Cinco esquinas (translated into English as The Neighborhood by Edith Grossman in 2018) is a political thriller and social critique of 1990s Peru under the Fujimori dictatorship, written by Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa.
Vargas Llosa explicitly noted that the initial spark for the entire novel was an image of two wealthy, straight, married female friends (Marisa and Chabela) who unexpectedly engage in an intense, ongoing erotic affair after being forced to share a bed due to a government-imposed curfew. While it is a highly prominent literary release featuring explicit sapphic relationships, queer literary critics often note that the scenes are filtered through a highly sensationalized, voyeuristic, and heteropatriarchal male gaze rather than an authentic lesbian lens. It belongs in your bibliography as a major mainstream literary work centering a sapphic plotline.
Set against the volatile backdrop of Lima, Peru, during the final, corrupt months of the Alberto Fujimori and Vladimiro Montesinos dictatorship, The Neighborhood weaves political corruption, yellow journalism, and secret desire into a fast-paced social panorama. The plot ignites when Rolando Garro, the ruthless director of a sleazy tabloid magazine, attempts to blackmail a prominent mining engineer, Enrique, with compromising photographs from an orgy. As the scandal threatens to tear the high-society elite apart, Enrique’s wife, Marisa, and her best friend, Chabela, find themselves trapped in a house together during a mandatory terrorist-curfew blackout. The encounter sparks a passionate, secret sapphic love affair between the two women, serving as an erotic escape from the terror, blackmail, and moral decay crumbling around them.
Vargas Llosa explicitly noted that the initial spark for the entire novel was an image of two wealthy, straight, married female friends (Marisa and Chabela) who unexpectedly engage in an intense, ongoing erotic affair after being forced to share a bed due to a government-imposed curfew. While it is a highly prominent literary release featuring explicit sapphic relationships, queer literary critics often note that the scenes are filtered through a highly sensationalized, voyeuristic, and heteropatriarchal male gaze rather than an authentic lesbian lens. It belongs in your bibliography as a major mainstream literary work centering a sapphic plotline.
Set against the volatile backdrop of Lima, Peru, during the final, corrupt months of the Alberto Fujimori and Vladimiro Montesinos dictatorship, The Neighborhood weaves political corruption, yellow journalism, and secret desire into a fast-paced social panorama. The plot ignites when Rolando Garro, the ruthless director of a sleazy tabloid magazine, attempts to blackmail a prominent mining engineer, Enrique, with compromising photographs from an orgy. As the scandal threatens to tear the high-society elite apart, Enrique’s wife, Marisa, and her best friend, Chabela, find themselves trapped in a house together during a mandatory terrorist-curfew blackout. The encounter sparks a passionate, secret sapphic love affair between the two women, serving as an erotic escape from the terror, blackmail, and moral decay crumbling around them.
Details
| Title: Cinco esquinas / The Neighborhood |
| Author: Mario Vargas Llosa |
| ISBN: 9781940000000 |
| Subtitle: |
| Genre: Erotica; Intrigue/Thriller |
| Subject(s): |
| Publication Date: 42430 |
| Original Publication Date: |
| Publisher: National Geographic Books |
| Language: Spanish |
| Format: Paperback |
| Pages: 320 |
| Rating: Good |
| Notes: |
| Book_ID: 107269 |