century. My abiding memory, aside from the poverty, was a sense of how the conflict transformed the lives of the characters and particularly how despite the fantastical and deeply religious motivations of the rebels they lives seemed to be freer than the formal, hierarchical world of coastal Brasil. Worth reading. (less) Just finished reading this in Spanish, which took me months -- Vargas Llosa's vocabulary sent me to the dictionary several times per page. I'd never have made it if the novel weren't so fascinating, completely absorbing. It does what the best historical fiction should do: take on complex events from as many perspectives as possible, taking no sides, sparing no detail. The War of Canudos took place 115 years ago and I'd never heard of it until I read this novel. The book puts you there, in the mid ...more Just finished reading this in Spanish, which took me months -- Vargas Llosa's vocabulary sent me to the dictionary several times per page. I'd never have made it if the novel weren't so fascinating, completely absorbing. It does what the best historical fiction should do: take on complex events from as many perspectives as possible, taking no sides, sparing no detail. The War of Canudos took place 115 years ago and I'd never heard of it until I read this novel. The book puts you there, in the middle of it, and the exhaustive detail and sense of slowed-down time really makes you feel like you're living it in