[Lots of spoilers alert]
This novel is more like fictionalized biography of two people connected through blood; a grandmother and her grandson, although they never knew each other.
Grandmother is Flora Tristan (what a beautiful name), socialist before Karl Marx got himself published, a feminist before the term was even invented. Her mother, once married into an affluent family, finds out her marriage isn't legally binding in France as it took place in Spain- and driven to poverty by this mishap. Flora is arranged to marry relatively financially secure man, only to be raped and abused in the time and society such was the norm. She escapes, and spends the rest of her life trying to educate and unite the oppressed- manual laborers and women- to gain better life and existence.
Grandson is Paul Gauguin, once affluent banker in Paris who takes up painting as his weekend hobby, then gets into it so madly he abandons his wife, children and comfortable Parisian middle class lifestyle, goes over to southeast Asia to create new breed of paintings never seen in the history of Western art.
Chapters take turns telling the story of their final days; during the chapter they each recount something from their past- thereby giving us the whole picture of their lives. And by doing so, Llosa covers pretty much the entire 19th century. But this novelist from Peru gives us the view of the golden era of Western industrialization and colonization from "the other side"- this is the age when the working class children in the West were forced to work 18 hours a day so the fat cat can eat well; women were being treated like slaves; Western preachers with good intentions were destroying what they saw as 'barbarian' cultures and languages in the name of Enlightenment.
It's the anger and rebellion of Flora, and the obsession and passion of Paul, that drive the story. But this is also what makes it difficult to read on; by the time you reach about halfway of the book, you realize there will be no happy ending for them. They will both die miserably, not finding path to their paradise they sought after. It makes it kind of hard as you get to learn their struggle and get to like them. (Actually, many people who take up this book may already know how life was going to turn out for Paul Gauguin)
Interestingly, Flora gives up her personal life so so can change the world- where Paul abandons the world (including his family) so he can achieve his very personal vision of art. They both fail, or at least don't live long enough to see their effort making any impact to the world- but by the time you get there, you understand it's in their defeat that they really shined- they probably knew their ideal wouldn't be achieved, but they just had to because that was the only way.
Overall it's a good read as long as you get interested in these two characters and the viewpoint of the author of the 19th century world. It may be too long for some, especially once you figured out there will be no happy ending. Personally this was the first book by Llosa that I've read, and I found this quite informative as well as intriguing.
