"The sun was dying in the distance, fluttering among the trees like a reddish bird, and the river was a motionless, metallic sheet. In the underbrush along the bank, the frogs were croaking, and in the air there was vapor, dampness, electrical vibrations. Sometimes a flying insect would be trapped in the flames of the bonfire, devoured with a dull crackle. With the shadows, the woods sent out smells of nocturnal germination and the music of crickets to the tents." -The Green House pg. 111
"The Sergeant reached the door, he raised his flashlight and turned it on: a small round and yellow moon wandered nervously over clay jars, ears of corn, pots, a bucket of water, Don Adrián: are you there?...the moon had come to halt on the bulk formed by the huddling woman, it's faint light quivered on motionless hips. Why was she pretending to be asleep?...The Sergeant passed his hands across his forehead and the moon quivered, went wild, the woman had disappeared and now the yellow halo was searching for her." The Green House pg. 156
I'm posting these two quotes as a very limited preview of Mario Vargas Llosa's talented writing styles; one I had marked previously and the second one is closer to where I am now in the novel. I love the description of the jungle in the evening; the still water, the sounds of the fire and the nocturnal critters...he makes it so you can almost smell the air. It is the power of the metaphoric moon in second quote that caught my attention. In the dark boat house, only Bonifacia can be seen. The image of a scared girl child, huddled in the darkness, is a strong one, and Llosa's intense imagery sets the tone.
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"and the river was a motionless, metallic sheet." The metaphoric language you chose reads with a tingling sensation : I agree, from the two "snippets", that his language is very colorful, almost as if you were looking on at a canvas, seeing the Sergeant in the yellow moonlight, tense and nervous as I feel I would be wandering on a rural night.
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