Harsh Times

A Novel

By: Mario Vargas Llosa, Adrian Nathan West

Narrated by: Ian Guerra

The true story of Guatemala’s political turmoil of the 1950s as only a master of fiction can tell it.

Guatemala, 1954. The military coup perpetrated by Carlos Castillo Armas and supported by the CIA topples the government of Jacobo Árbenz. Behind this violent act is a lie passed off as truth, which forever changes the development of Latin America: the accusation by the Eisenhower administration that Árbenz encouraged the spread of Soviet Communism in the Americas. Harsh Times is a story of international conspiracies and conflicting interests in the time of the Cold War, the echoes of which are still felt today.

In this thrilling novel, Mario Vargas Llosa fuses reality with two fictions: that of the narrator, who freely recreates characters and situations, and the one designed by those who would control the politics and the economy of a continent by manipulating its history.

Harsh Times is a gripping, revealing novel that directly confronts recent history. No one is better suited to tell this riveting story than Vargas Llosa, and there is no form better for it than his deeply textured fiction. Not since The Feast of the Goat, his classic novel of the downfall of Trujillo’s regime in the Dominican Republic, has Vargas Llosa combined politics, characters, and suspense so unforgettably.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus & Giroux

©2021 Mario Vargas Llosa and Adrian Nathan West (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Compelling story, moving performance

Vargas Llosa’s novel is based on the American-funded, counter-revolutionary invasion of Guatemala in 1954. I’ve grown up knowing only the broadest outlines of Central American history. This fascinating story has inspired me to learn more of the history of the region and America’s role in making it what it is today. Highly recommended.

Confusing

Fascinating subject. Plot jumps around too much between various characters, timeframes, and places. Might be easier for a fluent Spanish speaker to follow names etc.

Nothing

Hard to tell what was fiction and what was history. Names were confusing but overall the book was informative.

Very gripping story

The author brilliantly pulls all the story threads together and gives us a real sense of what it was like in Central America in the 50’s and 60’s.

harsh tale

Harsh Times tells the tragic tale of Guatemala and the US defeat of its efforts at democracy under the Arbenz presidency in 1954. The novel is gruesome at times and gripping in its savagery It is hard to follow for the first third or so with many characters and time lines are complex, but countless scenes .eave deep impressions. it's a modern Inferno. Painful in cruel detail.