As I am supposed to be getting started on my Wikipedia article I devoted some time this reading week to Mario Vargas Llosa’s The Feast of the Goat, and will be writing about this book instead of I The Supreme.  The first thing that struck me about The Feast of the Goat is the fact that it deals with real events in recent world history.  This made it immediately fascinating to me and helped build up in my mind a stock of good will towards the novel.  This stock has begun to dwindle however, as I notice elements of Llosa’s writing that frustrate me.  For instance, Urania seems so far to be less of a character than she is a vessel for anecdotes about the Trujillo era.  I have begun to long for the end of her chapters just so I can feel like I am reading a novel again rather than a thinly veiled attempt to fill the reader in on events of which they are probably ignorant.  

    On top of Urania’s poor characterization is the ever-present allusion to her great secret, the final straw that sparked her flight from her homeland and everything she knew.  I have always found that unless a novel is either a murder mystery or a fast-paced thriller, there is no need to keep the reader waiting for important plot information.  Frankly it seems more like a ploy to keep us engaged than a legitimate matter of pacing or suspense.  As the novel is based on historical events much of the outcome is already known, and to keep us hanging on the revelation of one woman’s personal battle seems unnecessary.  Of course I’m sure the rest of the novel will make me eat my words.  

    This having been said, I am enjoying the book very much and find the characters of the assassins to be captivating.  The back-story described for each man feels much less forced than Urania’s sadistic recollections at her ailing father’s bedside.  In addition, the insights into Trujillo’s thoughts are well-composed and plausible, almost enough to make me forget that Llosa is once again teasing me with a vital and mysterious piece of plot.