Set in Lima, this novel tells of a love trianlge whose participants may be the fictional creation of Don Rigoberto: Rigoberto himself, by day a grey insurance executive, by night a pornographer and sexual enthusiast; his second wife, Lucrecia; and his young son, Alfonso. Husband and wife are estranged because of sexual encounter between Lucrecia and the boy, a fey, angelic creature who may have seduced her (rather than the other way round). Missing Lucrecia terribly, Rigoberto fills his notebooks with memories, fantasies and unsent letters; meanwhile, the boy visits her, determined to make up to her and win her love. Together, father and son compel her to enact a series of tableaux vivants based on works by Egon Schiele and other painters. With his usual sly assurance, Vargas Llosa keeps the reader guessing which episodes are real and which issue from the Don's imagination; the resulting novel, a distinctive aggregate of reality and fantasy, is sexy, funny, disquieting and unfailingly compelling.
