Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord [Paperback]

Louis de Bernieres (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 1998

From the bestselling author of "Corelli's Mandolin" and "The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts" comes an iridescent gem of storytelling that is "by turns wacky, mystical, and altogether compelling" ("Washington Post"). A young philosophy professor is the only citizen in his country who dares to renounce his country's cocaine mafia. This makes him the object of several assassination attempts and a national hero. His popularity, however, does not extend to the people he loves .

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Louis de Bernières is a masterful writer, which is to say his command of the various crafts of writing--creating character, innovative description, telling a whopping good story--weaves a spell and sucks you into the magic. From the moment Dionisio Vivo and Ramón "Cochinillo" Dario attend to the cravate corpse deposited in his garden by the coca lords, you become ensconced in the world of Ipasueño, its passions, ironies, and political intrigues, and cease to be aware of the hand of Bernières behind the scenes.

Dionisio, a professor of philosophy, writes a series of letters, published in the prestigious journal La Prensa, castigating the coca trade, and from there the story spins furiously in many directions and subplots. There's the love affair of the century between Dionisio and Anica Moreno, Lazaro's tragic dance with leprosy, and--to the great pleasure of fans of Bernières's previous novel, The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts--further interactions with the magical jaguars and human inhabitants of Cochadebajo de los Gatos. Events take their course in the way of a grand tragicomedy, with the devastation that's expected followed by the irrepressible joy of life that's never expected and Bernières's tongue-in-cheek touch throughout.

It's a delightfully mesmerizing book. Set in a mythical South American country that's a composite of real South American history and Bernières's fertile imagination, and therefore a perfect companion to take on a south-of-the-border vacation, the book is awash in the realities and flavor of South America and the lunacies of Bernières's genius. --Stephanie Gold

From Publishers Weekly

The wild satire and inventive fantasy that marked de Bernieres' first novel, The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, reverberate through this audacious story of drug trafficking, corruption, love and murder. In an unnamed South American country resembling Colombia, Dionisio Vivo, a fearless philosophy professor who exposes the country's illegal coca trade in a letter-writing campaign to a leading newspaper, miraculously evades repeated assassination attempts. But his best friend, Ramon, a policeman, and his sweetheart, Anica, who is sexually assaulted by the drug baron's goons, do not escape the cocaine cartel's wrath. Dionisio, who converses telepathically with animals and walks everywhere accompanied by two black jaguars, takes his revenge in a series of events by turns ribald, surreal, horrific, uproarious and tragic. The supernatural constantly intrudes on a landscape of cruel poverty, as exemplified by Father Garcia, a levitating priest, and Lazaro, a hermaphroditic leper cured by a sorcerer. Yet de Bernieres, who lives in London, makes us keenly aware of the drug trade's corrosive effects on a society where drive-by murders are commonplace.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (March 3, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375700145
• ISBN-13: 978-0375700149
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #392,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Louis de Bernieres was awarded the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book Eurasia Region in 1991 and 1992, and for Best Book in 1995. He was selected by Granta as one of the twenty Best of Young British Novelists in 1993, and lives in Norfolk, East Anglia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique...another 'must be read in one sitting' novel, October 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord (Paperback)

Another impressive book from De Bernieres, though I don't believe anything can match the magnificence of Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Scenes of tender devotion between Dio' and Anica jostle for space among farcial Presidential memos, the letters forming the coca crusade and, finally; descriptions of truly stomach-churning torture, in a narrative that hares off in a bewildering number of sub-plots. Initially rather bewildering, all threads are satisfactorily woven together and in the process, De Bernieres creates a host of engaging, if somewhat surreal, characters. Episodes of grisly violence alternate with teasing and banter and the novel succeeds as escapist entertainment as all works of fiction should. However, in the matter of fact accounts of Lazaro's death by fire and Anica's rape and mutiliation, De Bernieres reminds us that Latin America's drug wars are alive and well and exist outside of the pages of this first-rate novel.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant !!!, September 13, 2009

By 

Nancy Petralia (Loveladies, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord (Paperback)

Writing in the mystical style of South American novelists, Louis de Bernieres creates a story that is hilarious and horrific, sadistic and sad, colorful, fantastic, illuminating, beautiful, mythical and brutal, tragi-comedy and allegorical love story of Columbia.

Senor Vivo, professor of philosophy, unlikely adversary, and Everyman, finds himself the target of retaliation by the brutish drug lord, El Jerarca, who has moved into the area. Vivo's audacious acts of heroism, in the form of anonymous letters to the editor of the newspaper calling for the expulsion of the drug trade, have been exposed--by his own father. Such is life in this lawless South American country.

His friend, policeman Ramon Dario, who invokes an ongoing series of philosophical commentaries on Dionisio's quest, urges him to save himself, but to no avail. Infused with myth and magic, the story of Lazaro moves in parallel toward each man's confrontation with El Jerarca.

In this imaginary country, inept, corrupt government, debauched leaders, tangled bureaucracy, and ridiculous laws all fail the People. Women are routinely violated and gangsters lauded for their "good works." Within the descriptive narration de Bernieres also comments on: the impact of American trash on ocean pollution, the vagaries of direct translation of slang, the corruption of Catholicism, patterns of promiscuity, and the impact of language on the social history of a country.

Can this nation be saved? Dionisio and his female followers believe it can. If, as a reporter quotes at the end of the book, "Journalism is to a large extent responsible for the formation of our National Being," then de Bernieres' is writing to us all.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Part 2 of a Wild Ride, January 26, 2008

By 

Dick Johnson (Oklahoma USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord (Hardcover)

The hilarity continues. This trilogy starts with "The War of don Emmanuel's Nether Parts" and after Senor Vivo continues with "The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman". Be sure to read them in order! Oh how I love the cats, and I'm NOT a cat person! This blend of fact, fiction, magical realism and social commentary is marvelously mixed with larger than life characters.

The book's description above does a good job of introducing the book. This was extremely fun to read.