4.5

The three interwoven narratives drew me in almost immediately and with such force that I was at times overwhelmed by the profoundness of every story. The commentary on the depths of Machismo in Dominican culture at the time was blatant and at times horrifying and difficult to read but nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

An incredibly powerful portrayal !!! Highly recommended. 5 stars

I disliked this a fair bit to begin with, I found Urania's story both boring and overwhelming, every paragraph peppered with names of people and places I didn't know, the writing switching between third and second person, past and present tense. I still hated when it did that, but fortunately it mostly disappeared later on (being a feature of Urania's plot, which takes a back seat for a while). In the same way, I got used to all the proper nouns that didn't mean anything to me, and I got over the fact that later on, I got a lot of the characters relating to the assassination mixed up. It didn't matter too much.

To be honest, the roughly first half of the book was fairly boring, unenjoyable. I didn't care about Urania and her father, and I didn't care about whatever Trujillo was up to. I was more interested in the assassins, but they took their time in finally doing the deed. The second half of the book much improved the pacing, mostly doing away with Urania's (now more compelling, but incredibly horrible) plot line in favour of following the killing and subsequent fallout for the killers and the politicians. This I found interesting, gripping, and easier to read. The author's descriptions of the various characters and their motivations and actions felt incredibly believable. I disliked hearing about the terrible torture one character suffered just because the way it broke him felt all too believable, uncomfortably easy to empathise with. I enjoyed following how Balaguer (hiss!) deftly handled the new political situation.

I am glad I read this so that I could understand more about the Dominican Republic and its past dictatorship, and I enjoyed large parts of it, but it also felt like a slog. I had other Vargas Llosa books on my to-read list before this but I've removed them since, just not for me.

I enjoyed this book. There was a lot going on here but once I figured out the rhythm it was easier to keep track. I loved being able to see the same night through different characters' eyes. I loved the blending of the past with the present as Urania shares her story with her family, and then the interspersing chapters that give a historical account of the end of Trujillo's regime.

Great read. Educates and horrified at the same time.