From Publishers Weekly
Vargas Llosa attempts to give a historic explanation of the cruel tyranny of the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic in his latest novel. Through Urania, the daughter of one of Trujillo's cronies who returns to her native Santo Domingo after many years of absence, Vargas Llosa narrates a short period of stagnation and corruption in the Dominican Republic. The Trujillista era is one of infamy and vileness, in which psychopaths and murderers offered the dictator their wives and daughters for orgies and sadistic acts of deflowering in exchange for political favors. In his usual style, Vargas Llosa skillfully uses language to demystify subjects that could easily offend. The book is undoubtably more fiction than history, yet it is obvious that the author did ample research on the period. In spite of the repugnance readers may feel toward the fictional characters, Vargas Llosa does not make a direct judgment of this abominable time. Even in the absence of personal opinion, he successfully portrays a tragic era that left a lasting imprint on the history of the Dominican Republic. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries and all bookstores. Liliana Wendorff, Fayetteville Technical Community Coll., NC Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
La fiesta del chivo (The Feast of the Goat) ANNOTATION
"Novela histﾽorica sobre los ﾽultimos dﾽias del gen. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo en la Repﾽublica Dominicana en 1961. El hilo conductor de la novela es el retorno a la isla de Urania Cabral, hija de un senador del rﾽegimen trujillista, luego de muchos aﾽnos de la muerte del dictador. Mientras Urania visita a su padre moribundo, la narraciﾽon reconstruye el fin de una era haciendo un recuento de una serie de personajes histﾽoricos, entre ellos, el sempiterno presidente de la Repﾽublica Dominicana, Joaquﾽin Balaguer y ascenso polﾽitico. La crueldad del poder y la maldad humana destacan en este gran relato, una de las mejores novelas del novelista peruano"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Vargas Llosa, un clásico contemporáneo, relata el fin de un era dando voz, entre otros personajes históricos, al impecable e implacable general Trujillo, apodado el Chivo, y al sosegado y hábil doctor Balaguer (sempiterno presidente de la República Dominicana). Con un ritmo y una precisión difícilmente superables, este peruano universal muestra que la política puede consistir en abrirse camino entre cadáveres, y que un ser inocente puede convertirse en un regalo tenebroso.
English Translation: Vargas Llosa, a classic contemporary, relates the aim of an era giving voice, among other historical personages, to impeccable and implacable general Trujillo, nicknamed Chivo, and to calmed and capable doctor Balaguer (everlasting president of the Dominican Republic). With a hardly superable rate and a precision, this Peruvian universal sample that the policy can consist of laying way between corpses, and that an innocent being can become a gift sinister
FROM THE CRITICS
Times Literary Supplement
La fiesta del chivo takes as much liberty with history as, say, War and Peace, if not quite as much as The Charterhouse of Parma. Many of the characters, including Trujillo and his family, Balaguer, and the conspirators, are based on historical figures, but fictionalized by Vargas Llosa. He gives us Trujillo's most intimate thoughts, from the moment he wakes up at 4 am to late at night when trying to force a girl. He describes the thoughts of each of the conspirators on the night of the ambush, although many of them did not survive to tell their story. These historical figures are combined with invented characters. Vargas Llosa spent a long time researching his material. He has said that, in writing the novel, he took pains to ensure that everything he described "could" have happened. And no one who knew the Dominican Republic at the time has expressed any doubts about the novel's verisimilitude. Even Joaquin Balaguer has given it his seal of approval.
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