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A review by dom_jones
The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa
4.0
“Were they different times?…they were and they weren’t, thinks Urania. Something from those times is still in the air”
So close to being a perfect book - one of the best novels I’ve ever read, with a great blend of historical events and well-developed characters.
However, at times a bit hard to follow. Lots of related characters with long names popping in and out, and temporal shifts which make it a bit choppy. With this being said though, some of the pacing worked - it was cool to see events from the perspectives of different individuals.
Vargas Llosa does an excellent job in highlighting the moral complexities of characters like Turk, Egghead, and President Balaguer. Trujillo’s character was also extremely well developed - psychopathic, neurotic, and self-hating with disgustingly aggressive threads of chauvinism.
Also a nice choice to have the book climax with Urania’s rape rather than the political zenith of Trujillo’s assassination - to put victims and human consequences first was a good choice by the author.
So close to being a perfect book - one of the best novels I’ve ever read, with a great blend of historical events and well-developed characters.
However, at times a bit hard to follow. Lots of related characters with long names popping in and out, and temporal shifts which make it a bit choppy. With this being said though, some of the pacing worked - it was cool to see events from the perspectives of different individuals.
Vargas Llosa does an excellent job in highlighting the moral complexities of characters like Turk, Egghead, and President Balaguer. Trujillo’s character was also extremely well developed - psychopathic, neurotic, and self-hating with disgustingly aggressive threads of chauvinism.
Also a nice choice to have the book climax with Urania’s rape rather than the political zenith of Trujillo’s assassination - to put victims and human consequences first was a good choice by the author.