First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther. Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.

Synopsis:

Don Rigoberto – by day a grey insurance executive, by night a pornographer and sexual enthusiast – misses Lucrecia, his estranged second wife. The pair separated following a sexual encounter between Lucrecia and Alfonso, Rigoberto’s son. To compensate for her absence, Rigoberto fills his notebooks with memories, fantasies and unsent letters. Meanwhile, Alfonso visits Lucrecia, determined to win her love.

In The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto, Mario Vargas Llosa keeps the reader guessing which episodes are real and which issue from Rigoberto’s imagination. The novel, a wonderful mix of reality and fantasy, is sexy, funny, disquieting, and unfailingly compelling. (Source: Goodreads)

It’s the end of the workweek—yay! I hope the week has been kind to everyone and that you’re all ending it on a high note. Just like that, January is nearly done. Today is the last (normal) working day of the month. How time flies! It barely gave us time to recover from our post-holiday hangovers. Nevertheless, I hope that the first month of the year has provided everyone with plenty of opportunities to be better. I can’t believe that it is nearly February. With the weekend looming, I hope everyone will have a great one; I hope everyone is ending the work week on a high note. It is now time to don more comfortable articles of clothing and let your hair down. I hope you spend the weekend wisely, whether by resting from the rigors of a tedious career, pursuing your passions, completing household chores, or spending time with loved ones. I hope you’re all doing well—physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Personally, the previous week has been as tedious as the week before. I have now completed my first full month in my new job. It was, well, a roller coaster ride, although it was more horrific than thrilling. Still, I am looking forward to what the future has in store for me. Perhaps I am just a little overwhelmed by the switch to my “accounting brain.” There are certainly several avenues for change. It seems like a tall task, and I hope I get to survive it. I hope to whip things into shape soon. For the first month of the year, I decided to commence a literary journey across Latin American literature. Toward the end of 2025, I realized it had been some time since I dedicated a full month to this region—the last time was toward the end of 2023. I am looking forward to dipping my toes into familiar territory while exploring new authors. My current read takes me to a more familiar territory.

It was through must-read lists that I first came across Mario Vargas Llosa. His works, particularly The War of the End of the World and The Feast of the Goat, were repeatedly featured in such lists. They would be the first two books by the Nobel Laureate in Literature that I would read. I would also later on learn that he is among the leading voices of the Latin American boom in the second half of the 20th century. Anyway, a couple of years after my first Vargas Llosa novel, I am reading my fifth book by the Peruvian writer, The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto. Originally published in 1997 in Spanish as Los cuadernos de don Rigoberto, The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto chronicles the life of the titular Don Rigoberto. The story unfolds through the perspective of his son from a previous marriage, Fonchito (Alfonso). Fonchito was fascinated by his father’s notebooks, which contained erotic drawings and stories.

Apparently, The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto is a continuation of In Praise of the Stepmother; I have yet to read the book. This, however, does not hamper me from proceeding with the book. We learn that Don Rigoberto works as an insurance executive during the daytime. At night, he focuses on his passionate affairs after office hours. Enveloped in anonymity by the darkness, Don Rigoberto transforms into a passionate pornographer and sexual enthusiast. Passion and sex are not unusual subjects in Vargas Llosa’s oeuvre. It reminds me of Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. Don Rigoberto was forced to divert his energies and attention following an emotional turmoil that stemmed from the absence of his estranged wife, Lucrecia. She has moved with her maid, Justiniana. Despite her absence, Doña Lucrecia has left a gaping hole in Don Rigoberto’s life. She is, after all, his true love.

We learn more about Don Rigoberto as the story progresses. Beyond eroticism, Don Rigoberto is fascinated by both art and literature. He collects books and artworks, owning several of both. When he acquires a new one, he lets go of the older ones, initially by giving them to charity. Somehow, the characters’ fixation with art – Fonchito was also obsessed with the decadent painter Egon Schiele – captures the intersection between sexuality and the arts. This is among the novel’s many themes. It still begs the question of what happened between Don Rigoberto and Doña Lucrecia? The crux of the story, apparently, revolves around the story behind Lucrecia’s banishment from the house of Don Rigoberto. Don Rigoberto banished her following a love affair with Fonchito; this was, I learned, captured in In Praise of the Stepmother. This is certainly quite an intriguing premise, especially from Vargas Llosa. It is a type of work I have yet to read from him.

I do expect that the novel would be more than just about sex and desire, subjects that Vargas Llosa has shown he is capable of writing about. I am reminded of Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. I am also intrigued by the literary inquiries woven into the novel’s tapestry. The role of art and literature in the story particularly tickles my imagination. There is also the contrast between reality and fantasy. The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto is definitely a promising read from Vargas Llosa. Sure, it is complex, but it is also entertaining, so far. I just hope it gets to sustain this as the story progresses. I am already two-thirds through the book. I am looking forward to how the story pans out and concludes.

How about you, fellow reader? What are you reading this weekend? I hope you’re enjoying your current book. Happy weekend!