A Fish in the Water - by Mario Vargas Llosa (Paperback)

About the Book

The author writes of the period of his life from his youth until his candidacy for President of Peru.

Book Synopsis

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

Mario Vargas Llosa's A Fish in the Water is a twofold book: a memoir of one of Latin America's most celebrated witers, beginning with his birth in 1936 in Arequipa, Peru; and the story of his organization of the reform movement which culminated in his bid for the Peruvian presidency in 1990.

Review Quotes

"[Mario Vargas Llosa] has published a fascinating and often bitter memoir . . . enlightening." --The New York Times

"[A Fish in the Water] offers a convincing self-portrait of a political innocent sinking under a tide of democratic absurdities. . . . An often funny and cautionary tale." --Time

"An absorbing picture not only of the growth of a rapaciously inquisitive intellectual, but a fascinating portrait of Peru over the past thirty years, with many of the same qualities--intelligence, an eye for detail, bursts of humour and anger--that are so memorable in [Vargas Llosa's] novels . . . one cannot help but admire [his] courage." --The Independent (London)

"This volume of memoirs will not disappoint fans of his novels (among whom I count myself). . . . Vargas Llosa emerges here as the brilliant writer he has always been, with insights into politics as deep as those he has previously shown about other forms of human endeavor." --Elliott Abrams, The American Spectator

"A dazzling performance, one of [Vargas Llosa's] very best books, full of curious, even surreal, events . . . I urge all who read this review to buy it immediately. They may think I have understated its merits." --Hugh Thomas, National Review

"Intriguing . . . Reads like the diary of an astute social critic who, for reasons he does not fully comprehend, has also become the protagonist of the events he observes." --Arturo J. Cruz, Jr., Commentary

"An artful political and literary memoir . . . Vargas Llosa's narrative skill and novelist's eye animate the unfamiliar politics, people, and culture of Peru. Essential political as well as literary reading." --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Mario Vargas Llosa was born in Peru in 1936. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat." He also won the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's most distinguished literary honor. His many works of fiction and nonfiction include The Feast of the Goat, In Praise of the Stepmother, and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, all published by FSG. He died in Lima at age 89 in 2025.