This novel is a fictional retelling of the political environment and events of life in Guatemala in the 1950's. Jacobo Arbenz was the elected president of the country with a progressive agenda, especially land reform as foreign interests such as United Fruit held much of the best land leaving the native Indian population in poverty. This agenda did not suit the business interests, which were focused mainly in the United States and asked for help from the government. The CIA and President Eisenhower got involved, spreading lies that Arbenz was a Communist and that he was the beginning of communism taking over all of South America. This led to a CIA backed coup that unseated Arbenz and installed Carlo Castillo Armas instead.

The story is told through the lives of various participants. Notable among them was a woman known as Miss Guatemala who was the mistress of several of the men at the top and later a political journalist. While serving as mistress to the President, she was also working with the CIA providing gossip and intelligence. When events heated up, the CIA helped her escape to another South American country and eventually to the United States. We also hear the story of the head of the security forces who was falsely accused of the murder and lost everything as he served time in prison. Other players were forced into exile, roaming the earth in search of new lives but never finding them.

Mario Vargas Llosa is known for his books about the political events in South America as well as biographical novels about various writers and artists. He was born in Peru but spent much time overseas during the turbulent times of the 1950's and 1960's. His work is celebrated as exposing much of the background behind the events taking place and how foreign manipulation put the South American countries behind in their quest for independence. I listened to this novel and the narrator was perfect; his accent and pronunciation of names added to the experience. This book is recommended for literary fiction readers as well as those interested in political events.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* 3.5 rounded up, this was a good read. Felt longer than it was but i think that is just because so much was going on. Would recommend.

4 stars

An important & powerful story tracing the series of coups & election interference by foreign governments (including the CIA) that overthrew Guatemala’s democracy during the early Cold War. The characterizations are masterful, & the writing top notch.

[What I liked:]

•This is an important episode in history that imo not enough Americans are aware of. I had learned the basics of what happened in school, & seen a documentary that focused on the banana plantation workers & United Fruit, but I wasn’t as familiar with the government leaders involved. I definitely learned some history from reading this. The part about the uprising at the military academy was particularly touching.

•The writing is skilled & nuanced. I particularly admire the character development work. Somehow, I managed to care about what happened to Johnny by the end, while also really disliking him. Castillo Armas, in particular, is a character with lots of nuance who would have been easy to caricature. Instead, we see his greed & power lust, his mental instability, his insecurity, his delusional belief that he’s doing what is right, & get to watch his slow breakdown up close.

•I particularly enjoyed Vargas Llosa’s recounting at the end of his real-life visit to Marta while he was researching this book. He really captures what a colorful & slippery character she is, & it is clear how much work he put into researching the figures & events of the novel.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•The alternating timelines were quite confusing to me, especially since they often happened mid-scene, with a character jumping back & forth between the current moment & a parallel moment in the past multiple times in the same scene or paragraph. That was pretty frustrating.

•I’m not really sure who is the protagonist in the book. Marta is more of an anti-hero, a master manipulator. Johnny is downright horrible, although I feel bad for what happened to his family. Árbenz is the most sympathetic character by far, but he’s a peripheral character for much of the book. Castillo Armas is no hero, although he’s portrayed with some nuance & sympathy. In short, it was hard to like most of the main characters in this story.

CW: murder, torture, sexual assault, civil war

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

Happening well before my time, I had no idea of the trappings and conspiracies shrouding the 1954 Guatemalan coup. Telling a fictionalized account of this history, Mario Vargas Llosa tells the story of how America manipulated and coerced South and Central America to be more to its liking. Books covering this period of American history at the height of its imperialism are essential and the author mostly nails it. Issues due arise over keeping the many factions and actors both good and bad straight, but due not detract from the story much.

Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa takes place in Guatemala, 1954. It is an in depth look at politics in Central America and fuses real life with fiction. An intense, rich story that can be a heavy read for some. Interesting background information and suspenseful story.

The narrator did a fantastic job brining the story to life and made the story easier for me to follow.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for this audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

A good book, but not great. Where does reality end and fiction start? Is this really a novel? Not many people know Guatemala's history in the 1950s, so the author has to provide excruciating details in order to set the stage and for the story to make sense. Unfortunately, because there are so many characters it becomes disorienting at times. The author's politics come through loud and clear at times to the detriment of the story. I wish the author had focused less on the politics and more on the story of Marta. That was a missed opportunity and perhaps would have resulted in a great novel. Character development is lacking, because they are not on stage for that long. The novel feels jumpy, and the back and forth between voices and storylines is at times distracting. A main pro of this novel is that it is easy to read, unlike some of Llosa's earlier novels. Thank you to NetGalley, FSG and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy.

Harsh Times is fascinating and instructive if you go into the novel understanding that fiction is blended here with nonfiction. It is a useful way to get to know South American (Guatemalan specifically) 20th-century history. The narration takes a little getting used to. It feels terse, staccato, almost mechanical, until the listener is accustomed to the reader. Llosa is always worth reading because he teaches while entertaining.

I don't tend to go for spy novels, but the history elements of this one intrigued me. I can't say I totally loved it, but it was well written and had a lot of exciting elements to it.

Llosa masterfully takes history and turns it into a deeply layered fictive retelling of a coup initiated by greed and exploitation, with the targeted aim of slowing down the rise of modern democracy in Guatemala. A movement that would put in place policies for the people.

The narrator's true gift is reaching backwards in time and bringing forward central figures, molding them in an environment of turmoil, and political change to reflect the opposing interests of the people and the corporation, turning and exploiting self-serving and acquisitive individuals for invaluable information and inroads.

Propaganda and information is used with tactical precision to build the case of the existence of Communism in the country and was wielded with such control by the public relations genius of United Fruit so as to manipulate the governments and power hungry military leaders to undertake the overthrow of 'dangerous socialism'.

Being personally acquainted with certain political machinations un my own island and of other islands nations along with mainland countries in Central and South America, the events fictionalized here are in no way strange, especially when foreign interests have always found ways to plant themselves into governments and communities in a play to derail power from the masses. Always it comes with a message that they are acting on behalf of the people in moving to sweep the detrimental effects of communism from the land; when really it is all about keeping the status quo of the intervening nation, and removing autonomy, progress, and sovereignty from the reach of ordinary citizens.

If you love history that is taken and fictionalized to account for some of the most atrocious acts against small nations and their indigenous populations, you will thoroughly enjoy what Llosa accomplishes here. It is obvious that he is well acquainted with the events of the coup and civil unrest and uses this to tell a riveting story.

I started out skeptical, but ended up really enjoying this book. Though the narration is (intentionally) fragmented and jumps around between characters, time periods, and regimes, the moment when all the threads began to come together was a deeply satisfying one for me as a reader. Curious to think about how Vargas Llosa's own politics are present throughout the book, but I would recommend it to anyone interested in reading about the history of US "intervention" and imperial meddling, particularly given how little the subject is taught!