The War of the End of the World, by Mario Vargas Llosa, a Nobel Prize winner. This sprawling, massive epic masterpiece is one of the best books I've read in awhile. It is the, believe it or not, fictionalized true story of a rebellion in the backlands of Brazil in the late 19th century. I refused to let myself look up online what actually happened while I was reading the book, but when I did last night, I was amazed to see that the book followed very closely the major events and timeline of the rebellion.
I will do my best to sum up the plot, although there are so many characters and subplots that I will not do it justice. In the state of Bahia, Brazil in the late 19th century, there is a wanderer, called the Counselor. He travels from town to town repairing churches, putting walls around cemetaries, and telling the poor people about the coming of the end of the world and what they must do to prepare for it. He travels for many years, and he gradually develops a following. Llosa takes turns describing the backstories of many of these followers. There is Abbot Joao, a murdering thief; Antonio Vilanova, a merchant; Big Joao, a former slave who killed his master; Maria Quadrado, who killed her newborn; the Lion of Natuba, a deformed hunchback; and the Little Blessed One, a bastard who wants to be a priest. There are many others, and when they meet the Counselor and hear him preach, they are converted into 'the elect,' and they become his disciples. They are reformed completely, and worship the Counselor, Jesus, and do only good.
The Counselor does not like the new Republic of Brazil, he liked the monarchy better. He considers the Republic the anti-Christ, since they impose new taxes, allow civil marriage, and want to have a census. The Counselor and his followers refuse to accept this, and they settle in a small deserted farm called Canudos. There, they create their own society with their own values; no money, no taxes, communal labor and property, free love. They build a temple and soon thousands of people pour into the city, they are pilgrims (the city eventually reaches an estimated 30,000 people).
The government of the state of Bahia doesn't know what to do with these people. They have stolen a farm that belonged to the Baron of Canabrava, a rich landowner sympathetic to the monarchist cause. The state sends an army unit to break up the 'rebels.' However, the people in Canudos defend fanatically and crush the force. The government then sends a larger expeditionary force to Canudos. The army wins the initial battle on the mountain, but the rebels, or jaguncos, launch a fierce counterattack and win. There is political disagreement about Canudos. Some claim it is supported by the monarchists in order to bring down the Republic, others claim that the republicans are setting them up so it looks like the monarchists aren't patriotic. A Scottish communist, Gallileo Gall, is a pawn by the different parties, as he tries unsuccessfully to make it to Canudos because he believes it is a communist revolution.
A third time, the federal army is called up to crush the city, this time an entire Regiment under the command of a famous Colonel, Moreira Cesar. A journalist is sent along with him to document the campaign, and much of the remaining story is told through his perspective. Cesar is very confident, and he has greater numbers, but thanks to guerrila tactics and the hostile terrain, the regiment is completely destroyed, and Cesar is killed. This battle feels like it is the climax of the novel, but it is only halfway through.. The journalist escapes to Canudos with a dwarf and Jurema, a woman who lost her husband in a duel with Gallileo Gall.
In the final part of the book, the frightened journalist is telling the Baron of Canabrava all that he witnessed in those final months of Canudos. He was held there, for his safety, because the government mobilized the entire army of Brazil from all the states to descend upon Canudos. The inhabitants of Canudos fight and hold out for a long time using their guerrila tactics, but in the end, they are without food and ammunition to defend any longer, and street by street, the city is taken. The entire town is destroyed along with everyone in it. The journalist, Jurema and the dwarf escaped because the Counselor told them to leave in order to tell the world the story of Canudos.
It is a fascinating, long story. Llosa's storytelling technique is interesting as well. It is told through the different perspectives of nearly every character in the story, each segment being only a couple of pages long, and each segment ending on somewhat of a cliffhanger, which compells the reader to continue. The segments often overlap, so that many parts of the story are told a few times, but each from a different viewpoint. The timeline can also be confusing as well, although I am sure it was done on purpose. The reader finds out that Canudos is ultimately destroyed midway through the book because the journalist is relating the events to the Baron. Even though you know what is going to happen, you still read on for the interesting story of what went down.
The book is often morally ambiguous. There are no true good guys or bad guys in the book. The journalist tells a good portion of the latter half of the book, but he is a coward, and not involved in the action. The army and the generals seem to be good, decent people when their perspective is told, although they are seen as 'dogs' and the Anti-christ by the Elect. Even though the inhabitants of Canudos are massacred by the end and there is a great amount of sympathy for them, they burn the homes of people nearby so they cannot feed the army. They also desecrate the corpses of the soldiers. The Baron, even though he is wealthy, is a good person as well, who is distraught over his wife's growing insanity. In the end, it seems as if everyone loses, and everyone tries to figure out the lesson of that rebellious city.
Wonderful book, and I am looking forward to reading more by Mario Vargas Llosa. Four and a half out of five stars.
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