the intensity of feeling for the characters that is necessary for the device to work. The story starts off in a light, satirical vain that will raise genuine rueful smiles and in its erotic moments even perhaps mildly titillate. The only searching question is whether he can reign the po-mo mannerisms in for long enough at a time to keep the story flowing, but Louis writes such beautiful prose that it is a pleasure to read. Nevertheless, the feelgood factor of the earlier chapters cannot last, and quite quickly the book descends into a nightmare of depraved violence. Louis narrates rape, torture, mutilation and so on with exactly the kind of elegant simplicity you would expect, and after the good humour of the early chapters the result is almost unbearably shocking.

I have some reservations as to whether even great literature should incorporate such graphic descriptions of sexual violence. I would certainly not wish to leave this book lying around the house where a young or impressionable person could be exposed to it. And in places Louis' literary technique almost gets the better of his artistic sensibility. Nevertheless, it stands as a remarkable achievement by a novelist of extraordinary gifts. If you are not afraid to laugh, cry and be sickened in one sitting, it is strongly recommended.

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Summary: De Bernieres is the new Marquez
Review: This novel is incredible! It is delightfully funny, yet skeptical of political intrigue and human nature. It turns reality and fantasy upside down and over onto itself, employing magical realism in such a way it is reminiscent of Marquez. I highly recommend this novel, and I intend to read his others in the near future.

Rating:
Summary: Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord
Review: Very complex, creative and compelling. Gets you into the mindset of the time and place. Makes you want to say, "why didn't I think of that" when he brings it up a notch. De Bernieres understands what he is writing about. Love all his works.

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Summary: Magical realism turned on its head
Review: Witty, sardonic, sarcastic and yet romantic: Louis de Bernieres parodies the magical realism of the Latin American greats, transforming what Nick Joaquin, Filipino counterpart of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, has baptized "Tropical Gothic" into a P.G. Wodehousesianesque barrel of laughs; and yet Bernieres can horrify and move you to tears -all in the same novel. His books go from strength to strength; a master storyteller by any set of criteria.