Mario Vargas Llosa: THE FEAST OF THE GOAT

I didn't know about the author when I randomly picked this book 10 years ago from a local bookstore. It's the blurb on the back cover of the book that convinced me to buy it, and later read it. It took some time before I finished reading it. The narrative style the author used was, for me, quite difficult that most of the time I'd be lost. I remember liking the book despite the shocking depiction of violence, sex, torture and decadence in it. Some of such scenes I wouldn't forget for some time. Having had liked it encouraged me to try Vargas Llosa's other books. I bought several of his books although I only managed to read some - Conversation in the Cathedral, In Praise of the Stepmother, The Bad Girl, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. This is the second time I read The Feast of the Goat. I have a better appreciation of it now because I paid attention to the narrative style, which is similar to that used in Conversation in the Cathedral, which I also like very much.

The three story lines - the return of Urania Cabral to Dominican Republic after more than 30 years of absence, the plot to kill the Goat (the tyrant ruler of then Ciudad Trujillo), and the story of the Goat himself - are written in a way that reading it feels like I am watching a well-made film that is riddled with flash backs and flash forwards. Although the shift from the storyline in the present to that in the past is usually without warning, the experience of having get used to it is very rewarding. 

Mario Vargas Llosa has written many good books. This one is among his best, a masterpiece indeed. And it's not a fluke that he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010, one that he truly deserves.

Rating: 5.0/5.0