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vdarcangelo's review against another edition
3.0
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/sep/28/the-art-of-political-murder-who-killed-the/
This review originally appeared in the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?
Vince Darcangelo, Special to the Rocky
Published September 28, 2007 at midnight
• Nonfiction. By Francisco Goldman. Grove, $25. Grade: A
Book in a nutshell: Guatemala. 1998. Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, an outspoken critic of the government's history of human rights abuses, is beaten to death inside his church parish house. The murder occurs two days after Gerardi publishes a report documenting Guatemalan military abuses since the 1960s, and the timing of his murder suggests that it was government retaliation.
Novelist Goldman's The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?, his first work of nonfiction, documents the controversial and perilous investigation following Bishop Gerardi's murder - no easy task, as more than a dozen people connected to the case were murdered throughout the investigation. The end result, though, is a sliver of justice that - hopefully - sets the foundation for future human rights progress in Guatemala.
In capturing the nuances of this investigation, Goldman (who has familial ties to Guatemala) has penned an exhaustive tome covering all angles of the case down to the finest detail, even identifying the brand of dog food being fed to an imprisoned German shepherd implicated in the murder. (Yes, a dog was initially implicated in the murder!)
Best tidbit: "The more shocking the crime, it seemed, the more powerful or powerfully connected the criminals, and in Latin America powerful people almost never end up in prison."
Pros: Goldman is like a paleontologist reconstructing a T. Rex from a small handful of fossils, including a few bones tossed in as red herrings. His access to inside information, garnered at great personal risk, provides a thorough account of one of Guatemala's most infamous murders.
Cons: Early on, Goldman throws numerous characters and heavy doses of Guatemalan history at the reader. While this provides excellent cultural context, it's difficult to keep track of all the characters at first, and the back stories and historical asides often come at the expense of the narrative flow.
Final word: Goldman is a journalist's journalist, and the amount of investigative legwork involved in producing this book, and the risks thereof, is staggering. This is an impressive book in its breadth, but it may be a bit daunting in detail for a mass audience.
This review originally appeared in the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?
Vince Darcangelo, Special to the Rocky
Published September 28, 2007 at midnight
• Nonfiction. By Francisco Goldman. Grove, $25. Grade: A
Book in a nutshell: Guatemala. 1998. Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, an outspoken critic of the government's history of human rights abuses, is beaten to death inside his church parish house. The murder occurs two days after Gerardi publishes a report documenting Guatemalan military abuses since the 1960s, and the timing of his murder suggests that it was government retaliation.
Novelist Goldman's The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?, his first work of nonfiction, documents the controversial and perilous investigation following Bishop Gerardi's murder - no easy task, as more than a dozen people connected to the case were murdered throughout the investigation. The end result, though, is a sliver of justice that - hopefully - sets the foundation for future human rights progress in Guatemala.
In capturing the nuances of this investigation, Goldman (who has familial ties to Guatemala) has penned an exhaustive tome covering all angles of the case down to the finest detail, even identifying the brand of dog food being fed to an imprisoned German shepherd implicated in the murder. (Yes, a dog was initially implicated in the murder!)
Best tidbit: "The more shocking the crime, it seemed, the more powerful or powerfully connected the criminals, and in Latin America powerful people almost never end up in prison."
Pros: Goldman is like a paleontologist reconstructing a T. Rex from a small handful of fossils, including a few bones tossed in as red herrings. His access to inside information, garnered at great personal risk, provides a thorough account of one of Guatemala's most infamous murders.
Cons: Early on, Goldman throws numerous characters and heavy doses of Guatemalan history at the reader. While this provides excellent cultural context, it's difficult to keep track of all the characters at first, and the back stories and historical asides often come at the expense of the narrative flow.
Final word: Goldman is a journalist's journalist, and the amount of investigative legwork involved in producing this book, and the risks thereof, is staggering. This is an impressive book in its breadth, but it may be a bit daunting in detail for a mass audience.
trisha76's review against another edition
3.0
Een halve eeuw lang had de clandestiene wereld van de militairen ondoordringbaar geleken. De zaak-Gerardi had nu een pad door die duisternis geopend. (pg 354)
In 1998 wordt Bisschop Gerardi doodgeslagen aangetroffen in zijn garage. Vanaf het begin wantrouwt de Katholieke kerk de onderzoekers van de politie. Gerardi was namelijk een belangrijk persoon die het REHMI-rapport naar buiten hadgebracht. Een rapport waarin het Guatemalaanse leger wordt beschuldigd van massamoorden op en verdwijningen van 200.000 burgers.
In het boek wordt leesbaar en duidelijk het negenjarig proces over de dood van de bisschop vertelt vanaf het begin dat hij dood wordt gevonden, het onderzoek door de Los Intocables (The Untouchables), De jonge mannen aangesteld door de Katholieke kerk om onafhankelijk het onderzoek te verrichten dat door de regering en zijn kompanen zo wordt tegengewerkt. Tot de veroordeling van de mogelijke moordenaars. Maar ook de gevoerde strijd en de angst die Los Intocables hebben moeten doorstaan om tot een kern te komen wordt goed weergegeven.
---
Geboren in Boston in 1954 Francisco Goldman is een zoon van een Gautemalteekse moeder en een Joods-Amerikaanse vader. Hij is een beroemde Zuid-Amerikaanse auteur.
Informatie over hem en zijn boeken is te vinden op:
http://www.franciscogoldman.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/40438.Francisco_Goldman
---
Boekinformatie:
©2007 Francisco Goldman, Grove
The art of political murder, who killed the Bisshop?
©2008 Vertaling Gerda Baardman en An de Greef, Lebowski
Omslagontwerp: René Abbühl, Amsterdam
Foto omslag: ©Rachel Cobb
Foto achterzijde: © jerry Bauer
ISBN 978.90.488.0048.3
382 pagina's; Paperback
In 1998 wordt Bisschop Gerardi doodgeslagen aangetroffen in zijn garage. Vanaf het begin wantrouwt de Katholieke kerk de onderzoekers van de politie. Gerardi was namelijk een belangrijk persoon die het REHMI-rapport naar buiten hadgebracht. Een rapport waarin het Guatemalaanse leger wordt beschuldigd van massamoorden op en verdwijningen van 200.000 burgers.
In het boek wordt leesbaar en duidelijk het negenjarig proces over de dood van de bisschop vertelt vanaf het begin dat hij dood wordt gevonden, het onderzoek door de Los Intocables (The Untouchables), De jonge mannen aangesteld door de Katholieke kerk om onafhankelijk het onderzoek te verrichten dat door de regering en zijn kompanen zo wordt tegengewerkt. Tot de veroordeling van de mogelijke moordenaars. Maar ook de gevoerde strijd en de angst die Los Intocables hebben moeten doorstaan om tot een kern te komen wordt goed weergegeven.
---
Geboren in Boston in 1954 Francisco Goldman is een zoon van een Gautemalteekse moeder en een Joods-Amerikaanse vader. Hij is een beroemde Zuid-Amerikaanse auteur.
Informatie over hem en zijn boeken is te vinden op:
http://www.franciscogoldman.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/40438.Francisco_Goldman
---
Boekinformatie:
©2007 Francisco Goldman, Grove
The art of political murder, who killed the Bisshop?
©2008 Vertaling Gerda Baardman en An de Greef, Lebowski
Omslagontwerp: René Abbühl, Amsterdam
Foto omslag: ©Rachel Cobb
Foto achterzijde: © jerry Bauer
ISBN 978.90.488.0048.3
382 pagina's; Paperback
lazygal's review against another edition
2.0
This is taking longer to read than I'd hoped because of an intense upswing in work-related stuff. What I have read is sometimes confusing, but then, it *is* about a real-life murder and those can be confusing. More as I read on...
****
Ok, finished the book. The writing didn't lend itself to an easy read (too much time taken reintroducing characters and recovering "plot", despite having a dramatis personae in the book). Still, if you want to learn more about an interesting time in Guatemala's history and how a country can be incredibly corrupt and still, somehow, stumble to the right 'conclusion' to a murder, try this.
****
Ok, finished the book. The writing didn't lend itself to an easy read (too much time taken reintroducing characters and recovering "plot", despite having a dramatis personae in the book). Still, if you want to learn more about an interesting time in Guatemala's history and how a country can be incredibly corrupt and still, somehow, stumble to the right 'conclusion' to a murder, try this.
balamaqab's review against another edition
4.0
- 1a lectura -
Es brutal la cantidad de información volcada por este libro, pero más brutal y revelador es el hecho de cómo la impunidad se ha instaurado en todo el sistema de justicia guatemalteco.
-2a lectura -
La primera vez que lo leí me pareció un libro impresionante, por su contenido como por su realización. Pero al releerlo tuvo otro impacto, menos dramático y morboso, más analítico, al volver a repasar las estructuras de poder instaladas en el gobierno, cómo se protegen a favor de la impunidad, aún a costa de realizar crímenes terribles y acciones de lo más inhumanas. Es una lectura emocionalmente fuerte, de narración cruda, pero necesaria para poder entender, aunque sea una parte, la política actual guatemalteca.
Es brutal la cantidad de información volcada por este libro, pero más brutal y revelador es el hecho de cómo la impunidad se ha instaurado en todo el sistema de justicia guatemalteco.
-2a lectura -
La primera vez que lo leí me pareció un libro impresionante, por su contenido como por su realización. Pero al releerlo tuvo otro impacto, menos dramático y morboso, más analítico, al volver a repasar las estructuras de poder instaladas en el gobierno, cómo se protegen a favor de la impunidad, aún a costa de realizar crímenes terribles y acciones de lo más inhumanas. Es una lectura emocionalmente fuerte, de narración cruda, pero necesaria para poder entender, aunque sea una parte, la política actual guatemalteca.
donutcome4me's review against another edition
3.0
Starts off interesting but becomes harder to read as (too?) much detail is added.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
A fairly decent piece of journalism on the murder of renowned Guatemalan Bishop Gerardi back in 1998. The author sometimes gets hung up on minute details which he finds more fascinating than the reader would. Other than that, it's a pretty good read, not just on the murder but on the machinations of a corrupt and seemingly hopeless country.