Feast of the Goat

There are some books that I know I will never forget, because they have made an enormous impact on me. The Feast of the Goat is one of those books. It is a novel about a real-life cruel regime that ruled the Dominican Republic from the 1930s to the 1960s.

I knew little about this country and even less about its history before reading this book. But I'm now captivated by it. Mario Vargas Llosa brings this period to life in this fantastic story that covers Trujillo's reign and his downfall to assassins whose lives he had destroyed.

I speak almost no Spanish so I read the English translation. The story was captivating and easy to follow save for the fact that, following Spanish tradition, every character has to have at least thirty surnames and some nicknames too.

Whether you are familiar with this epoch or not, I suspect you will become an interested student of this period having read the book. Highly recommend.