The Feast Of the Goat | Mario Vargas Llosa

This is a difficult book. Not lacking in interest and well written, but I just struggled to read and finish it. Although I am bilingual Spanish/English I found it difficult to keep track of all the major players given their lengthy Spanish names and the vast number of characters.

This is the story of Urania Cabral, a lawyer in NY who returns to her native Domincan Republic after self-imposed exile. Through her story we learn of her father's involvement in the Trujillo dictatorship and her motive for fleeing. We also have in between chapters from a historical point of view in Trujillo's voice and yet other chapters from the point of view of the subversive element plotting to kill Trujillo. We go from one narrative string to the other and it just gets a bit too embroiled in the politics and I lost sight of the humanity of the characters.

The translation is a bit wooden, nothing like the translations of Isabel Allende's novels.
All in all, it's hard work.

Buy at Fishpond.co.nz