all its agony. Some complain that it's too drawn out and its horrors are too repetitive; but that's exactly what makes it so effective. You also care about the characters -- on both sides -- which makes their suffering all the more intensely painful. It's a very contemporary novel, too. I read the final section just after the killing of Osama bin Laden and many surprising parallels jumped out at me. The story also resonates with 1980s liberation theology, the Shining Path, the Tea Party...just about any moment in history where politics, war and religious fervor coincide. It's long and maybe could have lost a subplot or two. An intriguing character in the first half is thrown away in a needlessly melodramatic tangent that threatens to turn the book into a telenovela. In the last third or so of the book, I could have used a map of Canudos and the surrounding area (maybe there is one in some editions); the geography gets confusing. But these are minor demerits. This was my first Vargas Llosa novel and I will definitely read more. (less) The two most prolific killers the world has ever known. No, not Hitler and Stalin. I refer to the twin scourge of mankind: RELIGION and POLITICS. The RELIGION: a very charismatic, itinerant preacher named the Counselor managed to establish a large following among the poor, the unfortunate, the abnormal and the rejects of society in the 19th century Mexico. He mouths the name of Jesus Christ and