Better late than never, The Feast of the Goat

Indeed, this blog post is quite late, but at least I am still writing it! With another one coming up in just a couple of days.

The first and main thing that has been on my mind while reading this book, is how extremely vulgar it is. I understand that this could actually be how men in their position at that time spoke, but it’s kind of degrading. As I read more every day, all I think about is how incredibly vulgar it is. Did I say that already? Well yes, that is something that really bothers me. I’m not a person who curses that frequently, and I know people who do. But I think maybe the thing that surprises me is that it is in a book; I never would have really thought of books to have that kind of language. Even though I have read books with a few words here and there, I have never seen it to this extent. But I suppose it’s not like there is some rule that there can’t be any cursing in novels.

Aside from that rant, this novel does seem quite different from the ones that we have read previously. It seems so modern, and so English in a way. Not sure if that makes any sense, but for me, while reading the other books, I kind of always remembered that they were in translation because the writing seemed different in some way. Maybe it is because the book was written only some 8 years ago (right?). But I was expecting it to be more representative of the time period which it is about.

One thing that it does have in common with the other novels is the way in which it is written in an illogical order. It’s like reading mini stories from different perspectives that are cut up into little pieces, and reorganized. But I suppose this way is easier to read than if it were to tell the whole story from Urania’s perspective, and then again from Trujillo’s, and then again from the conspirators’ perspective.

I know I haven’t really talked much about the content and what is actually going on in the story, but I don’t feel like I have anything really to comment on. I’m still waiting for more of the storyline to unfold. One thing that I can say now is how sad it was that Amadito wasn’t allowed to marry his love. Oh and Trujillo – definitely a dictator. His comments during the luncheon to/about Díaz, and sleeping with everyone’s wives, what I would have thought of the stereotypical dictator.