The Way to Paradise

Ok, so Keisha updated her blog today and said that I needed to as well. I haven't finished the book yet, so I wasn't going to write about it until I did. But seeing as we already had book club about it, I guess I can.

This book was originally written in Spanish by the Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa. Ana, one of our book club members, is Peruvian herself, so she exposed us to some foreign literature. I, of course, don't read Spanish, so I read the translated version.

This is a very interesting book. I would classify it as a historical fiction. Llosa alternates chapters between 2 characters: Flora Tristan and her grandson Paul Gaugain. If you haven't heard of either of them, Flora Tristan was a feminist in the 1840's working in France to create a Worker's Union and Paul Gaugain is a very famous French artist. (I believe it is one of his paintings on the cover of the book). I remember reading about Gaugain in Art History in college. I didn't know much about him other than he moved to Tahiti where he created his masterpieces (late 1800's).

Flora Tristan is a captivating character and I love how the author tells her life story through flashbacks she has while she's working the circuit in France trying to get the Worker's Union organized. She was a very strong woman (very unusual for her time and place). I suppose that's why I like her. I'd like to hope I'd have the guts to do what she did.

Paul Gaugain, on the other hand, was crazy. I don't know what it is about artists, but it seems like they're all a little crazy in the head. He had syphillus and didn't mind spreading the disease all over Tahiti with girls as young as 13. He "married" a couple of them, even though he had a wife and children living back in Denmark. He was a terrible father and husband to his first wife (essentially abandoning her). And the syphillus eventually drove him crazy. I do have to say though, it was interesting seeing life from his point of view, however distorted it may have been.

I will finish this book and thank Ana for expanding my exposure to foreign literature! Thanks!