Mario Vargas Llosa’s new book after winning the Nobel Prize. The growing trivialization of art and literature, the triumph of a sensationalist press, and the frivolity found in politics are all symptoms of a bigger evil afflicting contemporary society: the suicidal notion that the sole purpose of life is to have a good time. In the past, cultural and intellectual endeavors acted as a type of conscience that made it impossible to ignore reality. Today, they are just a means of distraction. Like a true questing soul, Vargas Llosa provides readers with an uncomfortably harsh scan of our time and our cultural values.