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kpjayan's review
3.0
Though this do not stand among his best books, it is better than the previous one. Despite the uneven narrative towards the end, it still holds pretty well as a strong powerful tale. The narratives technique is brilliant often moving between the present ( 1916 at Pentonville Jail) to the respective continents. The ease of shifting of the narrative space is amazing. The language is fluid and poetic at many places. Again, not amongst his best, good nonetheless.
eddie's review
4.0
This is the first book by Vargas Llosa I have read and I did enjoy it - enough to explore his other work. At first I was surprised at the lack of literary pretension (or stylistic ambition) in this Nobel laureate's novel: his prose is almost journalistic in feel. However, it's very readable and the pages fly by quickly. I do have sympathy with criticisms that there is too much repetition but for me this was outweighed by the inherent interest of the story, as Llosa explores the journey of Roger Casement from Imperialist idealist to human rights activist to Irish Nationalist radical and ultimate martyr for the cause. His gay side is not massively foregrounded - Llosa clearly is focussing on issues of colonial exploitation - and he does not clearly indicate if Casement's 'Black Diaries' were British fabrications or authentic, or if they recalled real incidents or fantasy. It is clear from the record the British authorities used the diaries to besmirch Casement's name, and Llosa seems to suggest the diaries are genuine but a mixture of fantasy and reality. He cleverly keeps his central character in prison and incommunicado throughout (the story unfolds as a series of flashbacks) so although he knows the diaries have been revealed and are having a public effect the details are hidden from him (and by extension the reader).
Part of the pleasure of this book for me was that it joins a list of remarkable works dealing with the Belgian near-genocidal exploitation of the Congo in the 19th century: first and foremost Conrad's masterpiece "Heart of Darkness" (both novel and author feature in Llosa's book as Conrad was a friend of and co-activist with Casement, as well as having personal experience in the Congo), Adam Hochschild's extraordinary and chilling history "King Leopold's Ghost", and Barbara Kingsolver's poetic and visionary "The Poisonwood Bible". For me Llosa's novel is less literary than them all (even the history) but as a genuinely felt examination of Casement's humanitarian work (epic and heroic in scale by any standard) he does manage to rescue him somewhat from the still fraught political considerations of UK politics and history.
Part of the pleasure of this book for me was that it joins a list of remarkable works dealing with the Belgian near-genocidal exploitation of the Congo in the 19th century: first and foremost Conrad's masterpiece "Heart of Darkness" (both novel and author feature in Llosa's book as Conrad was a friend of and co-activist with Casement, as well as having personal experience in the Congo), Adam Hochschild's extraordinary and chilling history "King Leopold's Ghost", and Barbara Kingsolver's poetic and visionary "The Poisonwood Bible". For me Llosa's novel is less literary than them all (even the history) but as a genuinely felt examination of Casement's humanitarian work (epic and heroic in scale by any standard) he does manage to rescue him somewhat from the still fraught political considerations of UK politics and history.
stephend81d5's review
3.0
enjoyed llosa's novel based on the life of sir roger casement who was executed in the aftermath of the 1916 easter rising in Dublin and looks at his work in congo, Amazonia. problem some people may have with the novel as it drifts from 1916 to his past while still he is still in pentonville prison. the book itself has been researched well with a lot of historical content but may not be eveyones cup of tea though.
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