Cinco esquinas by Mario Vargas Llosa (review)

In his latest novel, Cinco esquinas, Vargas Llosa tells the parallel stories of two urban upper-class couples and that of a pauperized artist in Lima. Marisa and Chabela are married, respectively, to Enrique and Luciano, two successful professionals. Juan Peineta is a poet, who falls in disgrace after being besmeared by an immoral journalist named Rolando Garro, director of El Destape. All of them are affected by the politics of the moment reflected on the tabloid’s sensationalist publications.

Structurally, Cinco esquinas is divided into twenty-two chapters alternating between the two conflicting narrative spaces. These two locations are the impoverished neighborhood of Barrios Altos and the upper-class neighborhood Rinconada del Lago in Lima. Thematically, the topics of immorality and manipulation in politics are central to the story. Peruvian society of the nineties was under the siege of terrorist attacks lead by Sendero Luminoso and Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru. Terrorism was not only present as these groups distressed the population, but the practice of terrorism impregnated the actions in high political spheres. The novel is framed at a time when Peru experienced bombs and blackouts daily. The terror that began in the Andes of Peru in the eighties advanced to the capital in the nineties.

Montesinos and Fujimori, the main political figures of the novel, have complete control over the media. Fiction and reality connect in this realm. In the nineties, tabloids like El Destape were published in order to ruin people’s reputations through the fabrication of libelous, twisted and malicious information. Other fashions of this political practice were blackmailing public figures after a well-planned ambush. In the story, the sensationalist publications of El Destape result in Juan Peineta’s professional ruin and Enrique’s public scorn. Schadenfreude, pleasure from others misfortune, is the German word that best suits El Destape. This joy found in other people’s suffering is what the tabloid exploits. Not only does it serve the political purpose of destroying somebody’s career, but it also fills the need for schadenfreude that is so unfortunately popular in today’s society and politics.

The misuse of media for partisan purposes is another axis of the novel. In this realm, the line between truth and lie becomes blurred and thin. Cinco esquinas tackles a common unethical practice in many parts of the world. Spotlight, 2016 Academy Award for best film portrays a similar topic, such as Umberto Eco’s last novel. In Numero Zero (2016), the late prestigious semiotician also tells the story of “Numero Zero’s” journalists. The conundrum in the Italian newspaper is that the publication of news would taint high hierarchies in the Vatican in relation to Mussolini’s presumed simulated death. Retaliation in both novels is clear, as the individuals responsible to hide the information are murdered one by one. In Cinco esquinas the murder has a twist, which will be revealed at the end of the novel.

Cinco esquinas is variegated in many aspects. Regarding its genre, the novel is an erotic thriller with the components of an unsolved murder with many crime suspects. The suspense rises and attracts the reader throughout the novel, making it an easy and intriguing read. It has a well-developed theme of transgressive sexual relationships embedded in the novel that adds the erotic touch to the narrative.

The novel’s last chapter is particularly rich stylistically. It adds a cinematographic finale to the narrative enhancing its agile and dynamic flow. This resource is similar to a film frame or the film scenes where the screen is divided by a dark line in between multiple scenes to show various actions developed simultaneously. In Cinco esquinas, this aspect is exposed with three intertwined dialogues. The aesthetical feature creates and enhances the suspense in the last moments of the novel.

As usual, Mario Vargas Llosa’s novel reflects and displays various plateaus of meaning. On one hand, the societal contrast between the poorest and the wealthiest strata suffer the morbidity of a society that...