Conversation in the Cathedral, Mario Vargas Llosa

(Tr.Spa-Eng from an anonymous review)

 In this work we are told about corruption, politics, frustration of fellow countrymen, we see how a group of people unite to overthrow the Establishment. Corruption is a current problem, we must not get carried away by mediocrity, we have to strive to achieve our goals. We must be faithful to our ideal and be sure of ourselves, be open to all opinions but firm in ours not reaching stubbornness. We must think about the consequences of our actions and then not regret the decision.
 Conversation in the Cathedral talks about true political events, problems that happen in reality. Let's take the example of Cayo Bermúdez: Colonel Espina sends for him because the president wanted to put a trusted person in a certain position, he did not ask for a capable person in that charge, somebody who deserved it. Conflicts come because Peruvian people cannot stand either Odría's dictatorship or the situation they are experiencing anymore. Conflicts occur in the Zavala family all due to different political views: Santiago, is a communist and his father, Don Fermin, is "Odriaist"; they also had problems because Zavalita wanted to go to San Marcos University and Don Fermin wanted him to go to The Catholic. When Zavalita joined San Marcos, he went into polictics and ended up in jail instead of studying. We also find that Ambrosio kills a woman, Cayo's lover, because he was blackmailing Don Fermín and he did not like that, he said Don Fermín was very kind as to say no, so he decided to help him kill her. The work has got a wide range of words used in the vocabulary of Peru, such as chilcano which is a clear soup.