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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
LOVED this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the book, the parts centred around Gaitan and the brief look into the assassination of JFK. I felt like the section on Uribe Uribe to be slightly long-winded, hence the only 4-star review but otherwise loved the way this book is written (props to the translator) and the way it mixed the past with the present. A great insight into Colombian history - something I really want to now learn more about.
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Absolutely magnificent. I bought it thinking it akin to a Columbian version of Foucault's Pendulum; it turned into something both much larger and also much more intimate. JGV is a magnificent writer, and this translation is marvelous. I now feel compelled to devour the rest of his catalog.
Probably wouldn't recommend this to very many people but I liked learning more about Colombia's political landscape. A sweet bday present from Mary Elise
I really wanted to like this book but it ended up being quite the slog to finish it. Ended up having to skip a few chapters towards the end and jump forward. Didn't miss much, which is telling.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
I loved a lot of this novel. For the most part, Vasquez deftly explores a key assassination in Columbian history (Jorge Eliécer Gaitán) through the prism of a conspiracy theorist with emotional ties to the event. Midway through, however, Vasquez completely breaks away from this compelling narrative to recreate an earlier political assassination (Rafael Uribe Uribe). This is no minor digression; it occupies more than 100 pages of the novel. It is, unfortunately, an unnecessary digression. (I skipped 70 pages and didn't feel like I missed anything integral to the larger plot.) I would cautiously recommend this novel, but with a strong caveat.