La fiesta del chivo by Mario Vargas Llosa Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of La fiesta del chivo
Book Review: Of Dictatorship and Machismo
Summary: 5 Stars
"La fiesta del Chivo" is a tour de force about dictatorial power in the Dominican Republic under Trujillo's regime, and how that power was centered on the concepts of machismo and its subsequent tyranny over women. This novel will take its place among the very best Latin American dictatorial novels.Book Review: The book of the year in Spanish
Summary: 5 Stars
This book relates the wild corruption in Rep. Dominicana in the 50's under the ledaership of Gen. Leonidas Trujillo. The novel/essay describes the corruption ethical, political and economical of that regimen. But we can see that the book isn't focused only in the caribean country, the book describes the corruption of southamerica during the military governments in the 20th century (many of them supported by the US).The novel has 3 big threads (the conspiration, Urania's drama and Trujillo's life), and all of them are solid, the characters have their own personality and is expressed along the book.
A must for Spanish readers ( and for Mrs Thatcher who has a similar friend in chile).
Book Review: A story that nobody wants back
Summary: 4 Stars
It's an interesting book about a very dark epoque for Dominican Republic, and as an foreigner you tend to weigh both the good and bad things, according to the reading. These maquiavelic guys who have surged from time to time, have had the power to hipnotize the majority of people, or simply buy their souls.A story that nobody wants to happen again
Book Review: LA ERA DE TRUJILLO
Summary: 5 Stars
Gracias hermanos Latinoamericanos por darme la oportunidad de escribir sobre La Fista del Chivo. Hace pocos dias termine de leer el libro y la verdad es que quede impresionado con los recursos literarios que utiliza Vargas Llosa para narrar esta historia. Viaja como por un realismo fantastico ( sin ser realismo fantastico por supuesto ), para mantener al lector en una verdadera tension psicologica. La historia que son tres historias, hace que el lector quiera profundizar el estudio de las misma. Vemos como Urania llega a Santo Domingo llena de dolor y traumas no superados. Luego vemos a Trujillo y sus fieles pobre diablos seguidores y ministros de estados, y luego los que lo habrian de ejecutar. Vargas Llosa viaja en estos tres tiempo y cuenta la historia como si nosotros mismo fuesemos parte de la misma . Cuando esta historia ocurrio, yo todavia no habia nacido, pero si pude identificarme con el sufrimiento de toda una isla dominando por la bestia. Por un " jefe " de estado, un narcizista que se creia dueño absoluto del destino de todos los habitantes de la isla, incluso capaz de controlar hasta los exiliados y a los que no eran dominicanos. Vargas Llosa logra casi perfectamente encarnizar a los personajes, pues cada uno de ellos eran tan reales. Es el caso del hijo del jefe, del presidente Balaguer, de Jonny Abbes Garcia y de la misma Urania por citar algunos. Dos de los personajes que mas me impactaron fueron el Jonny Abbes Garcia y el presidente Balaguer. El primero por su forma de resolver los " problemas de los enemigos de la patria nueva ", por los metodos diabolicos que este utilizaba como si se tratara del propio demonio; si y digo del propio demonio porque despues de leer las cosas que este hombre insignificante era capaz de hacer, no hay duda de que lo malo existe, de que satanas si puede obrar en algunas personas. Jonny Abbes Garcia, era un ser lleno de odio y resentimiento. Tenia un volcan de complejos y pensaba que la unica forma de mantenerse vivo era dandole riendas suertas a sus intintos. Que Dios libre a Latinoamerica y al mundo de personas tan bajas como Jonny Abbes. En cuanto al presidente Balaguer, quiero decir que prodria decirse que es el rey de la manipulacion. Balaguer solo pensaba en si mismo y haria todo por mantenerse en poder incluso jugar con el cielo y el infierno a la vez. Conocia bien la psicologia humana y se aprovechaba de su inteligencia para manipular a todos incluso hasta mismo demonio de Ramfi, siguiendo con Petan y Negro Trujillo y hasta el propio Jonny Abbes. Sabia bañarse sin mojarse, sabia entrar el la mano en el fuego y salir sin quemaduras. Balaguer tiene ( porque todavia esta vivo en Santo Domingo ) una especie de don de convenser a los demas de que sus ideas son las mas apropiadas para resolver una determinada situacion. Me gustaria saber cual es la opinion de Balaguer sobre este libro. Para terminar, este libro debe de ser simbolo de lucha entre los Latinoamericanos para que no se repita la historia, para prevenir futuras trajedias en nuestros ya tan sufridos paises.Elvis Minaya , New York City
Book Review: Not local, but a universal novel
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm writing this review in English because I hope it will be translated soon to many languages; in Spanish it is already a success, a well-deserved one. This story is not only of concern for people from, or related to, the Dominican Republic: it is great literature. And great literature usually takes as its subject the story of one particular place and some particular people, to illustrate us about the depths of the human soul, those basic instincts and characteristics that we all share as human beings. Other reviewers have correctly emphasized the wonderful structure and time-managing of the book, a feature common to Vargas Llosa's literature. Some others have emphasized the historical and social importance of it. And this is what makes it a very good novel. MVLL paints a penetrating portrait of the Trujillo dictatorship'. Trujillo was, like all other dictators, a megalomaniac who at times seems sincere about his "sacrifice" for the people. He repeatedly states, throughout the novel, that he has had to sacrifice all just for the sake of hispeople,... people who are unable to govern themselves (and so, someone has to do it for them). The reality is different: Trujillo is NOT a statesman, but the owner of all the Dominicans, at home or abroad. He owns the state enterprises just as he may own any woman at any time (and she has to be grateful for the rape). Three stories go back and forth in time: Trujillo's last day; the story of Urania Cabral, the daughter of a top-level politician during the dictatorship and who is coming back to Dominicana after 35 years in the US; and the stories of all the participants in the plot to kill Trujillo, stories which illustrate the true face of the regime. This is not literature which reminds us of the joys of life, but of hell on Earth and how it can be brought about by common people. This is literature about the devil in us and about how one madman can control even the feelings and thoughts of many (but not all) people. What struck me most about the book is the way Trujillo manipulates and destroys the self-esteem of everybody, those who admire him and those who hate him. One thinks of the kind of public servant Agustín Cabral could have been in a relatively decent regime. It seems that much of the book is accurately based on real facts and data, and that makes the story all the more chilling. The portrait of Trujillo is superb, as well as Balaguer's character and personality. As some other reviewer stated, once the three stories start to approach their climaxes, you simply can't stop reading and the pace gets really fast, crudely depicting really horrible scenes of torture and degradation. But you will see: in the end, the big Goat (Chivo) is punished by the Devil himself, in a pitiless way (and it's NOT the killing).