A review by jfaberrit
Reputations by Juan Gabriel Vásquez

3.0

Reputations is about 2/3 of a great book. The prose is great, even in translation, the story that develops interesting and multifaceted, but in the end it doesn't really take it anywhere. I could care less that the ending is less than conclusive, but it felt like the auhtor finished up before really getting his thoughts completely sorted out. Another issue I have with it, and other novels of the kind, is that simply writing a novel about big ideas (reputations, identity, integrity) is perfectly fine, but "raising questions" about them is something of a dodge -- whether by telling or showing, it helps if the book has more to say about them once the questions have been asked.