The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta is an astute psychological portrait of a modern revolutionary and a searching account of an old friend's struggle to understand him. First published in English in 1986, the novel probes the long and checkered history of radical politics in Latin America.
"With [The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta] Mario Vargas Llosa . . . has replaced Gabriel García Márquez as the South American novelist for gringos to catch up on."
John Updike, The New Yorker
"A glittering trompe l'oeil of a novel about the revolutionary temperament--and the nature of fiction."
The New York Times
"Mario Vargas Llosa [is] one of the master storytellers of our time."
