Just reissued in a striking new (and slightly cheaper!) paperback edition, this novel took me utterly by surprise. It grabbed me and pushed me down and walked all over me. It gave me a deeper appreciation of what a truly great novelist really is, what he or she can do with any subject or theme he or she happens to choose to write about. It may be the first book about which I thought, with real clarity and certainty, "That was perfect." 
 As for the plot: an increasingly large group of religious fanatics builds a town in Brazil, and ends up waging war against the Brazilian government (and putting up a pretty good fight). Perhaps the most amazing thing about the situation, as you read it, is that it is based on actual historical events. But the most amazing thing about the book itself, about Vargas Llosa's writing, is how endlessly, fascinatingly compelling is each and every one of his characters, no matter how strange or morally questionable (and we're talking about some pretty darn strange and morally divergent people here). The author refuses to allow us the luxury of thinking of people as "good" or "bad," and those terms seem increasingly irrelevant as you read and get to know people on all sides of the conflict, people with very human, and therefore not very easy to categorize, motives and interests. 
 It's epic, tragic, ambitious fiction. Salman Rushdie called it "a modern tragedy on a grand scale...as dark as spilled blood." Harold Bloom considers it part of the Western Canon. These are people whose literary opinions, unlike mine, carry actual weight! 
 Finally, I'll just add that if you have not yet read Mario Vargas Llosa, you've just gotta, even if this particular book doesn't sound like your cup of tea. As I said above, he can take just about anything and make it into one of the most memorable reading experiences of your life. 
 -Chris C.