Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord
by Louis de Bernieres
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Book Summary Information
Author: Louis de BernieresEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-03-03
ISBN: 0375700145
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord
Book Review: Challenging the new conquistadores
Summary: 5 Stars
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]
Summary of Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord
From the bestselling author of "Corelli's Mandolin" and "The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts" comes an iridescent gem of storytelling that is "by turns wacky, mystical, and altogether compelling" ("Washington Post"). A young philosophy professor is the only citizen in his country who dares to renounce his country's cocaine mafia. This makes him the object of several assassination attempts and a national hero. His popularity, however, does not extend to the people he loves .Louis de Bernières is a masterful writer, which is to say his command of the various crafts of writing--creating character, innovative description, telling a whopping good story--weaves a spell and sucks you into the magic. From the moment Dionisio Vivo and Ramón "Cochinillo" Dario attend to the cravate corpse deposited in his garden by the coca lords, you become ensconced in the world of Ipasueño, its passions, ironies, and political intrigues, and cease to be aware of the hand of Bernières behind the scenes.
Dionisio, a professor of philosophy, writes a series of letters, published in the prestigious journal La Prensa, castigating the coca trade, and from there the story spins furiously in many directions and subplots. There's the love affair of the century between Dionisio and Anica Moreno, Lazaro's tragic dance with leprosy, and--to the great pleasure of fans of Bernières's previous novel, The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts--further interactions with the magical jaguars and human inhabitants of Cochadebajo de los Gatos. Events take their course in the way of a grand tragicomedy, with the devastation that's expected followed by the irrepressible joy of life that's never expected and Bernières's tongue-in-cheek touch throughout.
It's a delightfully mesmerizing book. Set in a mythical South American country that's a composite of real South American history and Bernières's fertile imagination, and therefore a perfect companion to take on a south-of-the-border vacation, the book is awash in the realities and flavor of South America and the lunacies of Bernières's genius. --Stephanie Gold
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