What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedThe Bad Girl
Mario Vargas Llosa · Book · 2011
If you loved The Bad Girl, start with Rubí (Yolanda Vargas Dulché, 2004) — a series on the same thread. Below: 4 films, 4 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to The Bad Girl across media.
If The Bad Girl captivated you, it is because you are drawn to stories where obsession and social ambition collide.
Films on the same thread
Badlands
Terrence Malick · Film · 1974
Explores: disaffected youth, violence, nihilism.
Like the volatile romance in The Bad Girl, this film explores how a destructive, singular fixation between two people can lead them down a dark and irreversible path.
The Reader
Stephen Daldry · Film · 2008
Explores: Guilt and Redemption, Intergenerational Relationships, Illiteracy.
The Bad Girl features a lifelong, haunting attachment that defies moral logic, much like the complicated, decades-spanning connection between the central characters in this intense post-war drama.
GoodFellas
Martin Scorsese · Film · 1990
Explores: Organized Crime, Loyalty and Betrayal, American Dream Corruption.
The Bad Girl tracks the pursuit of status and identity across decades, mirroring the way this film portrays the corrosive pull of ambition and the inevitable personal consequences.
Lolita
Stanley Kubrick · Film · 1962
Explores: Obsession, Forbidden Love, Age Gap Relationship.
If the obsessive, asymmetrical power dynamics in The Bad Girl left a mark, you will recognize that same uncomfortable, all-consuming fixation driving the narrative in this classic film.
Series on the same thread
Rubí
Yolanda Vargas Dulché · Series · 2004
Explores: Social Climbing, Class Envy, Ambition.
This story mirrors the social climbing and calculated maneuvers found in The Bad Girl, focusing on a protagonist whose relentless desire for a better life defines her relationships.
Yo soy Betty, la fea
Fernando Gaitán · Series · 1999
Shares a thread with The Bad Girl: Unrequited Love.
Much like the protagonist of The Bad Girl, this character navigates the complexities of class and unrequited love, showing how personal evolution is inextricably tied to one's social environment.
La Reina del Sur
Roberto Stopello · Series · 2011
Explores: Drug trafficking, Female protagonist, Rise to power.
The Bad Girl captures the grit of life-altering choices, a theme echoed here as a woman climbs from humble beginnings to a position of power, sacrificing everything along the way.
Gossip Girl
Stephanie Savage · Series · 2007
Explores: Privilege, Social Status, Secrets.
The Bad Girl explores the intersection of status and desire, a dynamic that remains central to this look at how social hierarchies and secrets dictate the lives of individuals.
Podcasts on the same thread
The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe
The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe · Podcast · 2026
Explores: untold historical anecdotes, curiosity-driven learning, American cultural history.
The Bad Girl weaves a rich tapestry of history and personal experience, much like this podcast, which uses historical anecdotes to explore the hidden truths of human life.
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
Dan Carlin · Podcast · 2026
Explores: civilizational collapse, human nature, moral ambiguity.
If you appreciated the moral ambiguity of the characters in The Bad Girl, you will value this deep dive into the complex, often dark consequences of human power.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is The Bad Girl a contemporary love story?
Yes, The Bad Girl is a contemporary love story by Nobel Prize-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa. The novel explores the changing social mores of urban life across the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s through the relationship between the protagonist and a woman he first meets in 1950s Lima.
What time period does The Bad Girl cover?
The Bad Girl spans several decades, beginning in 1950 in Lima when the protagonist, Ricardo Somocurcio, first meets the girl known as Lily. The narrative continues to explore their relationship and the evolving urban environment throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
Who is the author of The Bad Girl?
The Bad Girl was written by Mario Vargas Llosa. He is a Nobel Prize-winning author whose work was recognized as a New York Times Notable Book of 2007. The novel is described as a suspenseful and irresistible story centered on the life of Ricardo Somocurcio.
Is The Bad Girl considered a notable book?
Yes, The Bad Girl is a highly regarded work that was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2007. The New York Times Book Review described the novel as a splendid, suspenseful, and irresistible story that examines the complexities of a long-term, contemporary love affair.