954. The Feast of the Goat

The Feast of the Goat
Mario Vargas Llhosa

2000

Around 475 pages

Well, this wasn't as bad as the previous novel, but it stilled aimed to disturb me as much as possible, with its explicit descriptions of torture and sexual assault. 

Set in the Dominican Republic in the 1960s, the novel follows three plot lines. The first centers around  Urania Cabral, who returns to the Dominican Republic to visit her sick father. The second story line focuses on the last day in Rafael Trujillo's life. The third storyline depicts Trujillo's assassins as they wait for his car that night, and what happens to them after the killing.

Again, I get where Llhosa was going with this, with Urania's assault symbolizing Trujillo's hysterical violence against the country at the time. Llhosa is drawing connections between sexuality and power, and painting a vivid portrait of a very scary despot.

But it was a rough read and offers little hope to the reader, which I could have used about now.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2005.

UP NEXT: Atonement by Ian McEwan

603. The Cubs and Other Stories

The Cubs and Other Stories
Mario Vargas Llhosa

1967
Around 140 pages

Have I ruined my mind with horror movies, or is that book cover absolutely terrifying? 

We once again defy the gods with a short story collection on this List. The stories concern the maturation of young boys in Peru. Boys are pretty gross, and there were many...unsavory elements in this collection. Which is realistic, obviously, but not something I want to read about.

I don't have much to say about this one, its immediate placement after Garcia Marquez's masterpiece doesn't do it any favors. Skippable.

RATING: **---

Intersting Facts:

Vargas Llhosa was supportive of the Castro regime until the imprisonment of the poet Heberto Padilla for a month in 1971. Vargas Llosa, along with other intellectuals of the time, wrote to Castro protesting the Cuban political system and its imprisonment of the artist.

UP NEXT: Chocky by John Wyndham