The Neighborhood by Mario Vargas Llosa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Riding the Backs of Tigers

Lima was a dangerous place during the lengthy insurrection lead by the Maoist Shining Path. The neighbourhood of Five Corners was particularly dangerous, but not because of the Shining Path. It was dangerous because it was a slum in reasonable proximity to those with economic and political power in Peru. One way or another everyone was riding on its back - rebels, the secret police and their thugs, politicians, businessmen, the fashionistas, even its own residents. Ending up inside the tiger of Five Corners was only a matter of time for everyone.

Inside the beast of Five Corners is chaos, a complete lack of discernible order. This is not just a world of violence, sexual perversion, and filth; it is also a world without logic. Nothing has purpose. Motivations are entirely opaque. Even rumours can’t capture the reality of the irrational movement of things. Perhaps most shocking is that those in charge have as little understanding of the situation as their victims.

The epicentre of sleaze, corruption, and the national malaise is not the government or the rebels or the petty criminals of Five Corners, but a sensationalist scandal-sheet called Exposed. Remarkably similar to the National Enquirer in America, the weekly magazine is run by a man close to the President. In fact if it weren’t for the date of publication of The Neighborhood (2016), it would be easy to confuse Exposed’s proprietor with the infamous David J. Pecker, friend and protector of Donald Trump, and Trump himself with the Peruvian President Fujimori.

More generally, The Neighborhood is a reminder of just how close the Peruvian national chaos described by Vargas Llosa is to the current sordid conditions in the United States. Political and economic polarisation has followed the same trajectory in both countries. Personal loyalty is the sole virtue of those in power. Government is used primarily to settle personal scores. Dirty tricks are the norm. Vulgarity is triumphant. Pornography is what leaders do.

When Five Corners eats those who ride upon it, it does not disappear, it expands. Its ethos infects that of the most expensive neighbourhoods with the wealthiest inhabitants. Previously separate social worlds become indistinguishable. Conversations cross boundaries and blend into one another. A new kind of composite society is formed and held together by a shared lechery for power without any other purpose than its own maintenance. Present day America, it might be said, is 90’s Peru with nukes.

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