InQ Episode 86: "The Feast of the Goat"

Written from three different perspectives and in three different
time periods, “The Feast of the Goat” retells the Dominican
Republic years of dictatorship under General Rafael Trujillo.


First and foremost, Urania in the present. Daughter of Trujillo’s
secretary of state Agustin Cabral, Urania comes back to Cuidad
Trujillo (now Santo Domingo) to visit a father she has not seen
in more than 30 years. She will also have to face the demons she
has left behind and the gruesome reason why she so deeply hates
her father.


Second, the assassins in 1961. A gathering of men, soldiers or
ex-military who have been wronged one way or another by Trujillo
will plot to take matters into their own hands and free the
country of Trujillo’s power once and for all. Will they succeed?
And if they do, what consequences will the face?


Third, Trujillo himself from 1930 to 1961. The reader will follow
his raise to power, his reign of terror, his life as “the Chief”,
as well as his slow descent into decadence as the now old man
tries to hold on to his dignity while his body slowly abandons
him.


For anyone interested in Latin America’s history, this is a great
novel. Full of details, very much alive and realistic to the
point of verging on naturalism, “The Feast of the Goat” will
chill you to the bone, in so many ways