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