Mario Vargas Llosa

The Feast of the Goat

Prashanth Srivatsa

A stunning portrayal of the cruel, dictatorial regime of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. As the assassination unfolds in all its glory, it's the fear, the subtle political maneuvers, and the strained social fabric of Latin America that catch the eye.

Maddie

Interesting (fictional?) history of the fall of the Trujilla regime in the Dominican Republic.

Dana Kraft

I know almost nothing about the Dominican Republic, but that had no effect on my enjoyment of this book. It sucked me in and was interesting, terrifying, sad, thrilling and thought-provoking all at the same time. The way that the story was crafted with different threads and characters from different times really hit me towards the end. It made me see how the activities of the regime and the country’s “progress” affected a wide variety of people in ways that were in some ways unique and in some ways universal. Who are the heroes in this story? 

I want to read all of this author’s books now. This is the second one I’ve read that was fantastic.

Returning to her native Domincan Republic, forty-nine-year-old Urania Cabral, discovers that Rafael Trujillo, the depraved dictator called the Goat by the Domincans, still reigns over his inner circle, which includes Urania's father, with brutality and blackmail, but soon an uprising against him will result in a revolution that will have profound consequences. 50,000 first printing.

Melody Izard

I'm sorry I missed our book group discussion of this one. 

This is the third book that I've read about the Trujillo reign in the Dominican Republic. And I am throughly convinced that he was a nasty one. 

The story of our main character is told in flash-backs that quickly turn into present day situations; so quickly that sometimes you can get a little queasy. Although the queasiness might be more of the result of the despicable Trujillo and his prostate problems and his sexual issues.

Jacqui Devaney

I ended up really loving this book, though the beginning was a lot to get used to. Mario Vargas Llosa seems to be able to slow down and speed up time with his words -- each chapter had a different tempo. His characterization was not only in what was said, but throughout all the paragraphs that surround the movement of each character in a chapter. There's a lot of unspoken complexity, especially for Trujillo and Urania, that manifests in scenes that they aren't even present it.

Urania Cabral, a New York lawyer, returns to the Dominican Republic after a lifelong self-imposed exile. Once she is back in her homeland, the elusive feeling of terror that has overshadowed her whole life suddenly takes shape. Urania's own story alternates with the powerful climax of dictator Rafael Trujillo's reign. In 1961, Trujillo's decadent inner circle (which includes Urania's soon-to-be disgraced father) enjoys the luxuries of privilege while the rest of the nation lives in fear and deprivation. As Trujillo clings to power, a plot to push the Dominican Republic into the future is being formed. But after the murder of its hated dictator, the Goat, is carried out, the Dominican Republic is plunged into the nightmare of a bloody and uncertain aftermath. Now, thirty years later, Urania reveals how her own family was fatally wounded by the forces of history. In The Feast of the Goat Mario Vargas Llosa eloquently explores the effects of power and violence on the lives of both the oppressors and those they victimized. 'The Feast of the Goat will stand out as the great emblematic novel of Latin America's twentieth century and removes One Hundred Years of Solitude of that title.' Times Literary Supplement

Cory Forsyth

heleen de boever

Rakesh S

Gabriela Magana

Rino Montiel

Hellboy TCR

Noha Abdelaziz

Haunted all her life by feelings of terror and emptiness, forty-nine-year-old Urania Cabral returns to her native Dominican Republic - and finds herself reliving the events of l961, when the capital was still called Trujillo City and one old man terrorized a nation of three million. Rafael Trujillo, the depraved ailing dictator whom Dominicans call the Goat, controls his inner circle with a combination of violence and blackmail. In Trujillo's gaudy palace, treachery and cowardice have become a way of life. But Trujillo's grasp is slipping. There is a conspiracy against him, and a Machiavellian revolution already underway that will have bloody consequences of its own. In this 'masterpiece of Latin American and world literature, and one of the finest political novels ever written' (Bookforum), Mario Vargas Llosa recounts the end of a regime and the birth of a terrible democracy, giving voice to the historical Trujillo and the victims, both innocent and complicit, drawn into his deadly orbit.

The Feast of the Goat

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